The Pontiflex Blog

Going Beyond the Unsubscribe

May 12, 2010 at 2:55 pm Jason Penta Leave a comment

By now, most of us are well aware of the importance of including an unsubscribe link and physical address in our email marketing pieces.  If you’re not aware of how vital this is, you should probably stop reading this and immediately go to your local bookstore and purchase this.

The purpose of the unsubscribe information (besides Can-Spam compliance) is to allow a user who no longer wishes to receive your emails an easy and convenient way to opt out of your mailing list.   Now you might ask, “Why do I want to make it convenient for someone to opt out?”  Well, it’s about user experience.  Just because a user is unsubscribing from your mailing list doesn’t mean you’ve lost that person as a customer.   They’ve simply decided that they don’t want to receive email messages from you.  By making the opt out process quick and painless, you’re maintaining a positive user experience.  And you certainly don’t want the subscriber to hit the “Mark as Spam” button as a way to get off your mailing list…

But why do most people opt out of mailing lists?  According to a recent Forrester Research study, 72% of users said that they unsubscribe from a list because the mailings were too frequent.  The second most common reason for opting out is lack of relevance.

More and more, email marketers are providing subscription preferences to users that grant more control over email frequency and content.

Here is an example from Simple Shoes, a brand that has been recognized for it’s clever email marketing strategy.

Using a friendly, conversational tone, Simple Shoes introduces a subscriber to preference options immediately in the signup confirmation email.   These choices allow users to select what types of products they are interested in (men’s shoes, women’s shoes, kids’ shoes, etc.) and how often they’d like to be contacted via email.  Giving a subscriber choices is the easiest way to build a relationship and make sure you are delivering the most relevant content to each user at the desired frequency.  The end goal….lower list attrition over time.

So, while email preferences are not a replacement for the traditional opt out process, consider using them to create a more dynamic email database by allowing users to select preferences based on product offerings and email frequencies.  If nothing else, it will help you learn more about your audience and what they want.

Entry filed under: Best Practices, Email. Tags: .