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(List mgmt) Subscription practices from hell
I'm trying to unsubscribe from an online marketing newsletter. Anytime one of your subscribers uses the phrase "trying to unsubscribe", start to panic. They've already decided they don't want your messages. So let them go. If they can't unsubscribe, indifference can turn to malice; spam complaints likely follow.
In this case, the newsletter advised me a few weeks ago that if I didn't confirm my subscription, I would be unsubscribed. I didn't confirm the subscription. They keep sending me the newsletter. I'm guessing the attempt to clean up the list resulted in a very small number of confirms so they backtracked.
The result? A promise not kept - not great for credibility.
On the actual emails they send, there is no one-click unsubscribe function. There isn't even a multi-click unsubscribe function. You have to send an email (or a letter). Not best practices. Worse, if you "reply" to the newsletter, your email bounces. You have to write to a specific human address (implying the unsubscribe is not automatic).
Hurdles, hurdles, hurdles. Not good for that reader relationship, eh? They lost me weeks ago, now they're annoying me, too. If my latest attempt to unsubscribe does not work, I will report the emails as spam, for that is what they will have become.
You don't want to encourage people to leave your list. But when their love has gone, chains and locks aren't going to bring it back. For more on this principle, read this article.
Some simple rules of thumb:
* Make it easy to unsubscribe, ideally through a web interface. There you can also present alternative options to a straight unsubscribe, such as reducing the delivery schedule (maybe they were overwhelmed by the frequency of your sends), switching to alternative content modules, moving to another list or changing delivery vehicle (e.g. to RSS).
* If your system allows it, send a note afterwards (automatically):
- confirming the unsubscribe
- thanking the recipient for their previous interest
- giving a sign-up link (they may only want to unsub temporarily for a vacation or change of email address)
- pointing out the alternatives
I'm trying to unsubscribe from an online marketing newsletter. Anytime one of your subscribers uses the phrase "trying to unsubscribe", start to panic. They've already decided they don't want your messages. So let them go. If they can't unsubscribe, indifference can turn to malice; spam complaints likely follow.
In this case, the newsletter advised me a few weeks ago that if I didn't confirm my subscription, I would be unsubscribed. I didn't confirm the subscription. They keep sending me the newsletter. I'm guessing the attempt to clean up the list resulted in a very small number of confirms so they backtracked.
The result? A promise not kept - not great for credibility.
On the actual emails they send, there is no one-click unsubscribe function. There isn't even a multi-click unsubscribe function. You have to send an email (or a letter). Not best practices. Worse, if you "reply" to the newsletter, your email bounces. You have to write to a specific human address (implying the unsubscribe is not automatic).
Hurdles, hurdles, hurdles. Not good for that reader relationship, eh? They lost me weeks ago, now they're annoying me, too. If my latest attempt to unsubscribe does not work, I will report the emails as spam, for that is what they will have become.
You don't want to encourage people to leave your list. But when their love has gone, chains and locks aren't going to bring it back. For more on this principle, read this article.
Some simple rules of thumb:
* Make it easy to unsubscribe, ideally through a web interface. There you can also present alternative options to a straight unsubscribe, such as reducing the delivery schedule (maybe they were overwhelmed by the frequency of your sends), switching to alternative content modules, moving to another list or changing delivery vehicle (e.g. to RSS).
* If your system allows it, send a note afterwards (automatically):
- confirming the unsubscribe
- thanking the recipient for their previous interest
- giving a sign-up link (they may only want to unsub temporarily for a vacation or change of email address)
- pointing out the alternatives
Permalink | January 03, 2006 |
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