Building mailing lists and crafting a strong opt-in strategy are all-important in

email marketing

. But marketers should also take a look at their opt-out strategy.  It should be prominently featured, and easy to unsubscribe – it is both required by legislation and is best practice.

Any company operating under the illusion that obscuring the unsubscribe function will retain subscribers is making a mistake. It will instead damage their brand by continuing to arrive in the inbox – whether the recipient wants the email or not. Plus, it can generate ‘report as spam’ reports. Too many of these reports can lead to an ISP blocking future emails from the sender.