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.
A smart marketer will craft an opt-out strategy that offers the readers choices – rather than to just opt-out. It may be that your subscribers are generally happy with your mailings, but would like some changes. By giving the reader the ability to define what emails they receive and when from your company, you can increase the chances that your emails will be of more value and come at the right time for the individual.
Here are three ideas to implement in your opt-out strategy:
1. Offer a choice of frequency – Receiving emails “too frequently” is the no. 1 reason people want to unsubscribe. If you can offer a less frequent mailing schedule to them, you may find that subscribers are happy to continue receiving emails.
2. Clarify the type of opt out – Define what type of opt-out the subscriber wants. Is it a global opt-out from all the company’s emails, or is an opt-out from this specific mailing? Make sure they have choices so you have an opportunity to continue communicating with them.
3. Offer a change-of- address function – One reason people opt-out is to sign up with another address. It would be a good idea to implement a feature that allows people to change their email address within your mailing.
If they just want to unsubscribe … ask for feedback
Finally, there will be reasons people simply don’t want any more communications from your company. For example, they may no longer need information about your products and services. Asking for feedback – but making sure it’s optional – during the opt-out process can give you insights into the reasons you are losing subscribers. This feedback also gives you a unique opportunity to improve your messages based on what your readers are telling you.
When asking for feedback, give readers a variety of reasons to select from such as “Content is no longer relevant”, “I’m subscribing using a different method (such as RSS)”, “I do not recall subscribing to this”, “This comes too frequently” and “Other, or will not disclose”.
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