Unsubscribe! I mean change my email! D’oh! by Remy Bergsma @remybergsma
Email marketing personal preferences
As a professional marketer, it’s really amazing to me (and sort of disturbing) how so many companies using email marketing won’t let you change your email address, or just personal preferences in general from their email campaigns. I just did a test with a random set of twenty companies and only five had the option to change my email address and/or personal preferences. This means no less than fifteen companies have just received an unsubscribe, purely because I can’t change my email and because ‘this is an automated email’ they can’t handle any replies being sent. These days more and more people have (several) email addresses but this also means more changes in their email preferences and online locations.
Make it handy for Andy: Email campaign throttle back and changes
Take for instance Andy the handyman who has moved into a new town to get a new job as an email marketer (hah!). He is now signed up with a new ISP who provided him with an email address, a new job with a new email address and oh yeah: he changed to AMail for his personal mail instead of BMail, just because he liked the interface and spam filter better. This means Andy will want to update at least one and possibly even two or three email address preferences in his personal and professional email circle of subscriptions.
Imagine Andy trying to do the same thing as I did: change his email address on twenty subscriptions. Fifteen of those fail, so Andy will unsubscribe and maybe, just maybe re-subscribe with the companies from whom he -really- wants to receive email. How would you feel as a company if you would lose those Andy’s or anyone else wanting to update their personal info and preferences and they can’t? Imagine this taken a bit further sideways: Andy not wanting to unsubscribe, but merely adjust the frequency of the email he receives. Providing that as an option could save his subscription(s) and make him feel better about the amount of email he receives, because he is in control of that.
Give your email marketing campaign subscribers options
According to Chad White of Retailemailblog.com, online retailers are sending more and more emails which fill up the inboxes everywhere. Providing an option to opt-down or adjust email frequency instead of a total opt-out could be just the thing your subscribers are looking for. When those options of changing an email address and email frequency settings are combined you’re on to something: you will provide a hassle and time saving service to your subscribers who will love you for it. You may not notice that love rightaway but in the long run it will turn out to be a worthwile investment. To conclude with a positive note: I am seeing more and more opt-down and / or reason for unsubscribe options so the gears are switching bit by bit towards the good side.
Takeaway: When someone hits the unsubscribe button, are you ready to handle it? As a company you can learn from the reasons behind someone unsubscribing, or even better: give them an option to change personal details or preferences on frequency (opt-down) and save them from unsubscribing.
What do you think? Add your comments!
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As a side note: Some people will click unsubscribe when they actually want to change their email address. Best practice is to also add the option to change address on the unsubscribe page.
Next to that, “old” emailaddresses, who are inactive can damage your sender reputation. Because they are inactive they will never open or click on the mail. Some ISP’s will use these abandoned mailadresses as “spam traps”. It’s best to always give an option to change the emailaddress.
Tnx guys :)
Garin: great stuff, it’s a good thing they did that: many organisations can learn from that.
Jim: it should be consistent across the board indeed, nobody should be ‘left out in the cold’ when they want to change some prefs or personal info.
Cool post Remy!
Recently I was annoyed by all of the emails I was receiving from Marriott hotels, so I decided to click the “Unsubscribe” link in the email.
It was a pleasant surprise when this link took me to a landing page that gave me the option to opt out of some, or all, of the newsletters they offer.
I thought this was a solid opt out avoidance tactic and I plan to work it into one of my email marketing strategies in the future!
Cheers,
Garin
Great post Remy!
I agree you have to make it easy for subscribers to choose how they want you to communicate with you and you absolutely must have someone on staff who is a point of contact (an easy and accessible point of contact) for subscribers.
In a retail setting, every employee is a point of contact and companies put a great deal of time and effort into making sure their staff are well trained to function in this role. However, that same kind of representation for subscribers to email campaigns and websites, seems to be lacking in general.
Regards,
jim
Jim that is a great point about training staff. I think many companies would do well by having a declared deputy of the companies email program.
By giving a companies email program a face and a name, this person could address many of the issues that go unnoticed or even unheard.
All to often, companies use the no-reply address and keep their email programs faceless.
This is not only a takeaway, it’s a wake-up call to action!!!!
Exactly Jeff! It is really a call to action! Having no one in this kind of role is like having no one at your office to answer the phone when it rings.
Regards,
jim