• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, December 17, 2007

By now, all email marketers should be aware that they're hurting themselves--and the industry--if they fail to give consumers prominent, frequent opportunities to unsubscribe.

The simple reality is that sending unwanted emails generates consumer complaints to ISPs. And today, a marketer's reputation is the key element in its relationship with the ISPs, its deliverability rate and ultimately, its campaign results.

Yet in a recent survey of 400+ Web marketers, Lyris Inc.'s EmailLabs unit found that, while 96% of survey respondents include an unsubscribe link in their promotional emails, much lower percentages include such a link in other critical contact points.

Fewer than half (45%) reported including an unsubscribe link in customer service emails, 40% in auto responders, and just 31% in transactional emails. About 10% said they don't know if their non-promotional emails include an unsubscribe link.

As EmailLabs points out, people sometimes subscribe by mistake, so providing the opt-out in the first and every email (and not pre-checking the registration opt-in box) is the best way to minimize complaints and keep consumers from pushing the "report-a-spam" button.

The survey also found that surprisingly few marketers are using unsubscribes as relationship-enhancing or research opportunities.

Fewer than 20% reported including a goodbye message in the unsubscribe confirmation, and just one in 10 included outreach such as a customer-service phone number, an incentive to re-subscribe or update a profile, an exit survey to learn the reasons for unsubscribing or offer suggestions, or a reminder about other channels, such as RSS feeds or direct mail.

"For most marketers, when the consumer says 'unsubscribe me,' that's it, and that's the part we're talking about optimizing," said Stefan Pollard, director of email marketing best practices at Lyris. "The goals are to prevent people from using report-a-spam buttons and gain valuable feedback from consumers on why they no longer want to receive your email."

Some of the other survey findings and Lyris recommendations (click here to access the full report):

• On the positive side, 53% of marketers do provide a one-click URL for instant removal, and 25% provide a URL linking to a profile update that does not require a log-in. However, 29% require the recipient to send back an email with an unsubscribe request in the subject line, 17% require sending an email unsubscribe request to a custom removal address, 17% provide a profile update URL that requires a password and 5% provide a URL to a pre-populated form with additional survey questions.

Recommendations: While providing an easy unsubscribe option is paramount, EmailLabs advises providing easy access to a profile update because that gives subscribers options other than simply severing the email relationship. Subscribers may want to change their email addresses, change which types of email content they're receiving, or reduce or increase the number of messages they're receiving from your organization.

The ideal set-up: Click one takes users to their pre-populated profiles, they select unsubscribe or change their profile information, and then click confirm to launch the changes. (Users should also be given an alternate option if the profile update fails to work, meaning contact information for a Web form or customer service.)

Requiring a password in the profile results in frustration for those who have forgotten their passwords, encouraging complaints and spam-button pushing.

Lyris also points out that the one-click-remove option is becoming problematic because some spam filters (corporate ones in particular) can now click all links in an email message to determine where the links ultimately go. Result: Subscribers may be automatically unsubscribed without being informed of this.

• About 53% of marketers acknowledge the unsubscribe on the landing page and 28% send an email acknowledging the unsubscribe. However, 11% either don't acknowledge the unsubscribe or have language that says that they might continue to mail to the address until the 10-day CAN-SPAM window closes.

Recommendations: Immediately acknowledge the unsubscribe in the same medium that was used to request removal. Confirm on the landing page when the request comes in via clicking a link, and email the confirmation when the user uses an auto-reply unsubscribe or sends an unsubscribe email message. Offer other ways to get information. Thank exiting subscribers for their previous patronage. And don't use the 10-day window for processing an unsubscribe as an excuse to keep sending emails during that time.

• While 29% don't attempt to hide the unsubscribe option, far too many marketers are still using "tricks" to discourage unsubscribing. In fact, nearly one third (31%) report using "tiny" type (8 point or smaller) for the unsubscribe option, 9% use light gray type on a white background, and 9% use spacing to push the unsubscribe language far down in the message body.

Such tricks don't violate the letter of U.S. anti-spam laws, but they go against the spirit of putting consumers in control of their in-boxes. "If I'm a marketer, I want to make it very clear to consumers that they're in control of their messages," sums up Pollard. Bottom line: Tricks won't keep subscribers; they'll only annoy them and damage your reputation.

Recommendations: Use the same type and font size as the body of the message for the unsubscribe option, and place it close to other live copy in the message to make it easy to see and use.