{"id":77,"date":"2014-11-19T09:17:13","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T15:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ericlambert.net\/blog\/?p=77"},"modified":"2014-11-19T09:17:13","modified_gmt":"2014-11-19T15:17:13","slug":"make-unsubscribe-process-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericlambert.net\/blog\/2014\/11\/19\/make-unsubscribe-process-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Make Your Unsubscribe Process Work For You"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When a consumer wants to no longer receive marketing communications from your company, both US anti-spam law (CAN-SPAM) and Canada anti-spam law (CASL) require you to provide a simple, easy-to-use unsubscribe mechanism.\u00a0 No one these days questions the importance of offering an unsubscribe link to recipients of commercial emails \u2013 failing to do so is one of the easier ways to get in trouble for noncompliance.\u00a0 However, I\u2019ve seen many companies make the process too easy or unclear.\u00a0 Some use a one-click unsubscribe; others don&#8217;t provide a good experience for those seeking to change their marketing preferences.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some simple guidelines on\u00a0good hygiene for your\u00a0unsubscribe process:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Consider using an unsubscribe\/manage preferences page, not a one-click unsubscribe.<\/strong> One-click unsubscribe means that as soon as a consumer clicks unsubscribe, it\u2019s done and that consumer marketing record is off-limits.\u00a0 As an alternative, consider a landing page through which a consumer can choose from &#8220;layers&#8221; of unsubscribe options (e.g., unsubscribe from emails about Product X, unsubscribe from emails from Product Division Alpha, unsubscribe from all emails from Company), and\/or manage their communication preferences.\u00a0 A person may initially think they want to unsubscribe, but on arriving at the page may instead realize he\/she only wants to change or update their communication preferences to still receive some (but not all) communications.\u00a0 The complexity of the page should be driven by the available &#8220;layered&#8221; choices (if simple, use radio buttons; if complex, use separate sections for each choice with sub-options).\u00a0 You must allow the page visitor to take a final action from that page \u2013 you cannot use more than a single page plus the original click for unsubscribe requests.\u00a0 (You can include a link to a separate \u201cmanage preferences\u201d page if preferred.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Design unsubscribe functionality to the principles of Simplicity, Clarity, Choice and Experience<\/strong>. Make it easy (but not too easy) for a consumer to opt out &#8211; you cannot make page visitors jump through hoops, and cannot ask them for additional personal information (other than email address) in order to unsubscribe.\u00a0 Ensure disclosures and the unsubscribe process are clear to the reasonable consumer.\u00a0 Provide alternatives to opting out (changes to frequency, content, or receipt point).\u00a0 Provide a good experience and ensure they leave on good terms.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Clarify that they\u2019ll still receive transactional emails.<\/strong> Where a page visitor can select to unsubscribe from all marketing emails, if appropriate consider language clarifying that they are unsubscribing from receiving all promotional emails, and that they\u2019ll still receive transactional and relationship emails such as order confirmations and shipping notifications.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Humanize the unsubscribe notice.<\/strong> Use the unsubscribe process to remind the page visitor that they are working with a company, not an automated computer system.\u00a0 Include your company\u2019s branding on the unsubscribe\/manage preferences page(s).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ask for feedback after confirming the unsubscribe or change in preferences.<\/strong> Lastly, consider asking for feedback about why they are unsubscribing or changing their preferences, AFTER you have confirmed the unsubscribe or preference change.\u00a0 This data can provide useful metrics to your organization to help shape your email and omni-channel marketing strategy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When a consumer wants to no longer receive marketing communications from your company, both US anti-spam law (CAN-SPAM) and Canada anti-spam law (CASL) require you to provide a simple, easy-to-use unsubscribe mechanism.\u00a0 No one these days questions the importance of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ericlambert.net\/blog\/2014\/11\/19\/make-unsubscribe-process-work\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[38,39,48,83,124,184],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal","category-marketing","tag-can-spam","tag-casl","tag-compliance","tag-email","tag-marketing","tag-unsubscribe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericlambert.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericlambert.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericlambert.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericlambert.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericlambert.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ericlambert.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericlambert.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericlambert.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericlambert.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}