Almost all of us are email subscribers of some sort. From newsletters to promotional emails, we get one or more of these emails in our mailbox periodically. However, have you ever tried to unsubscribe from a brand or company for one reason or another? How did it go?
The truth is that most unsubscribe pages are below par. Most times, you are only asked why you are unsubscribing and nothing more. While this is not entirely a wrong question to ask, an ideal unsubscribe page must offer more options.
For instance, a potential recipient must be able to choose if they want the sending frequency reduced or they want to stop receiving altogether. If it is the case of the former, how frequently do they want the emails? These things go a long way in giving recipients an excellent user-experience.
Unsubscribe pages are not meant to be harsh for the eyes or packed with irrelevant information. Spell out the options clearly and allow recipients to readjust their preferences in a couple of clicks.
You are probably asking why you should go through all this stress just because of unsubscribes that come with no benefit? Well, the truth is that unsubscribes are really beneficial.
Unsubscribes Are Beneficial!
If a recipient gets tired of receiving your emails, they have two options – unsubscribe or make a spam complaint. The latter is more harmful to your email campaign in more ways than you can imagine. Conversely, an unsubscribe can become a recipient later or simply adjust how much or how frequently they read you.
Your inability to make these options clear and easily accessible to the recipients may force them to click the spam button. If these spam complaints are becoming too many, your emails will start going directly into the spam folder. If this persists on a certain IP or domain within a short period, all of your emails will be re-directed to the spam folder automatically.
Therefore, you will agree that a customer that reduces the frequency they read you is better than one that registers a spam complaint. Customers are increasingly empowered in the current business world. They literally control the conversation with brands. Customers can make or mar a brand; they may never visit a store, or head to the social media to make serious complaints, leaving brands hanging on a thin line.
With the consumer that empowered, it is only normal that brands put in place a customer-based marketing structure and features, including a simple, user-friendly unsubscribe page. You want to be in the good books of customers rather than be in the bad books for your overzealous approaches.
If you love your customers that much, you should give them the freedom to stay or leave. And what better way to offer freedom than a simple and effective unsubscribe page?
