E-Newsletters - why you should make it easy to unsubscribe

Why? Surely you want to prevent people from unsubscribing? No. We say make it easy to unsubscribe. Here's why. Making it easy to unsubscribe: 1. Cleans your list ensuring you're not wasting money emailing people unnecessarily. 2. Ensures you are only communicating with people who want to hear from you. 3. Means people are less likely to report as spam. Too many spam complaints will affect your sender reputation and you could even end up on a spam blacklist. Google, Hotmail and AOL have a "report spam" button which people will click if they can't easily find the unsubscribe link. 4. Provides a much better user experience and leads to less frustration. Every subscriber interaction with your business should be as positive as possible. Our top tips for easy unsubscribe 1. Include an unsubscribe link in the header of your e-newsletter along with a permission reminder of why they are receiving it. 2. Include a second unsubscribe link at the end of the e-newsletter. Make it part of the main body of the email, don't hide it in the small print footer. Below are two recent examples of poor unsubscribe positioning. In both cases the unsubscribe link is buried in the lengthy small print text at the foot of the newsletters and are very difficult to find. Example 1: Not actual size - see full size Example 2: Not actual size - see full size