Don’t hide the unsubscribe option

Obviously, you do not want people to unsubscribe from your newsletter. It feels like breaking the relationship. But keep in mind that there are 2 major consequences to consider.

Why unsubscribing isn’t that bad

Firstly, if a person is no longer interest, you’d better offer them the unsubscribe option than let them continuously hit the delete button or mark your email as spam. Both have a negative impact on inbox engagement, reputation management and your deliverability.

Secondly, it does not have to be like that. Someone who is going to travel for a long period of time won’t be interested in your offers, as they will be on the other side of the world. But once they have returned from their travels, chances are that they are interested in your products again. At that stage, you want to include them again.

Add the unsubscribe link

So, always make it easy to unsubscribe, permanently or temporarily, allowing them to determine the period. Always ask for the reason for cancellation and learn from this feedback. Make sure to make it as simple as possible for customers; even if they do not give a reason they can still unsubscribe. And give them a choice of a few options:

• the product no longer suits me
• I receive too many newsletters
• the content does not reflect my interests
• I have another email address where I want to receive the newsletter, namely: …
• other reason, namely….

This allows you to do something about the frequency or content of your newsletters. And you keep the conversation with your customer or prospect alive and try to better meet his or her wishes.

In short, make sure it is always easy to unsubscribe. Do not hide the unsubscribe option somewhere at the bottom of your newsletter, but show it at the top and make the link clearly visible. Do not turn it into an obstacle course, for example by having people log in before they can unsubscribe. You would prefer having people unsubscribe rather than marking your newsletter as spam. And that’s what happens when you make unsubscribing too complicated.