Some Top Marketers Struggle to Provide Adequate Unsubscribe E-mail Options
November 21, 2008
According to the study, 11 percent of companies surveyed e-mailed subscribers more than 10 days after receiving an unsubscribe request — a violation of the federal CAN-SPAM Act. Marketers risk impacting their overall e-mail reputations with spam complaints if they have faulty e-mail unsubscribe processes, Return Path points out in its study.
For the study, Return Path unsubscribed from the e-mail lists of 45 companies in the retail, consumer goods, travel and media/entertainment industries. Return Path originally subscribed to these e-mail lists to conduct the study.
When consumers unsubscribe from e-mail marketing, they potentially could be enticed to remain subscribed but with less frequency, according to Return Path. But the overwhelming majority of marketers studied missed out on keeping consumers subscribed to less frequent mailings. Just two companies out of the 45 studied offered options for subscribers to change the frequency with which they receive e-mail or the ability to opt out of some of the marketers' e-mails.
The study also revealed that most marketers have not designed their unsubscribe procedures to accommodate consumers who simply want to change their e-mail addresses while remaining subscribed. Only 11 percent of companies allowed subscribers to change their e-mail addresses on the unsubscribe landing page. As the study points out, when e-mail change of address is not included as part of the unsubscribe process, consumers are forced to unsubscribe from one address and resubscribe with a new e-mail address.
Companies Mentioned:
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