There has been a lot of talk in the marketplace recently about the “unsubscribe process” in email and making it easier for the consumers receiving them. Microsoft Windows Live has even started rendering an unsubscribe link in the header of an email that is encoded to support the functionality. The question is not if people will use it, it is whether people will not use it. The thinking is that by presenting the email recipients with a valid unsubscribe option at the top of an email the recipient feels the message is valid.
Will this work?
The functionality that allows for this additional unsubscribe is not inserted by the ISPs. In fact most ISPs do not even support the encoding required. Microsoft is one of the first companies to test the use of the functionality and it is picking up steam.
Does a unsubscribe option in a header of an email validate the content of an email? The simple answer to that question is no. The fact of the matter is that people who send out Spam are smart. They are not common criminals but well educated, technology focused individuals. The fact is that there are more Spammers out in the market that are Sender ID and SPF compliant then there are legitimate marketers. There is nothing stopping a Spammer from including this unsubscribe option within the header of their emails as well.
You would think that would be the end of it, no, it only gets better. In Microsoft’s implementation of the unsubscribe button, the functionality will not only unsubscribe the user but puts the email address of the marketer on the recipients unsafe sender list. The individual will no longer receive ANY email from that marketer. This has major implications for people who will re-register for emails in the future as the process of removing an email address from an unsafe sender list is not an easy process.
The truth of the matter is that the only silver bullet for marketers to get into the inbox is to get their recipients to add their from address to their address book. This is to support marketers in educating their new registrants from the moment they sign up. Not sending a confirmation message and a welcome message to new registrants is a missed opportunity to set email communication expectations. A thank you/confirmation email should thank the new registrant for taking the time to sign-up as well as announce the fact that they will soon be receiving a welcome email giving them more information about how they will benefit from their registration. The welcome email should communicate the benefits of the email communications the registrant has signed up for, ask them to add the email address to the address book, and speak to the frequency of which the emails will arrive in their inbox.
What will help boost email metrics? Not unsubscribe technology…customer education.
Until next time…stay curious…
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