E-mail Opt-outs: An Uneasy Balance
Most direct marketers seriously mishandle opt-outs from their e-mail files, two recent studies show.
For one thing, a majority admit to burying opt-out instructions in message footers. In fact, while 96% of e-mail marketers include an unsubscribe function in their promotional messages as required by federal law, almost two-thirds try to discourage opt-outs by putting such language in tiny type, according to a poll of more than 400 DMers by marketing services provider Lyris.
The thing is, just because someone unsubscribes from an e-mail list doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve stopped being a customer. Also, people who can’t easily find a way to unsubscribe may report the message as spam to their e-mail inbox provider, increasing the likelihood that the mailer will have deliverability problems.
