It’s important for brands to personalise the unsubscribe part of the customer journey. It’s still part of the customer service, whether we are happy about it or not. If like me, you regularly receive in excess of 100 emails a day I'm sure you periodically purge your emails. Unsubscribing from all those that have no relevance to you or the ones you don't remember signing up for. For me, it’s an exercise I find enjoyable.
It is actually quite therapeutic and calming.
A real mixed bag
Part of my enjoyment comes from seeing the considerable difference between good and bad unsubscribe practices. Later in the blog I’ll highlight just how much of a varied bunch I received following a recent purge. What’s also interesting is that in spite of the law insisting that all forms of email marketing should have an unsubscribe option, many still don't and even if they do, it can be a real struggle to find the relevant link.
When you reach the final ‘Unsubscribe’ selection, you can be faced with a myriad of different messages. Some take it very seriously; appearing deeply offended that you could possibly want to unsubscribe from their exceptional dog/cat food emporium blog. Others are very matter of fact, seemingly happy to wash their hands of you.
By far the most interesting group are those who continue to stay on brand when saying goodbye. They are charming, witty and extremely professional - making it very difficult for you to press that final 'are you sure?' button. It's as though you are being disloyal or worse. These are the ones I love!
I must stay with at least 50% of these mailers out of guilt alone. Making me feel as though I am letting them down if I unsubscribe, a guilt trip of sorts.
Marketing at its best.
So next time you are planning your unsubscribe user journey - remember it's a sales opportunity to create an even greater and deeper loyalty out of a negative and unpopular link in your email marketing...never waste an opportunity to sell.
Some current techniques and practices I have seen
Too many major brands rely on the email marketing standard unsubscribe facility and it’s not very appealing. These include Boots, Asda, Harrods, RSPB, Oxfam and Greenpeace to name just a few.
All replies from the above looked like this. Its hard to think that internationally known retailer Harrods, sent me this message;
‘You will no longer hear from us’ isn’t exactly what you’d expect from a market leading brand. Especially one with a significant brand policing team.
This is more like it, a lovely email following my unsubscribe. They treated me with courtesy and have turned it into a market research piece – very effective.
Another good example is this from Laithwaite’s Wine – obviously one I’ll be re-subscribing too!
Again this one is a simpler version, but still looking to capture data to inform the brand!
This one is interesting. When brands use email marketing lists they rely on the unsubscribe from the list owner. Mistake! This response was from a campaign from a major holiday, travel and airline business. What does it say about their 360 degree customer experience?
My personal favourite is this. I won’t embarrass the brand by mentioning them, especially as they are a b2b publisher, who pride themselves on the quality of their best practice guidance to companies! Nothing, no humble apology or final farewell. Its cold and makes the whole act of unsubscribing feel justified. Its just awful and thousands of companies are doing it.
My advice would be that next time you simply include an unsubscribe function in your email marketing, in addition to making it legible and visible, make it a part of the customer journey. You never know, you might actually learn something from it if you ask the right questions. If you’re really lucky, you might just get to keep the subscription.
