FAILED! Email Marketing and the Unsubscribe Option

If you’re doing any sort of email marketing, which is simply, when you send a mass email to a list of people, you have to make it easy for those people to unsubscribe from your list! It’s the law, pictured below.

CAN-SPAM Act

I’m writing this article because I get really annoyed when this process isn’t easy, and I have to spend a bunch of time trying to get off someones list!

This just happened to me!

I got an email from a company, that shall remain nameless, and I went straight to the bottom of the email to find the unsubscribe link. It took me a couple minutes, because the font is so hard to read for one and two, I actually had to read it to know how to unsubscribe.

This is the email.

Unsubscribe Failure

So not only was there not a simple 1 click unsubscribe, I had to hunt for which word in the sentence had the link to the “correct” email address I needed to send my unsubscribe request too!

Although I am annoyed I sent the email.

A minute later I get this response.

Unsubscribe email marketing

Email Unsubscribe Failure!

Way to go nameless company!

However, I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised. This company has been behind for some time and this just goes to show they are still playing catch up!

Based on this they have broken the CAN-SPAM Act.

  1. It was not easy to unsubscribe (or “Craft the notice in a way that’s easy for an ordinary person to recognize”)
  2. They didn’t honor my request promptly (they ignored it)

How to do this right!

First, don’t use a crappy home grown app. Sign up for a service that handles this for you, the right way.

I have used Mailchimp for years, but recently switched to Convertkit.

This is what it looks like to unsubscribe from my email list.

Convertkit Unsubscribe

You click that link you are instantly unsubscribed. No hassle, no searching, just point, click, and done!

“Making it easy increases unsubscribes!”

I call B.S on this one! If people don’t want your crap they’re going to either get of your list or click the “Spam” button in their email client!

You want them to unsubscribe for the sake of your email marketing success, trust me!

Look the truth is, people get a lot of email and you have to earn the right to be front and center! If they don’t like your content, if they’re done listening to you, if they don’t know who you are and why they “subscribed” in the first place, that’s on you!!

It is in your best interest to make it easy for them to get out!

The Wrap Up

Don’t be shady! Make it easy! Use Convertkit, or something like it. Signup for this free guide on email marketing.

Comments? Questions? Concerns? Use the comments below!