In Praise of the Unsubscribe Link

Few things bring such fear and insecurity to marketers as the unsubscribe link. I however, love it. Making unsubscribe easy is one of the best things marketers can do to ensure they are sending the right message to the right people.

We should want to email people that want to receive our message and not because it is too difficult to opt-out. I feel that making unsubscribe easy also ensures that marketing teams are on top of their game. Our content should be so great that we could have a big red button with 24 point text daring people to unsubscribe and risk missing the information we are sending them.

The unsubscribe links gives marketers the critical feedback to know if what they’re doing is working or not. Brands that make unsubscribing difficult are like the people that sense a break-up is coming so they avoid all texts, phone calls, and personal interactions with their significant other. The relationship is over. Time to move on.

I fear the emotional unsubscribe where people don’t even care enough to actually unsubscribe. They just keep ignoring every email you send them. They make understanding your audience more difficult and also mess up reporting. Please, just unsubscribe.