While there really were no earth shattering revelations in the 2007 Email Sender and Provider Coalition (ESPC) study of email recipient behavior; it did provide some research data to support what many of us in the industry have been saying for years. The study investigated the views about spam, unsubscribe features and anti-spam technologies of more than 2000 US email recipients.
The study found that 80 percent of respondents delete or report messages as spam without opening the actual message. Seventy three percent base this decision on the “From” field and 69 percent take action because of subject line content.
Ninety percent of those surveyed indicated that they would appreciate having an unsubscribe button and 80 percent also want access to a report fraud button. In addition, more than half of respondents (53 percent) would be more likely to open and read an e-mail with a certification symbol.
The report made me think about the potential value of including an unsubscribe “button” in email. Most email marketers include an opt-out link in their email messages. Or they should! Normally, this link is found buried somewhere at the bottom of an email after a long sting of text. But what about making it even easier for our recipients to unsubscribe by crafting that unsubscribe link in the form of a clear, easy to see button? Anyone who read Seth Godin’s The Big Red Fez understands the positive impact that a red button can have on website landing pages.
What about using a big red button (or medium size for that matter) for our unsubscribe links? More and more, email marketers are understanding that keeping recipients on an email list when they really don’t want to be there isn’t a good strategy. It’s like inviting people who don’t like you to your party. The most effective email lists are comprised of willing, interested and engaged recipients. Email marketers would benefit from making the unsubscribe process easy for those who don’t want to attend the party in the first place. Not only would it help to build a more effective list, but it would build trust and confidence in their brand and differentiate them from pushy emailers who do not value permission-based marketing.
The study also reiterates the importance of the From and Subject fields. “80 percent of respondents delete or report messages as spam without opening the actual message.” These figures remind us to focus on these fields when designing our email campaigns. Too often, micro-content such as these fields is overlooked by email copywriters.
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Well I always add an unsubscribe link at the end of each mail, but there are some websites (companies) which asks you to send a blank email to their address to unsubscribe and they never let you unsubscribe…
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