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Email Marketing Clinic: Could 'opt outs' be damaging your reputation?

An 'opt-out' is an opt-out. The recipient just clicks on the link, your email marketing software package handles it, end of story ...right? Not necessarily.

Firstly, there two ways a recipient can opt out of a mass email marketing campaign. The obvious one is where they click the link in the email and the result is recorded. The not so obvious one is where they click the 'junk' button or complain to one of the spam monitoring organisations. If they click the junk button in Hotmail, for example, this click or 'event' is fed back to be recorded as an opt-out (shown as 'ISP Feedback loop' in the opt-out report). Or, if they complain to Spamcop, your email marketing company would receive a notification email and then opt out the email address in question.

Does it matter which method they use?
Yes, it does. The first is a nice clean indication that they no longer wish to receive your mass email marketing. You suffer no other consequences; you're simply unable to send them an email in the future. The second essentially does the same - but unfortunately it can also damage your reputation as an organisation with a responsible attitude towards mass email marketing.

Here's how it works
When they click the junk button or complain to a spam monitor, the recipient is opted out. HOWEVER the event is also recorded in a database held by the ISP or spam monitor.These databases are often used by automatic spam filters to determine the reputation of the source of a mass email. The more junk indications, the more it affects the success of your mass email marketing campaign.

In other words, the more black marks against your reputation, the greater the chance that automatic spam filters won't deliver your emails. So as you can see, the way a person opts out is important. So how can you set up an opt-out policy that works with you, rather than against you?

Get them to opt-out the way you want
Opt-out policies depend on WHO you are sending emails to and HOW MANY opt-outs you expect from any specific mass email marketing campaign. In an ideal world, each opt-out experience would be tailored to the individual email message. But if you only expect a small number of opt-outs, this is not always practical or cost effective.

The Pure Guide to getting the best out of your opt-outs...

1. You want people to opt out via your link rather than using the junk button or a spam complaint site. So make your opt-out link obvious - don't hide it at the bottom of the page. Even consider making it a feature at the top of the page, perhaps close to some 'trust earning text' to hopefully make them less likely to opt out.



2. They may not want this particular product, but do you have others they might be interested in? If so, consider using your opt-out landing page as a click-through to other products. For example if you're marketing red lorries, but the opt-out page shows you also sell yellow, green and blue lorries, at least you've given them the chance to buy something other than a red lorry! So even a 'clean' opt out can be good news for your business.



3. Another good technique is to configure the opt-out page as a kind of 'Preference page', along the lines of 'I'm not interested in this email, but I might be interested in one or more of these alternative topics, products or services'.

At Pure we might say something like:
You have indicated you no longer wish to receive emails about {~email marketing~} from Pure360.com. By sending you an email, our intention was to help inform you of developments and new software features that might make your {~email marketing~} ever more successful.

If you'd rather not receive emails on {~email marketing~} perhaps you'd rather hear about some of our other products and services. Please tick the relevant boxes below and click submit.

I'd rather not receive any further emails about {~email marketing~}, but would like to be kept informed about the following products and services:

Successful marketing to mobile phones

Marketing databases for marketing departments

Web Analytics for marketing departments

I do not wish to receive any further marketing emails of whatever nature from Purepromoter Ltd.

About the Author
Stuart Hobbs is managing director of Pure and has worked in the IT industry since 1983. In 1989 he started his own software distribution company specialising in network utility software and since then has built a reputation for managing and expanding small software and technology companies.
For more information visit: www.pure360.com

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