Opt-out: Which of these would work best?

Marco Barra
eMarketing Consultant at eMarketingHut.com

21 May 2007 15:00pm

1 - On the user's request, remove him/her from our email marketing but retain their access to the system.

2 - On the user's request, remove him/her from our email marketing as well as their access to the system.

Would the first option be best as it retains the user for future campaings? or would the second approach work better as it would detter users from opting out?

Are there any legalities associated with any of either of these two options?

Thanks,

Marco
dan barker
E-Business Consultant at Dan Barker

21 May 2007 16:27pm
hi, Marco, how are you?
without knowing any of your specifics - i would go for the first option every time. here are a few off-the-top-of-the-head reasons why I wouldn't go with option 2:
1. it throws a bucket of water over your brand warmth ('unsubscribe from our emails & we'll cut off the service)
2. if it does deter anyone from unsubscribing & they begrudgingly decide to stay with you so that you don't remove their access, they will (in future) resent your emails & perceive them in the same way as they would spam, therefore:
- every future email they receive damages your brand
- they're more likely to hit the 'this email is spam' button if they're using gmail/hotmail/etc, which risks your email reputation & potential blacklisting
- they're less likely to speak well of you to their friends/colleagues & more likely to speak ill of you
- they're probably not going to click through on any future campaigns anyway
an 'unsubscribe' doesn't necessarily mean they plan to stop using your system. it's hard enough getting someone to sign up on a website, without then crossing them off the list as soon as they say they're tired of your emails