Unsubscribe Is Only One Word
What’s in a word? Everything. And the words you choose can either help your subscribers, prospects and customers feel like they have some control, or make them feel like they’re at your mercy. Email marketing best practices require you to pay attention to every word, every time…or else.
Case in point: The dreaded, poorly done unsubscribe reared its ugly head in my email inbox yet again this week. Tired of getting emails from a certain company I never asked to hear from in the first place, I finally decided to quit deleting each message (the easy way out) and to finally unsubscribe from the annoying monster (take a little longer but I’d least I’d be done).
Not only did this company make me feel powerless by sending me emails I didn’t ask for or want. They also used some clunky language in their unsubscribe option. Instead of a simple, straightforward “unsubscribe” link, like I’m used to, this email’s footer language said, “Manage your profile.”
Manage my profile? What profile? I don’t even want to get email from you and I have a profile? I just want to unsubscribe. I don’t want to manage anything. Manage my profile? It took me a minute to figure out that was my unsubscribe link, only by process of elimination, meaning nothing else looked like it would pass for one. I had to click on the link to be sure, and yes, “manage your profile” was code for “unsubscribe.”
Email marketing best practices say make things easy, not hard.
When you make things hard, you’re not customer-centric. When you make things easy, you show customers you care. The word “unsubscribe” is the only word needed in the footer of an email. Using fancy corporate talk only created friction as it slowed down my unsubscribe (which it was perhaps intended to do), and stirred up more ill will inside of me toward that company.
About the Author: Jared LaRock
