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September 18, 2009 By 2 Comments

Auto-unsubscribe is the only acceptable policy

I finally got annoyed today at the number of “noisy” emails I was getting from Overstock.com so I decided to unsubscribe. Never mind that I was already annoyed with Overstock.com because of the frequency of sending, low content quality, and difficulty in unsubscribing. That’s a story for another time but it will suffice to say that the company’s brand now conjures up negative feelings in my mind.

I finally found the unsubscribe link (hidden among some other links) and I clicked it. The first mistake Overstock.com made was that the process was not a one-click process. After I had already clicked on the (well-hidden) unsubscribe link, I was taken to a confirmation page which required me to click again.

The worst part, however, is that when I finally confirmed my desire to leave this mailing list, I received this confirmation message:

“We have received your email frequency change or unsubscribe request for the email address listed below. Please note that it may take up to 10 days for your change to take effect.”

Seriously? It takes 10 days to remove me from a mailing list? There is absolutely no excuse for this. The technology has existed for over a decade which allows unsubscribe requests to be processed automatically. A delay of this nature implies that human intervention is required to update the database which means that not only will I continue to be annoyed by emails, but Overstock.com has to pay someone to click buttons.

Be sure your email newsletter offers an automatic one-click unsubscribe process. Anything else is wasteful and irresponsible.

Filed Under: Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , ,
  • Kristen

    I recently unsubscribed from a mailing list that required a link on an e-mail, a link on a page, signing into that page, then another link, then a confirmation e-mail, then another click on a link, then selecting which communications to unsubscribe to, then another click. Then I got an e-mail saying it could take 10 days.
    Why would I ever, EVER have wanted to quit receiving that sort of high-quality communication?!

  • http://www.radianceroadmarketing.com Jack Duncan

    You are right – auto unsubcribing for email newsletters should be standard, but it's not. I din't get it, either. If you subscribe, you get on the list right away – usually an auto confirm. It certainly should work that way in reverse.
    The most important thing is to get users to WANT to subscribe in the first place and that's the problem with internet marketing programs – not just reaching prospects, but keeping them engaged. The content has to be useful and interesting. I've found that many retailers are just too focused oin the traditional sales model – which mandates traditional advertising. Today, it's different, we need effective online engagement. Get with it or lose valuable opportunitites.