Maybe Not the Best Way to Run a List?

Some people make it really hard to get off their lists. And, that can be annoying and frustrating if you want off.

The flip side of that is perhaps it might not be a good idea to make it too easy to get off your list.

Lately, I've been unsubscribing from a number of lists. Sometimes, I don't even remember who they are or why I subscribed in the first place. And, sometimes it's because I'm just not interested anymore or will probably never buy anything (or a second thing) from the list owner.

In the case of the former, where I have forgotten why I'm on the list, several times I've reversed my decision after being reminded what the list was for.

For example, I'll click the unsubscribe link in the eMail, and that'll take me to a web page where I can "manage my subscription." This has generally taken the form of listing when I subscribed to the list, who owns the list, what product or service was associated with it, and so on.

Then, I can confirm whether I really want to unsubscribe.

As I said, there have been several times when I've decided to stay on the list because I was reminded what it was for and I realized that was a list I wanted to stay on. I may not be interested in every message, but there may be certain messages I am looking for from that sender. So, I stay subscribed.

So, today, I got an eMail. I didn't remember who the sender was, didn't remember if I've ever bought anything from him or what it was for, so I hit the unsubscribe link, expecting that it would behave like every other list I've unsubscribed to (or started to unsubscribe to) recently.

Instead it took me to a page that informed me I had been unsubscribed to the list.

No "are you sure?" No reminder. Nothing. Not even a note that, if you change your mind, you can resubscribe here. Nothing. Just nothing. (No subscribe link in the eMail itself either and no way to figure out how to get there.)

Okay then. Guess I can't change my mind! LOL!

But, you know what else? The unsubscribe link is only a couple lines away from the link he's promoting in his current eMail. It wouldn't be too improbable to click the wrong link by mistake.

I'm not saying you should make people go through hoops to unsubscribe, but maybe a reminder and confirmation or a "did you accidentally hit the wrong link?" message with a link to resubscribe may be a good idea too.