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How easy do you make it for people to unsubscribe from your list...

by Kim Standerline
35 replies
I've just run the gauntlet trying to unsubscribe from someone's list, there must have been 3 pages of upsells before I finally found the actual "please for god's sake let me go button" (This was with getresponse)

It got me thinking.

That type of thing annoys me tremendously and (call me a tad boring), its just not something I punish subscribers who want to leave me with.

So what do you do when people decide to unsubscribe (besides sticking pins in dolls etc),

Does your unsubscribe button do just that (unsub em), or do you batter em with upsell after upsell hoping something will stick.

Am I missing some great marketing secret here

Kim
#easy #list #make #people #unsubscribe
  • Profile picture of the author Khemal
    I make it easy for them to unsubscribe because if they don't want to be on my list then it's good to have them off it really. I'm not running a popularity contest and I don't care about how "big" my list is Although size does matter, they say...in the world of lists...i mean... My list is all about business to me. I don't hide the fact that people on my list will get emails from my with offers in them. That's why I have a list - to make money. Having a list of 100,000 doesn't put food on my table. Having a list of 1000 buyers who WANT to be on my list will!

    If they don't want to be on it, the exit is simple to find

    What do I do when they opt out? I ask them why and also give them a parting gift. I don't take it personally really. At some point my list was interesting enough for them and they were a valued part of it. But I do like to find out WHY they left and that lets me avoid mistakes I would have made. It helps me better myself.

    If someone's opting out of a "free" list then an upsell might not work all that much cos this is a "tire kicker" looking for the next free offer, not a paying customer.

    If someone's opting out of a customer list or from a membership site, for example, then offering them a lower monthly membership to say, or a chance to buy a one time life time membership rather than paying monthly might actually make them stay on

    You'd probably do well offering an existing customer up upsell rather than a freebie who's opting out.

    Khemal
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeAmbrosio
      I make it simple...

      Unsubscribe link in every email. No upsells, no parting gift, no survey. Just a simple "Thanks".
      Signature

      Are you protecting your on line business? If you have a website, blog, ecommerce store you NEED to back it up regularly. Your webhost will only protect you so much. Check out Quirkel. Protect yourself.

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    • Profile picture of the author JonnyAndrews
      Yea, I make it easy as well. The train of thought running here is: if they hate my emails enough to never wish to receive them again what will they think of my products?

      No upsells, no hassle... there's the door. Please don't let it hit you on the a$$ on the way out.

      I've even taken it a step further and personally unsubscribed people who just really grate on my nerves. Not the folks with questions, but that small group of morons who just like to gripe about everything. Just not enough hours in my life to waste it on them.

      But to be more direct... no... if they want to leave they can leave in fact I'll even help them!
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  • Profile picture of the author John Taylor
    Kim,

    I use EmailAces.com - one click unsubscribe.

    But I still get requests from people who want to be "removed" - for
    some weird reason they'd rather type and send me an email than
    click one link.

    But hey, I'm kewl with that - they always reply to the ezine with the
    unsubscribe link quoted - so I click it for them

    John
    Signature
    John's Internet Marketing News, Views & Reviews: John Taylor Online
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    Originally Posted by Kim Standerline View Post

    I've just run the gauntlet trying to unsubscribe from someone's list, there must have been 3 pages of upsells before I finally found the actual "please for god's sake let me go button" (This was with getresponse)

    It got me thinking.

    That type of thing annoys me tremendously and (call me a tad boring), its just not something I punish subscribers who want to leave me with.

    So what do you do when people decide to unsubscribe (besides sticking pins in dolls etc),

    Does your unsubscribe button do just that (unsub em), or do you batter em with upsell after upsell hoping something will stick.

    Am I missing some great marketing secret here

    Kim
    I make it easy, too. Click the link in the email and confirm the unsubscribe.

    I am a firm believer in making it easy for people to buy/opt-in, and feel the same about opting out.

    If someone is going to do an upsell, at the very least they should keep it all on one page. But what makes them think, "Gee, this person is unsubscribing, so I'm sure they will want to buy something else from me instead"? I can tell you that if I had to jump through hoops to unsubscribe that marketer would be on my "Never Do Business With" list.

    ~Michael
    Signature

    "Ich bin en fuego!"
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    • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
      Originally Posted by Michael Oksa View Post

      I make it easy, too. Click the link in the email and confirm the unsubscribe.

      I am a firm believer in making it easy for people to buy/opt-in, and feel the same about opting out.

      If someone is going to do an upsell, at the very least they should keep it all on one page. But what makes them think, "Gee, this person is unsubscribing, so I'm sure they will want to buy something else from me instead"? I can tell you that if I had to jump through hoops to unsubscribe that marketer would be on my "Never Do Business With" list.

      ~Michael
      My thoughts exactly

      Phew for a mo there, I thought I'd missed out on some other irritating marketing secret lol

      Kim
      Signature
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      • Profile picture of the author BIG Mike
        Banned
        [DELETED]
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        • Profile picture of the author JasonKing
          I think BIG Mike is right..

          -JasonKing
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        • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
          Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post

          Somewhere (sorry - can't remember where), I thought CAN-SPAM now required a single action to unsubscribe? Mayube not - maybe I was just fantasizing, LOL.
          Yeah you big drunken greek

          You just might be right, (You do manage it on occasions lol)

          Being right that is

          Kymi
          Signature
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        • Profile picture of the author TeamGlobal
          Hi Kim,

          I like making unsubscribing easy. There's a link in every email of every autoresponder series that is clearly marked.

          I didn't want any of my subscribers to feel the same level of frustration I have felt in the past trying to unsubscribe from someone's list.


          All The Best,


          Tony
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          • Profile picture of the author thatgirlJ
            I have a single unsubscribe link for my lists.

            However, there was one list I was on where the person said you had to open a help desk ticket to unsubscribe...they gave no link to the helpdesk

            I had to dig around to find it by searching Google, and by the time I did I was not happy and let them know about it, in what I thought was a courteous way, pointing out what I thought was wrong with the process.

            I was told I have a pissy attitude, and to get over myself. :rolleyes:

            I was also under the impression that it needed to be a one step process from reading the laws...but a friend asked a lawyer and they said it was a little vague about whether the person's help desk process with no link for me to follow was okay.
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            • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
              Originally Posted by Jenn Dize View Post

              I was told I have a pissy attitude, and to get over myself. :rolleyes:
              I can honestly say that would have truly and utterly pissed me off. (Mainly because I do often have a pissy attitude)

              And because I can be a real cow, I would have reported them to every single organisation I can think of.

              Then I would have sat back with a cup of tea and congratulated myself on how spiteful and vindictive I actually was. (It does honestly give a real warm glow)


              Kim
              Signature
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              • Profile picture of the author thatgirlJ
                Originally Posted by Kim Standerline View Post

                I can honestly say that would have truly and utterly pissed me off. (Mainly because I do often have a pissy attitude)

                And because I can be a real cow, I would have reported them to every single organisation I can think of.

                Then I would have sat back with a cup of tea and congratulated myself on how spiteful and vindictive I actually was. (It does honestly give a real warm glow)

                Kim
                LOL, Kim, that made me laugh. I should have...when someone gets mad at me (regardless of if they should have or not) I tend to cower away.

                You're going to die...but I actually apologized for making him upset

                I think your course of action would have been more fitting for this person.
                :p
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                • Profile picture of the author Sirius Lin
                  Oh man, there was this IMer whose list I was on. I kept trying to unsubscribe by clicking the link at the bottom, and each time I did I was taken to a page where I was told I was removed from the list. But the very next day, bang - another email. I won't mind if these emails were of value, but this guy was sending me his affiliate links day in day out without caring if the products relevant to my interests.

                  In the end, I resorted to emailing the guy directly. It took 4 attempts, and finally, a promise to report him to Spamcop before I stopped getting his emails.

                  ~ Sirius
                  Signature
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                  • Profile picture of the author Peter Bestel
                    Originally Posted by siriuslin View Post

                    Oh man, there was this IMer whose list I was on. I kept trying to unsubscribe by clicking the link at the bottom, and each time I did I was taken to a page where I was told I was removed from the list. But the very next day, bang - another email. I won't mind if these emails were of value, but this guy was sending me his affiliate links day in day out without caring if the products relevant to my interests.

                    In the end, I resorted to emailing the guy directly. It took 4 attempts, and finally, a promise to report him to Spamcop before I stopped getting his emails.

                    ~ Sirius
                    I must admit, I've experienced this a few times - repeatedly unsubscribing with no joy and my solution is to report as spam and delete - no further correspondence. We all know how simple it is to set up so if they can't be bothered to get their act together, it's the spam bin for them.

                    Peter
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                • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
                  Originally Posted by Jenn Dize View Post

                  LOL, Kim, that made me laugh. I should have...when someone gets mad at me (regardless of if they should have or not) I tend to cower away.
                  Jenn hun, come and hang out with me, after 30 + years of nursing (and managing people), I've learned to grow a really hard skin (metaphorically of course) in real life I'm gorgeous!

                  Funnily enough the people I manage like me because they know where they stand lol

                  We're women, we gotta be tough, its a hard world out there and we should be ruling the world. Just think, if we did rule, we could pass laws where we had our nails done for free

                  Kim for prime minister (yeah)
                  Signature
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                  • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
                    Kim, first of all, I use Aweber so all I do is write my message, don't leave
                    any white space at the end so that the unsubscribe link is right after my
                    signature and then I just let the Aweber system do the rest.

                    In other words, I make it as easy as possible.

                    Why would I want to knock myself out trying to keep somebody on my list
                    or sell to them when they don't want anything to do with me? It doesn't
                    make any sense.

                    I'll never understand those marketers who practically beg you to stay on
                    their list when you hit that unsubscribe button.

                    I wonder if they actually ever get anybody to stay on or buy something
                    from them. Obviously they must or they wouldn't do it. Or maybe they
                    just love beating their heads into brick walls.

                    I have no idea either way.
                    Signature
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                    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
                      Even before any anti-spam legislation, I made it easy for people to unsubscribe from any list I ran.

                      And, no matter how easy you make it, no matter how prominent the unsubscribe instructions are, you'll still receive messages saying "UNSUBSCRIBE ME NOW!!!"
                      Signature

                      Dan's content is irregularly read by handfuls of people. Join the elite few by reading his blog: dcrBlogs.com, following him on Twitter: dcrTweets.com or reading his fiction: dcrWrites.com but NOT by Clicking Here!

                      Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
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                      • Profile picture of the author Martin Avis
                        Unsubscribers? What are they?
                        Signature
                        Martin Avis publishes Kickstart Newsletter - Subscribe free at http://kickstartnewsletter.com
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                        • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
                          Originally Posted by Martin.Avis View Post

                          Unsubscribers? What are they?
                          well you won't get em Martin cos you write the best newsletter on the net!

                          Kim
                          Signature
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                          • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
                            Most of my lists have had a simple one-click unsub. On some, I've added a single, anonymous text field asking for a reason and any suggestions for improvement. Unfortunately, most of the suggestions from one list were anatomically impossible...

                            I've even used a kind of reverse psychology by drawing attention to the unsubscribe link, and warning them to be careful not to click it as they'll disappear from the list and there's nothing I can do to stop it.
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                            • Profile picture of the author wellymulia
                              For me of course it's a 1 click simple unsubscribe link.

                              Since they are not interested in what you have to say, why bother upselling them? This will annoy them even further.
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                            • Profile picture of the author TinkBD
                              Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

                              Most of my lists have had a simple one-click unsub. On some,

                              I've even used a kind of reverse psychology by drawing attention to the unsubscribe link, and warning them to be careful not to click it as they'll disappear from the list and there's nothing I can do to stop it.
                              LOL I have a non-IM niche and they can be a *challenge* (I'm being PC here)

                              I might just give this a try! At least with the membership email lists...

                              Tink
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        • Profile picture of the author dbressler
          Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post

          Somewhere (sorry - can't remember where), I thought CAN-SPAM now required a single action to unsubscribe? Mayube not - maybe I was just fantasizing, LOL.
          The FTC says:

          "an e-mail recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her e-mail address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply e-mail message or visiting a single Internet Web page to opt out of receiving future e-mail from a sender; "

          Debbi Bressler
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          • Profile picture of the author Lance K
            If someone wants to unsubscribe, either

            A) It turns out they're not consistent with your target customer profile

            or

            B) You didn't do a good enough job of communicating with them


            In the case of A there is no reason to want to keep them on your list and in the case of B you don't deserve to keep them on your list.
            Signature
            "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
            ~ Zig Ziglar
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    • Profile picture of the author Jelasco
      Originally Posted by Michael Oksa View Post

      If someone is going to do an upsell, at the very least they should keep it all on one page. But what makes them think, "Gee, this person is unsubscribing, so I'm sure they will want to buy something else from me instead"? I can tell you that if I had to jump through hoops to unsubscribe that marketer would be on my "Never Do Business With" list.
      I know someone who makes thousands per month from unsubscribers. When they click the link they are removed right away, but taken to a page with an offer on it, and some of them buy... so your assumption isn't true.
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  • Profile picture of the author lakshaybehl
    This is how my emails end...

    -Lakshay
    Lakshay Behl's Secret Traffic Videos

    .
    .
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    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
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    .
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    .
    Message personally written
    by Lakshay behl. You may
    say goodbye now.

    And then the normal Aweber unsubscribe link goes
    Signature
    WARNING EXPLICIT: This is ugly... and this is the distilled truth


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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      My recent personal favorite had an unsubscribe link - but then required me to click to "confirm the unsubscribe" in an email.

      After "confirming" I received one more email saying I had been blacklisted due to unsubscribing and would be unable to rejoin the list without special permission.

      Trust me - after that message I'll never bother with anything from this person again. What a spiteful, useless email that was.

      kay
      Signature
      Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
      ***
      2024 Patriot's Award for Service to Veterans
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      • Profile picture of the author lakshaybehl
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        My recent personal favorite had an unsubscribe link - but then required me to click to "confirm the unsubscribe" in an email.

        After "confirming" I received one more email saying I had been blacklisted due to unsubscribing and would be unable to rejoin the list without special permission.

        Trust me - after that message I'll never bother with anything from this person again. What a spiteful, useless email that was.

        kay
        LOL

        Did that really happen? WTF!
        Signature
        WARNING EXPLICIT: This is ugly... and this is the distilled truth


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      • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        My recent personal favorite had an unsubscribe link - but then required me to click to "confirm the unsubscribe" in an email.

        After "confirming" I received one more email saying I had been blacklisted due to unsubscribing and would be unable to rejoin the list without special permission.

        Trust me - after that message I'll never bother with anything from this person again. What a spiteful, useless email that was.

        kay
        ha ha my fave so far

        Kim
        Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author Jelasco
    Originally Posted by Kim Standerline View Post

    I've just run the gauntlet trying to unsubscribe from someone's list, there must have been 3 pages of upsells before I finally found the actual "please for god's sake let me go button" (This was with getresponse)
    How is that even possible? Doesn't GR insert a removal link?

    And how can you have upsells when there was no original offer?
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  • Profile picture of the author John Rowe
    Originally Posted by Kim Standerline View Post

    I've just run the gauntlet trying to unsubscribe from someone's list, there must have been 3 pages of upsells before I finally found the actual "please for god's sake let me go button" (This was with getresponse)
    I don't waste my time. One extra hoop and I hit the spam button for every future message.


    .
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    • Profile picture of the author OnlineMasterMind
      unsubscribes are not allowed.

      The only way we'll process it is if they forward us a purchase receipt...
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    CanSpam DOES require an easy unsubscribe. In fact, it requires something like a maximum 3 day response time!!!!! So if your system is down, you are to get it up within 3 days, etc.... MOST people that want to unsubscribe probably won't buy from you ANYWAY!

    I really wonder. One person, not naming any names, once got SUED by the FTC!!!!! If I said why, or the name of the product, you would probably all know the guy. Then I hear he makes it practically impossible to get a refund, or even cancel the subscription? UNREAL!

    What I REALLY hate though is companies, like godaddy, trying to TRICK you into upsells, and frustrating purchases. If they didn't sell at such a low price, I would NEVER have bought from them! NO WONDER their prices are so "low". They even rearrange their screen, and change the button highlighted and must be INTENTIONALLY trying to get people to do things like buy the annonymous domain feature that makes it go from a meager "profit" that is probably a net loss, to a MAJOR profit that is a BONANZA! Even some of the people that CATCH the error may decide that it isn't worth trying to go back, etc...

    HECK, I have LEFT sears, in disgust, because nobody was there to take my money.

    It is truly surprising how some places stay in business. SEARS was suffering. They might have done well if ONLY they took the MILLIONS handed them.

    Steve
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