Want People to Like You? Keep it Simple. (aka My Email Unsubscibe Saga)

It won't surprise you to learn that Vmeals uses email as a marketing channel. We know you get a lot of email, and we know that you aren’t going to read every word that comes into your inbox. We try to provide our email recipients with useful information, the occasional coupon or promotion, and maybe a little something that will make you smile. We hope seeing the name Vmeals in  your inbox will remind you that we're happy you're part of our community and maybe even serve as a cue when you need to place food orders for upcoming events.

What we don’t want is to pester, annoy, or harass you. That’s not very sociable, is it? So we abide by anti-SPAM regulations and email marketing best practices. If you don’t want to receive emails from us you simply click on the "unsubscribe" link found at the bottom of every email. It is instant and permanent (unless you choose to subscribe again). This is pretty standard practice – or at least I thought so.

Earlier this week we talked about triaging your email after returning from vacation. One tip I didn’t mention was what you can do in advance to help mitigate email overload – unsubscribe.

As I prepare to be out of the office and unable to access email for an extended period, I start by turning off notices and alerts that routinely come to my inbox every day. Next, I spend a few days unsubscribing to every marketing email or newsletter that comes into my inbox. Some I should have dropped long ago, but most I will subscribe to again when I am in daily contact with my inbox.

This exercise has been quite enlightening.

Go to the footer of any marketing email in your inbox and you should find an "unsubscribe" hyperlink. Ideally it will actually be the word “unsubscribe” that, when you click on it, takes you to a screen shot that says: Mary@bigcorp.com has been unsubscribed. End of story. What I’ve found has been quite varied.

Sometimes the unsubscribe link is obfuscated by microscopic font size, barely readable font color (light gray on white background – really?), or use of some oblique term like “Manage my Preferences”. It is unsporting to make it so hard to find.

Then if you do find the correct link, it shouldn't take more than two clicks to complete the job. A confirmation of email address or intent is fine, but presenting me with a list of check boxes that default in one  way only to make me carefully read the instructions so I know whether to check or uncheck them to  achieve the desired result is frustrating. Requiring me to tell you why I’m unsubscribing is not cool, and pretty much guarantees I will not be back. I understand the desire for data, but give me a multiple choice list and a comment box and make it optional.

I did appreciate that after jumping through the unsubscribe hoops on a couple of sites, I was rewarded with a sad sack photo of a company employee presumably sad to see me go. Funny is good.

Then there was this:

Oh, for the love of all that is good and holy, why would I have to provide an account number, PIN number and deed to my house in order to unsubscribe? I have never used my Hilton Honors account, so I certainly don’t know what the account number is, much less the super-secret PIN number. This is one of many travel rewards programs, not my bank account. Why make it so difficult to access? And 10 days to “process” my request. You have got to be kidding me.

All of this illustrates the value of simplicity (a core Vmeals value, by the way). Simplicity equals ease of use, and we believe, garners good will. We don’t want to lose either just for the sake of email marketing.