Are you tired of receiving unwanted emails? You're not alone. According to a survey by MarketingSherpa, 69% of email recipients report emails as spam based solely on the subject line. And when it comes to unsubscribing, it's not always a smooth process.
In fact, 54% of consumers say they have received irrelevant emails, and 45% say they have received too many emails. This can lead to frustrated customers who may decide to unsubscribe altogether.
However, a custom unsubscribe page can help. By providing options for customers to choose their preferences, such as content topics or frequency options, you can keep them on your email list while sending them fewer emails.
In this article, we'll explore the benefits of custom unsubscribe pages and provide examples of effective pages to inspire your own design.
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Exploring the role of custom unsubscription pages in email marketing not only safeguards user preferences but can also serve as one of the essential KPIs for customer success for businesses online.
You may have heard that if the number of unsubscribes exceeds a certain percentage, it can potentially hinder email deliverability during your future email campaigns. This isn’t necessarily true. What will affect your sender reputation and email deliverability, however, is the following:
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Beyond everything we’ve just mentioned, the unsubscription page serves as the final opportunity to re-engage users or, at the very least, understand their reasons for wanting to stop receiving your emails. A custom unsubscribe page, when designed well, can, therefore help you retain some users.
Finally, a custom unsubscribe page allows you to understand which emails you could focus more on in your future campaigns. Using email analytics tools, you can collect this sort of data to form patterns and trends and easily gauge what kind of content gets you the most open rates and the least amount of unsubscribes (and vice versa).
Legal and Ethical Considerations
Respecting user preferences isn’t just a good practice; it’s often a legal requirement. Many countries have laws that demand that businesses offer a clear way for recipients to unsubscribe from their mailing lists.
Moreover, from an ethical standpoint, this kind of practice builds trust and demonstrates that your brand values user choice over the opportunity to abuse their personal information.
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Once a person clicks on the unsubscribe link in your email, they can be taken to a page that contains multiple elements apart from the actual unsubscribe button. We have listed some of the main ones below.
Branding and Customization
Many companies choose to have an unsubscribe page that looks nothing like any of their other online profiles. Often, when a user clicks on their unsubscribe links, they reach a blank web page with the confirmation message “Click here to unsubscribe from future emails” in a nondescript font at the center.
But you can and should do better than this.
For one, your unsubscription page should reflect your brand’s overall style. Use your company’s colors, logo, and a friendly tone matching your communication style.
Explanation of the Unsubscribe Process
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Regardless of how you choose to customize your unsubscribe page, you need to make it crystal clear how users can opt out. Even with a more elaborate design, the page should prominently display a simple, one-click option to unsubscribe completely from all emails.
Remember, if users are not able to find the unsubscribe option within a few seconds of opening the page, they will simply resort to flagging all future emails from you as spam. As previously mentioned, this can harm your sender reputation and email deliverability. Therefore, avoid hidden links or complicated steps.
Alternative Choices for Users
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Sometimes, subscribers don’t want to sever ties completely, and a custom unsubscription page is a great opportunity to offer alternatives like reducing email frequency or selecting specific types of emails they want to receive.
The “unsubscribe from all emails” option should still be the most prominent one, but you can include a few more that allow the user to re-subscribe to the types of content they might still want to receive from you.
For example, a content marketing agency may offer the following options:
The more interesting options you provide, the better the chance the user won’t need to opt out completely.
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Now that we’ve covered the importance of having a custom unsubscription page in the first place, here is a summary of its main benefits:
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Here are some unsubscribe page best practices to keep in mind when designing your default unsubscribe page:
Here are some unsubscribe page examples of companies that have successfully created custom unsubscription pages that maintain their brand identity and offer clear options for users.
J.Crew
J.Crew’s custom unsubscribe confirmation page offers the choice to customize your email preferences. The language used on this page aligns really well with the overall character of J.Crew Factory. Ensuring users feel empowered to manage their future email content, this brand certainly manages to retain at least some of those fleeing users.
Grammarly
Grammarly’s unsubscription process also provides its subscribers with multiple options to tailor their preferences. If you’re only there for their product updates and your own writing reports, you can just check those options and opt out of everything else that’s more promotional. Their unsubscribe message also effectively conveys that by customizing your preferences, you play a part in the ongoing improvement of Grammarly’s product.
Yankee Candle
Yankee Candle offers a hassle-free, single-page unsubscribe process. They recognize the importance of making the unsubscribe process as straightforward as possible. As such, their unsubscribe page keeps it simple with just a few essential fields. Users are asked to provide their email address and confirm their unsubscribe request or choose an option to temporarily pause or “snooze” emails (eliminating the need for a re-subscribe button; users automatically start receiving promotional emails again after the 30-day period has passed). This minimalistic approach reduces friction and allows users to quickly and easily manage their email preferences and inbox.
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Respecting choices when users unsubscribe and maintaining a strong brand identity go hand in hand. Having a well-designed custom landing page dedicated to unsubscriptions is a testament to this balance, ultimately benefiting your business and your customers.