How Hard Is It to Get Off Your List?

I’ve been doing a great deal of email housecleaning in the last few days, doing mass unsubscribes from lists that no longer serve me or from lists from which I get almost daily emails. I’ve been extremely frustrated with how difficult it’s been to get off of some of the lists.

The best ones are what I call the "1 click" ones, in which I simply click the unsubscribe button at the end of the email and I’ve been removed from the list.  Some require 2 clicks to get off the list, usually asking me if I’m sure I want to be unsubscribed while offering me the option to continue on the list.  That’s still tolerable as well and pretty easy to do.

The much less tolerable ones are those that make me send an email to an email address with the word "REMOVE" in the subject line (and I have to send it from the email address from which I subscribed — it’s impossible if I don’t know the address and/or my address isn’t listed in the To box of the email) or the ones in which I have to log into a long-forgotten account to unsubscribe and have to request my username and password or the ones that don’t list any discernible method at all for getting off of that list.

Don’t send someone through a bunch of hoops to get off of your list.  By the time they’ve gotten to the point of wanting to unsubscribe, no amount of cajoling or begging or offers of free stuff will keep them on your list. Just let them go and make room for someone who really needs or wants to hear what you have to say. In the process you’ll save yourself from being labeled as a spammer to your hosting company or your domain registrar — it’s just not worth the hassle.