The Importance of Allowing Opt-Out’s for your List Subscribers

Regardless of how great you think your emails and your website are and how much you believe everyone in the world will want to view them, the simple truth of the matter is that some people will not.  It’s possible that even those people that signed up for it on their own will decide, in the future, that being on your list is just not for them.  While this can be disheartening, it’s important to allow for them to remove themselves from your list rather than continuing to send them unwanted emails. While difficult, this is an important lesson to learn when finding out how to build email lists. If your Internet marketing strategy depends on a large and active email list, then opt-outs are critical.

Provide a Opt-Out Link in Every Email

In every email you send, you should include a link that will allow them to exit your email list.  You can place this just about anywhere you like, but these are generally placed at the very bottom of sent emails.  However, that doesn’t mean the link should be hard to find.  This link should always take readers directly to your website, where all they have to do is enter their email address to have themselves removed from your list.  Anything short of this is dishonest and best avoided whenever possible.

Ask for Addition Details and Feedback

Once your soon-to-be former subscribers get to the link you have provided to exit your email list, you should create a form that allows them to explain why they no longer wish to receive emails from you.  This can be either a blank box or a series of options.  You are much more likely to actually receive feedback if you allow them to simply click their reason, but you may also not be getting their actual reasoning, so make sure to allow them to fill that reason in regardless.

The main idea behind placing this feedback form is so that you yourself can figure out why people don’t want to receive your emails, and how you can fix this problem.  While you have probably lost that email address forever, you can help to retain those you still have.

Although nobody likes losing email addresses from their list, and this may even seem like the opposite of building an email list, it is a necessary function if you wish to keep your email list robust.  As an added benefit, it only makes you look more honest and like a legitimate business person.