I think we can all agree unsubscribing from a mailing list shouldn’t be hard.
Who hasn’t unsubscribed from a mailing list, only to be told it’s going to take several days before their email address to be removed?
It happened to me recently.
In the past week, when I unsubscribed from three mailing lists, I received a confirmation message that it would take up to 10 business days for my email address to be removed from their mailing list.
What?
Ten days? Really?
“We have received your request to unsubscribe.
Please allow up to 10 business days for unsubscribe requests to be processed.”
— Deborah Edwards-Onoro (@redcrew) July 11, 2020
It shouldn’t be that way.
We can do better.
Which is why I’m giving a shoutout to Seven Sons, a small family-owned Indiana farm, for doing better.
And making it quick for someone to unsubscribe from their mailing list.
Unsubscribe Confirmation
After I selected the Unsubscribe link in the Seven Sons email message I received, I was directed to a page with a heading, one sentence, and two buttons.
The first button was the option to unsubscribe from all their mailings.
The second button allowed me to update my details, to identify which mailings to unsubscribe from.
Don’t Make Me Think
What I liked about their unsubscribe process:
- Kudos for keeping the design simple, plenty of white space, and uncluttered.
- The prominent “Unsubscribe From All Mailings” was the first choice, designed with a bright color to stand out. It clearly identified the primary action that would take place.
- The “Update My Details” button was designed as a ghost button, with no color. Clearly, it was the secondary action I could take.
The unsubscribe page was designed with the user in mind. Their plain language explanation on their buttons made it clear what options the user has.
Well done!
Confirmation Page
The Seven Sons confirmation page was direct and to the point.
With a heading of “Sorry to see you go” followed by an explanation that my email address had been unsubscribed from all mailings, I knew I didn’t have to wait.
Or take any additional steps.
It’s a small thing, but the confirmation page clarified that my unsubscription was complete.
My email address was immediately unsubscribed from their mailings. Exactly what I expected.
A brightly colored button on the confirmation page allows me to manage subscriptions, if I wanted to resubscribe.
And Seven Sons has added an additional option to report the email as spam.
Two Recommendations
My first recommendation is for Seven Sons to use more descriptive text for their link to unsubscribe.
Using “here” for the link isn’t helpful for people using screen readers, who bring up a list of links on a page.
Changing “here” link to text to “unsubscribe from our emails” is more descriptive. And makes sense out of context.
My second recommendation is for Seven Sons to customize their mailing list messaging.
Seven Sons is using the Drip online service for their mailing list, using the built-in Drip templates.
However, they chose not to use their business color palette in the messages, defaulting to the Drip colors.
Customizing the messages with Seven Sons own branding goes far in maintaining a consistent look to their communications.
Wrapping Up
Unsubscribing from a mailing list should be straightforward. Seven Sons demonstrates it can be done quickly, without making the user walk through a number of steps.
Or wait multiple days for the unsubscription to complete.
Thank you, Seven Sons!
Do you have any similar stories about unsubscribing from email lists? Share them in the comments.
I was shocked recently when I tried to unsubscribe from something and there was no unsubscribe link or button! I wish I could remember whose email list it was…
Hi Abby,
Whoa. That is a surprise. I haven’t encountered that in a long time, but I have seen organizations obfuscate the unsubscribe link by using unusual wording.