CAN-SPAM applicable to editorial, opted-in enewletter?

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Permalink Reply by Keith Gregory on September 10, 2008 at 9:20am

there is nothing more frustrating that a publisher that requires users to log in to a password protected area to unsubscribe.

If I recall correctly, CAN Spam has been updated to prevent this abuse.

I think best practice is one click unsubscribe link.

I own my own domains and will often provide custom email addresses for some sites- I have no way to reply through my email reader, since I funnel those odd addresses to a primary account.

One click opt outs make this easy to fix when I need to leave a list.

Also, you should have different levels of opt outs- and I thought Source did- so anyone that opts out of marketing spam (and yes, marketers do spam) can still receive newsletters they opted in for.

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Permalink Reply by Fred Faulkner on September 11, 2008 at 9:14pm

I agree that having to sign in to opt-out is ridiculous. These regulations will continue to be a moving target so unifying at the most simple level might be the easiest so changes can be made en masse when necessary.
We have pretty much settled on a single click opt-out.

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Permalink Reply by Jack Beaudoin on September 12, 2008 at 12:17pm

The only thing that recommends the login requirement, in my view, is the following scenario: A subscriber is subscribed to several newsletters under the same brand, or receives editorial and marketing newsletters from the same brand. She wants to unsubscribe from all or most of the brand's offerings, not just the single instance of the newsletter presently before her.

We used to get a few complaints from people who thought that clicking on the unsubscribe link in one newsletter would end all communications, and when it didn't, they got angry and claimed the unsubscribe link didn't work. We'd investigate the case, find the unsubscribe request, cross-check the list to make sure it was successful, then do a search to see active subscriptions. It took a lot of time to resolve the issue.

Now we offer an unsubscribe link that takes subscribers to a newsletter-specific landing page. At that point, the user can confirm her unsubscribe request and have the opportunity to log in to manage her account to selectively unsubscribe from all types of communication. This has eliminated almost all of the complaints.

Jack

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Permalink Reply by FOLIO MediaPRO Team on September 14, 2008 at 9:57pm

A good example is to take the 'UnSubscribe' link to a preference center where they can opt out of specific products (newsletter, vs. third party promos, vs. event promos), etc. that also shows them other lists they can opt into as well ... and they go there regardless of the type of mail you send. They don't have to login or anything, and if they want to opt out of everything, there's a link on that page to do that as well.

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Permalink Reply by Aneel Tejwaney on September 15, 2008 at 8:50am

Ah this is my desired approach as well however publishers don't typically like that. Given the niche B2B market publishers tend to protect their circulation and naturally tend to argue against making it "too easy" to opt out of everything.

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Permalink Reply by Keith Gregory on September 18, 2008 at 1:29am

Publishers have nothing to fear unless they relentlessly blast their lists needlessly.

Its critical for publishers to segment their lists according to interests- that way, when they need to promote something, like a webinar, rather than blast their entire list, they do so with greater precision.

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Permalink Reply by Glenn Laudenslager on December 11, 2008 at 12:39am

It's not about making it "too easy" -- it's about allowing users to manage their preferences. publishers don't dictate customer preferences anymore, you need to allow users to interact with you as they choose. competitive information is just a click away.

even if a publisher doesn't blast their lists, it's all relative -- one email a week is too much for some, just right for others, not enough for others. you need to allow customers to tell you how much to contact them, and what they want to receive from you, and manage that accordingly. or you risk losing them completely.

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Permalink Reply by Aneel Tejwaney on December 11, 2008 at 9:11am

Thats a good point.

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