Keeping with our theme this month of building and maintaining a clean email list, we’ve already covered a lot this month.

This week we’ll be talking about opt-outs. Now, no one likes to see people opting out, unsubscribing, or leaving comments, but I would rather someone opt out of my list than stay on my list and not open emails. It’s really as simple as that.

That being said, all opt-outs aren’t equal.

Any reputable list manager will have the unsubscribe links at the bottom of every email where your subscribers can click on the link to opt out. This is the preferred way to do it because this isn’t something that is reported back to your internet service provider or the list manager, it’s just the normal course of business.

But there are two other ways people can opt-out that you don’t want your subscribers to do. One, mark the email as spam either through their email client provider (eg, Hotmail, Gmail), or 2) click on YOUR opt-out link and mark it as spam. Too many of these and your account will be affected.

In this video, I talk about 4 ways to decrease email opt-outs and I give a demo of how to run an opt-out report in Infusionsoft:

Is your list getting cleaner?

Continuing with our theme of building and maintaining a clean list, today’s topic is handling opt-outs.

No one likes to see people opting out or unsubscribing or leaving comments but I would rather someone opt out of my list than stay on my list and not open emails. it’s really as simple as that.

That being said, all opt-outs aren’t equal.

Any reputable list manager will have the unsubscribe links at the bottom of every email where your subscribers can click on the link to opt-out. This is the preferred way to do it because this isn’t something that is reported back to your internet service provider or the list manager, it’s just the normal course of business.

But there are two other ways people can opt out that you don’t want to have happen. This is when they mark the email as spam either through their ISP, such as Gmail., or that they clicked on your opt-out link and marked it as spam. Too many of these and your account will be affected.

Ways to decrease opt-outs

1. Provide regular, relevant content and information. If you go months without emailing your list and then all of a sudden you bombard them with sales emails, they will revolt and unsubscribe or mark it as spam.

2. Segmenting your list so that your information or offers are targeted and most likely appeal to them.

3. Implement an email preferences center so they can control the information they are getting.

4. During launches or promos, provide a way for them to stop getting those emails.

[Demo showing removal of opt-outs]

Remember to track results so you can notice any trends coming up.

Provided Feedback: This means the person marked the email as SPAM through their ISP (e.g. AOL.)

Reported Spam: This means the person marked the email as SPAM through an Infusionsoft opt-out link. When this happens, the person has the option to add comments.

Next week we’ll finish up with handling unengaged subscribers.

Catch up on other Building and Maintaining a Clean List episodes:

• [Video] What is a “Dirty List” and how do you clean it?
• [Video] How to Handle Bounced Emails
• [Video] Setting up Systems to Identify Inactive and Unengaged Subscribers

Did you enjoy this episode and want to put it into action? Grab this kit!