Naysayers have been predicting the death of email for years now. But the fact of the matter is (thanks the proliferation of mobile devices), email is seeing a resurgence in effectiveness. And a recent study has proven buyers are still willing to purchase products in droves via email. There’s just one catch.
What is it? Your marketing emails have to be optimized for mobile devices for them not to be discarded.
Email marketing service provider BlueHornet Networks has released its Consumer Views of Email Marketing 2013 report, and it reveals the results of a national study of 1,000 U.S. consumers between the ages of 25 and 40, and their email habits.
The findings help paint a picture of what it is recipients expect from your email:
- 70% said they’ll open emails from companies they already do business with
- 30% said they’ll unsubscribe from an email if it doesn’t look good on a mobile device and 80% will delete emails that don’t look good on their mobile devices
- 84% said the opportunity to receive discounts was the most important reason for signing up to receive company emails, and
- 41% would consider opting down to receive fewer emails — instead of unsubscribing — if presented with the option when they go to unsubscribe.
The one-click opt-out myth and complying with CAN-SPAM
Let’s look at that last point in a little more detail. A lot of companies are wary of redirecting email recipients to a landing page/preference center presenting options to pare down the amount of emails they receive after they click “unsubscribe.”
The reason is due to a common misconception: that CAN-SPAM requires companies to provide a one-click unsubscribe or opt-out process.
Many companies hear that and say: “We can’t ask them to click ‘unsubscribe’ and then ask them to select options on a preference center page. That would require more than one click.”
The problem with that thinking is CAN-SPAM doesn’t count clicking the opt-out button in an email as part of the one-click unsubscribe mandate.
In fact, the one-click unsubscribe mandate is a myth in and of itself.
Here’s what the law says: “an e-mail recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her e-mail address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply e-mail message or visiting a single Internet Web page to opt out of receiving future e-mail from a sender … ”
So linking a person to a web page to click an unsubscribe confirmation, while presenting pare down options, is legal — and a best practice. Because, as the BlueHornet study shows, it can reduce email list attrition by up to 41%.
