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Article aside, it's much better to have a one-click unsubscribe that just works. It's an edge case that someone will unsubscribe from someone else's mailing li

Article aside, it's much better to have a one-click unsubscribe that just works. It's an edge case that someone will unsubscribe from someone else's mailing list or click it by mistake, so making every single person (99% who are unsubscribing on purpose) confirm, log in, enter their address or receive a confirmation is an infuriating waste of time. The best way to mitigate this is a simple "You unsubscribed whatever@gmail.com", with a little undo button in case it was a mistake. And if all this still goes wrong... if the person liked your newsletter enough, they'll figure out what happened when they stop getting it. (Side note: I've really been hoping GMail and other clients would accept a URL in email headers that would handle unsubscribe, so they could add a button to the UI. I know that's oversimplifying everything, but it would significantly improve the email experience.)

jspaur 14y ago
They do in a way, the 'List-Unsubscribe' header: https://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=81126 https://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answ... Appears to work with Outlook.com/Hotmail, and Gmail. Not sure about Yahoo, but those two alone cover a pretty big group.
adnrw 14y ago
> And if all this still goes wrong... if the person liked your newsletter enough, they'll figure out what happened when they stop getting it. Not necessarily, unfortunately. As an example, take emails advertising pre-sale tickets to events, sent to people who have signed up specifically to have access to buy tickets before the general public. If their friend is able to unsubscribe them, they don't get the email and miss the pre-sale access. Even if they do realise and resubscribe, there's a good chance they'll have missed the pre-sale period anyway (which only lasts a few days). That's one of many examples that make "not to worry they'll just resubscribe" not quite work properly. > The best way to mitigate this is a simple "You unsubscribed whatever@gmail.com", with a little undo button in case it was a mistake. In addition to this, it's worth putting "This email was sent to whatever@gmail.com, unsubscribe by clicking here" in the email.
B-Con 14y ago
What if it's malicious? Eg, "I hate your political ideology. I'll unsubscribe you from the site you forwarded me an article from." I'm sure that kind of threat is minimal and easily corrected, but the OP's suggestion of hiding it somewhat addresses that. It doesn't eliminate the threat of course, but it doesn't put it under their nose.
- monochromatic 14y ago
  A confirmation email with an "undo" link fixes that problem as well.
  - mikegreco 14y ago
    This seems like an extreme edge case as far as problems go, and can be absolutely infuriating when a user doesn't want to get mailed anymore.
    - emn13 14y ago
      One extra mail for an explicit user action? It doesn't sound very infuriating to me. and if it is, well, at least they won't hear from you again.
  - dirtyjew 14y ago
    "stop sending me email" is responded to by sending another email......
ajanuary 14y ago
> I've really been hoping GMail and other clients would accept a URL in email headers that would handle unsubscribe, so they could add a button to the UI. GMail offers to unsubscribe you if you mark something as spam and it's able to detect how to unsubscribe. It reduces the number of buttons on the screen, which is a good thing, but I feel bad about potentially harming a companies credibility by clicking spam as a shortcut to unsubscribe if Google can't figure out how to unsubscribe.
nikcub 14y ago
> so making every single person (99% who are unsubscribing on purpose) confirm, log in, enter their address or receive a confirmation is an infuriating waste of time. If you are in the USA, it is also illegal. The CAN-SPAM Act[0] specifies that you can't ask the user for more than their email address[1]: > "You can’t charge a fee, require the recipient to give you any personally identifying information beyond an email address, or make the recipient take any step other than sending a reply email or visiting a single page on an Internet website as a condition for honoring an opt-out request." See also previous thread on HN[2] [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN-SPAM_Act_of_2003 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN-SPAM_Act_of_2003 [1] Point 6: http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-complia... [2] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4496688 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4496688
krichman 14y ago
If I click an unsubscribe link and it doesn't instantly unsubscribe me, I don't bother with the process, I just mark all future mails from that domain as spam.

jspaur 14y ago

They do in a way, the 'List-Unsubscribe' header: https://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=81126 https://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answ... Appears to work with Outlook.com/Hotmail, and Gmail. Not sure about Yahoo, but those two alone cover a pretty big group.

adnrw 14y ago

> And if all this still goes wrong... if the person liked your newsletter enough, they'll figure out what happened when they stop getting it. Not necessarily, unfortunately. As an example, take emails advertising pre-sale tickets to events, sent to people who have signed up specifically to have access to buy tickets before the general public. If their friend is able to unsubscribe them, they don't get the email and miss the pre-sale access. Even if they do realise and resubscribe, there's a good chance they'll have missed the pre-sale period anyway (which only lasts a few days). That's one of many examples that make "not to worry they'll just resubscribe" not quite work properly. > The best way to mitigate this is a simple "You unsubscribed whatever@gmail.com", with a little undo button in case it was a mistake. In addition to this, it's worth putting "This email was sent to whatever@gmail.com, unsubscribe by clicking here" in the email.

B-Con 14y ago

What if it's malicious? Eg, "I hate your political ideology. I'll unsubscribe you from the site you forwarded me an article from." I'm sure that kind of threat is minimal and easily corrected, but the OP's suggestion of hiding it somewhat addresses that. It doesn't eliminate the threat of course, but it doesn't put it under their nose.

monochromatic 14y ago
A confirmation email with an "undo" link fixes that problem as well.
- mikegreco 14y ago
  This seems like an extreme edge case as far as problems go, and can be absolutely infuriating when a user doesn't want to get mailed anymore.
  - emn13 14y ago
    One extra mail for an explicit user action? It doesn't sound very infuriating to me. and if it is, well, at least they won't hear from you again.
- dirtyjew 14y ago
  "stop sending me email" is responded to by sending another email......

ajanuary 14y ago

> I've really been hoping GMail and other clients would accept a URL in email headers that would handle unsubscribe, so they could add a button to the UI. GMail offers to unsubscribe you if you mark something as spam and it's able to detect how to unsubscribe. It reduces the number of buttons on the screen, which is a good thing, but I feel bad about potentially harming a companies credibility by clicking spam as a shortcut to unsubscribe if Google can't figure out how to unsubscribe.

nikcub 14y ago

> so making every single person (99% who are unsubscribing on purpose) confirm, log in, enter their address or receive a confirmation is an infuriating waste of time. If you are in the USA, it is also illegal. The CAN-SPAM Act[0] specifies that you can't ask the user for more than their email address[1]: > "You can’t charge a fee, require the recipient to give you any personally identifying information beyond an email address, or make the recipient take any step other than sending a reply email or visiting a single page on an Internet website as a condition for honoring an opt-out request." See also previous thread on HN[2] [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN-SPAM_Act_of_2003 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN-SPAM_Act_of_2003 [1] Point 6: http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-complia... [2] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4496688 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4496688

krichman 14y ago

If I click an unsubscribe link and it doesn't instantly unsubscribe me, I don't bother with the process, I just mark all future mails from that domain as spam.