Unsubscribe me from this hell!

Well not quite. Although I do want to talk about that nifty little “unsubscribe” link that comes along with, or should come along with, corporate emails you've signed up to receive (because we all know businesses won't email you without your first having chosen to be contacted, right?). Assuming there is one present, I've usually found it lurking right at the bottom of the email, often in a smaller font and not unusually buried amongst a fair amount of irrelevant dribble absolutely no one except their legal department cares about.

At least it's there and you have the ability to click it once your hounds have tracked it down. If you are really lucky, you might even be directed to a web page which assures you that your email will be removed from their lists – but it could take up to <random number> days. If they choose to make you wait, they're basically playing on a clause in the Data Protection Act which allows a reasonable period of time for the administration of such a request to be carried out. That clause, however, was written for the benefit of manual systems rather than automated email systems where you can, and should, be removed from their lists within seconds of choosing to unsubscribe. Somewhat naughty of them and not at all playing by the spirit of the law.

This is an aside to the reason I decided to write this article. For once, I want to bring your attention to an element of what I consider to be excellent user experience. Yes, you read that correctly, I'm about to stop complaining about things being badly designed and compliment a company for making an unsubscribe function in an email highly visible and absolutely clear in the function. Dare I say it, also slightly amusing. Needless to say I did not click this link as I respect the company and am happy to continue receiving information from them. Unfortunately this means I am unable to follow up what would happen had I clicked it.

The company in question is Spicer Hallfield, a supplier of wedding albums and related products. I use them in my capacity as a professional photographer on my other website.

So there you go. There is no need to hide the unsubscribe option away and hope your customers don't decide to use it. Make it visible, obvious and ensure the content of your emails prevent them from clicking it – but also ensuring those who decide to unsubscribe have as good an experience as possible while doing so. They might just decide to come back to you at some point if you don't piss them off too much.