Email marketers know the challenge of in-box saturation, with modern consumers receiving dozens of daily promotions.
Giving recipients more control, especially around holidays, can help. Take Mother’s Day and Father’s Day as examples. Both have much sales potential but can pain customers experiencing bereavement or separation. Allowing them to opt out of those occasions reduces unsubscribes and builds trust, leading to more sales in the long term.
Here are three examples.
Email Opt-outs
Red
Red, a sporting goods merchant, allows subscribers to opt out of Father’s Day messages. It sends a dedicated email for that purpose. The message is clear, with a prominent “Click to Opt Out” button. However, the subject line — “Update your preferences” — is unclear and easily overlooked.
Red sends a dedicated email allowing subscribers to opt out of Father’s Day messages. Click image to enlarge.
Marks & Spencer
The U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer allows subscribers to opt out of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day messages. The subject line — “Prefer not to hear about Mother’s Day?” — is direct and unambiguous. The body copy includes a deadline, setting expectations and mitigating questions and follow-ups.
Marks & Spencer allows subscribers to opt out of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day messages. Click image to enlarge.
Bloom & Wild
In 2019 online florist Bloom & Wild offered an email opt-out for Mother’s Day. The overwhelming response led the company to launch “The Thoughtful Marketing Movement,” now a community of 170 businesses.
Bloom & Wild’s opt-out emails are text only, styled as a personal message. The screen capture below reads:
Subject line: A sensitive occasion is coming up
Hello Sam,
In a few weeks’ time, we’re going to start sending emails about Father’s Day. If you’d rather not hear about it, that’s totally fine. You can let us know here.
Once you’ve opted out, we won’t send you anything related to this date. You’ll still get our other emails though, like normal.
And remember, if you ever want to update your contact preferences for a different sensitive occasion, you can do that at any time from your account.
Have a lovely day.
Lucy
Bloom & Wild’s opt-out emails are text only, styled as a personal message. Click image to enlarge.
Bloom & Wild’s head of retention addressed thoughtful marketing in a Medium post, describing the positive response from the media and customers, stating, “Lifetime value is higher for customers who opted out. In fact, in our most recent sample, opted-out customers had a lifetime value 1.7x that of non-opted-out customers.”
Getting Started
Merchants looking to implement email opt-outs should consider which occasions align with their audience. I’ve received opt-outs for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, and Valentine’s Day. Religous-themed occasions and geo-focused holidays are prime opt-out candidates.
Send a dedicated email long before the occasion and ensure the subject line and body copy are clear. Remind recipients that opt-out is specific and does not affect other messages or their subsubscription.
