Don't Forget the Unsubscribe Laws Have Changed!

The Hunt

I was on a purging mission recently, unsubscribing from communications that I receive at multiple email addresses to reduce my receipt to only one - go figure! But as I was working through this process, I found a disturbing fact - many email marketers have not yet revised their unsubscribe practices to require nothing more than email address to convert the request. This was a clarification to the CAN-SPAM law and went in to effect on July 7, 2008.

The Skunk

Most noteworthy of offenders was American Airlines. A message I received on August 14, 2008 included a link in the message footer that simply said unsubscribe. When clicked, it takes you to a page that requires you to enter your AAdvantage Number and a Password before you can proceed to the unsubscribe function. Here is the screen capture current as of August 19, 2008:

The Resolution
Fix your unsubscribe process American Airlines! Not only is it annoying that I need to dig up my AAdvantage number to actually get off your mailing list, but your process isn't even legal any more! Keeping your unsubscribe process simplistic, easy to find and easy to convert make for much happier customers. Just because someone no longer wants to receive your email, doesn't mean you are losing them as a customer. You need to keep the experience pleasant at every touch-point. A bad experience with your email program today can result in negative brand perception tomorrow. And let's face it, no one can afford that. No matter what the price of oil is!