Microsoft Includes an Unsubscribe Button in New Email Reader Interface

Last week Microsoft became the first ISP to include an unsubscribe link in their new email reader. So why is this important?

Currently  MSN, Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo! and other ISPs all include some variation of a "Report as Spam" button within their interfaces. Many end users of these products tend to click on the "Spam" button instead of the unsubscribe link within the email. Why? Some unscrupulous spammers look at who is clicking on the unsubscribe link as an "active" recipient and ignore the unsubscribe request.

Why do we like that Microsoft did this?

The more your recipients click on the "Report as Spam" button the less reputable you/your sender become in the eyes of the ISP. This differentiation could reduce the number of spam complaints you get in your email marketing campaigns, by clearly delineating an unsubscribe that is controlled by the ISP from a spam complaint.

This product is in beta so we'll keep you up-to-date on it's launch. Stay tuned to see if AOL and Yahoo! follow suit.

For more on this story from Direct Magazine, check out Ken Magill's piece.

Comments

[Richard Huffaker]

Microsoft just recently explained to us exactly what will be required in order for the unsubscribe link to appear for a Windows Live recipient and we are adjusting our headers to match this. We are working closely with them to ensure everything is good to go well before Windows Live goes live.

Richard Huffaker
ISP Relations and Policy Enforcement
VerticalResponse, Inc.

[Ann Ray]

Very nice to hear! It is frustrating to go to the effort of building an opt-in list, only to have people click "Spam" when they want to unsubscribe. Does this mean the Vertical Response message code is compatible with Microsoft's requirements for the button to work?