How to Avoid Auto Unsubscribes by the Recipient’s Email Spam Filter Software?
Spam emails have undoubtedly become a menace for businesses and individuals alike.
In fact, according to Statista, nearly 8 billion spam emails are sent in America every day. It’s no wonder that businesses, especially those dealing with sensitive information like financial institutions, put in place aggressive spam filters to safeguard their employees and their networks.
Due to the nature of how these filters work, many a time, your emails get auto-unsubscribed.
If you are facing this issue with the emails you send out with Massmailer, this blog is for you. It will help you implement a quick workaround to avoid spam filter-triggered auto-unsubscriptions.
How Do Auto-Unsubscribes Get Triggered?
Certain sophisticated email spam filtering solutions, in addition to the standard header, content, and language filtering, verification, and again comprehensive blacklist lists, use auto-click functionality.
This functionality auto-clicks any links present in your emails to analyze where those links lead and determine their legitimacy.
In these instances, if an email contains a global unsubscribe link, a single click from these systems can trigger an auto-unsubscribe even before the email gets delivered to its intended recipient.
For any organization that relies on timely communication, this phenomenon can be particularly problematic.
The Solution
To address this issue, we recommend replacing the global unsubscribe link with a two-step approach. Instead of a single-click global unsubscribe, use a link that directs recipients to an “email preferences” landing page.
From there, they can manually select their preferences and opt out of specific emails. This strategy significantly reduces the chances of auto-unsubscribes triggered by spam filters, ensuring better control for your recipients over their email subscriptions.
How to Implement This Change on MassMailer?
To implement these changes, you first need to head to the “MassMailer Setup” tab. If you are new to MassMailer, you can learn more about the various tabs here.
Next, click on “Tracking Setting” and scroll down to the “Email Preferences Groups” section. These settings will help you manage the categories or types of emails your contacts can opt in to or out of.
You can also define your unsubscribe groups, which will specify the kinds of unsubscribe options offered. This can include categories like product updates, newsletters, or promotions, so recipients can selectively opt out without leaving your list entirely.
Then head over to the “MassMailer Template Builder” tab and scroll down to the HTML editor.
Here, you have two options to choose from to make the change:
- Option 1: Use the default ASM Preferences URL, which automatically generates text for the link as shown below.
- Option 2: Customize the link text using HTML. Insert your preferred text, such as “Manage Your Email Preferences,” for a personalized touch.
Note: These options will only work for HTML-based email templates. Since HTML emails support styling, consider customizing the appearance of the preferences link to match your brand’s look and feel. This makes the preferences link visually consistent with other elements of your emails.
Verify the Change with a Test Email
Once you make the necessary changes, save them to your email template and send out a real email to verify the functionality.
You can view the detailed steps on how to do so here.
When your test email arrives, click the preferences link to ensure it directs to the appropriate landing page.
Here, users should be able to select individual groups to unsubscribe from, verifying that the new two-click process is in place.
Things to Keep in Mind When Avoiding Auto-Unsubscribes
Here’s a quick summary of best practices to minimize the risk of unintended auto-unsubscribes from your emails:
- Run Multi-Client Testing: Test your email in various clients (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) to ensure consistent link behavior, as different spam filters may handle links uniquely.
- Regularly Monitor Unsubscribe Metrics: Track unsubscribe rates after implementing the two-step process. A steady or reduced rate could indicate fewer unintended unsubscribes.
- Optimize Content for Quality: Avoid phrases that spam filters may flag, like “free” or “urgent.” High-quality, targeted content reduces the chances of triggering spam filters.
- Follow Anti-Spam Compliance: Ensure your unsubscribe or email preferences page remains accessible and clear, meeting legal requirements like CAN-SPAM.
- Enhance Engagement Through Segmentation: Group your audience by preferences or behaviors to send relevant content. Higher engagement helps lower the chances of your emails being flagged as spam.
- Keep Email Preferences Updated: Ensure subscribers can manage their email choices easily by maintaining and updating your preferences page regularly.
Additionally, make sure you continuously assess and refine your email strategies based on performance metrics and recipient feedback to enhance engagement and minimize the risk of auto-unsubscribes.
Final Thoughts
Auto-unsubscribes are a frustrating challenge, but with a few simple changes to your email setup, you can prevent them from happening.
Swapping out the single-click global unsubscribe for a two-step email preferences link, as shown above, will help you circumvent the issue. As a bonus, it will also enhance the user experience by giving your recipients control over what kind of emails they wish to receive or opt out of.
Additionally, make sure to regularly monitor your email performance and subscriber engagement, and keep testing your setup across various email clients.
By doing so, you’ll improve deliverability and build stronger, more personalized connections with your audience.
About MassMailer
MassMailer is a powerful email solution tailored for Salesforce CRM. It enables users to manage mass email campaigns directly within Salesforce.
It allows businesses to overcome daily email limits, enhance deliverability through advanced verification, and monitor campaign performance with detailed analytics.
By integrating seamlessly with Salesforce, MassMailer simplifies the process of executing high-impact email campaigns.
Explore all that MassMailer offers with a 15-day free trial to see how it can enhance your email marketing efforts.
For more, visit MassMailer.