Since February Gmail has included an “Unsubscribe” link at the top of many newsletters, a feature intended to give users an easier way to manage their overflowing inboxes. The links only appeared on email filtered into Gmail’s Promotions tab.
Today, Google announced that it has extended the Unsubscribe feature into Gmail’s Social and Forums tabs. The benefits for users are obvious, as Google explained in a Google+ post:
Making the unsubscribe option easy to find is a win for everyone. For email senders, their mail is less likely to be marked as spam and for you, you can now say goodbye to sifting through an entire message for that one pesky link.
Users who click the link are presented a dialogue box that either directs them to an email subscription management page on the sender’s site or allows a one-click unsubscribe option like this for the Hotwire newsletter:
Mass email publishers can set up either option within the x-header as Tom Sather, senior director of email research for Return Path, explained in a Marketing Land column in March. Sather’s column, a must-read for email marketers, fully details the setup process and argues that Google’s move is a positive one for publishers. Here’s a taste:
By giving subscribers a no-hassle way to unsubscribe, they will be less likely to mark an email as spam. Additionally, since the link will be a trusted link provided by Gmail, the subscriber will be more likely to click on the link rather than ignoring future messages. And, as most know, Gmail is using engagement as a means to determine future inbox placement, so having messages be ignored may be more detrimental than an unsubscribe. Long story short, this is a win for marketers, and every marketer should look at implementing the auto-unsubscribe if they haven’t already.
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