Adding an unsubscribe link lets your recipients opt out from your emails, thus reducing the risk of being flagged as spam.
How to include an unsubscribe link?
To add an unsubscribe link, you will need to insert the unsubscribe variable as shown below. It will be replaced by a special link that Mailmeteor uses to handle unsubscribes.
Here's how to do it:
1.
In Mailmeteor, open your template or create a new one.
2.
In the editor, add the following text "Click here to unsubscribe" (or any other message of your choice)
3.
Select the text then click on Insert link 🔗
4.
Copy/paste the following special variable: {{ unsubscribe }}
When sending your emails, Mailmeteor will automatically convert the special variable with a unique unsubscribe link letting each of your contact opting-out easily.
How does the one-click unsubscribe work?
In line with the unsubscribe link feature that we have just mentioned above, you can let your recipients unsubscribe from your mailing list in one click. That’s a feature supported by Gmail which looks like this:
One-click unsubscribe in Gmail
Adding a one-click unsubscribe option makes it easier for your recipients to unsubscribe from your mailing list, instead of flagging your emails as spam. Being flagged as spam will negatively impact your email reputation, while unsubscribes don’t.
You can enable the one-click unsubscribe option from the dashboard or Mailmeteor automatically introduces a one-click unsubscribe option when it detects that you have introduced an {{ unsubscribe }} variable in your email content.
Note that email clients (such as Gmail) won't show up the "Unsubscribe" button in 100% of the cases. First, if you send an email to yourself, Gmail doesn't show the unsubscribe button. Also, Gmail seems to present that button only for regular senders (i.e. email addresses used for newsletter, promotions, etc.).
How does the unsubscribe page looks like?
Whenever one of your recipients clicks to unsubscribe, they will be redirected to a page like the following:
Unsubscribe validation page
If you send a test email to yourself with Mailmeteor, the Unsubscribe link will redirect you to a generic page. It's normal that you don't see the Unsubscribe page in that case.
How to deal with people that unsubscribed?
Once someone opts-out from your list, their contact information will be gathered within your Mailmeteor Dashboard.
If a recipient has been added to your unsubscribers list from previous campaigns, Mailmeteor will not send an email to this recipient.
When using Mailmeteor from Google Sheets, your spreadsheet will be updated via the Tracking Report. The merge status for unsubscribed recipients will be marked as "UNSUBSCRIBED".
Best practices regarding email opt-out
It's common usage to include a way to unsubscribe when sending cold emails (unsolicited emails to recipients you have had no interaction with in the past) or a marketing newsletter.
It does not necessarily have to be a link, although it needs to be clear & when people require you to opt-out, you cannot ignore them.
In some countries, you must by law include a way to opt out from your email if you are sending commercials emails (e.g. in the USA with the CAN-SPAM). Contact your legal advisor if your not sure what to do.
Video tutorial
If you prefer to watch a video, here's a tutorial on how to add un unsubscribe link to your emailing campaign with Mailmeteor: