Let your subscribers opt-down, not opt-out

Have the option to opt-down

When you’re publishing a series of new content or promoting a big flash sale on your e-commerce site, you want to let your customers know by email. While you may capture a subscriber’s attention after a couple of your emails hit their inbox, they could just as easily decide, after a while, that too many emails are coming their way. As a result, your subscribers may either unsubscribe or, worse, hit the “mark as spam” button.

Message fatigue is real and poses challenges, not only for engaging and retaining customers but also for deliverability. Instead of risking your customers’ patience and reputation for a quick sale, why not give your contacts the option to opt-down from receiving your emails while keeping them in your database.

Opt-down is often mistaken for the opt-out procedure which involves a customer telling you that they don’t want to receive your emails anymore and would like to unsubscribe completely. In comparison, if a contact opts-down from your email sends, they are asking to take a temporary break from receiving your communications. You’ll need to make this difference clear in your email footer links if you plan to implement this journey.

Giving your contacts a break

This operational journey gives you the ability to pause email sends to contacts who have elected to opt-down. When a contact opts-down, this means they’re asking to not receive these emails from you for a while — how long is up to you to decide (and offer). During this time, they will receive your most important communications while they are excluded from receiving low-value touches, like weekly blog updates. You can easily adjust this journey logic to best suit your opt-down preferences and links.