Unsubscribe vs. mark as spam: Which is worse?
It is clear that both options sound bad and that ideally users should neither unsubscribe nor consider us as spam. However, if we analyse in depth the effects and consequences of one and the other and decide which of the two is worse... the balance will always be in favour of unsubscribing. There is no doubt about it, users marking us as spam is much worse than users unsubscribing from our database.. In fact, in some cases, deletions are necessary and help to keep the database clean.
Why is it worse for users to mark us as spam? Well, the main reason is that spam hurts the deliverability of our email marketing campaigns. When a user marks our emails as spam, it is a direct attack on the reputation of our database, so getting through the spam filters will be increasingly difficult and, consequently, we will have more chances of being labelled as spammers and that our emails do not reach the folder they should reach. However, in the case of unsubscribes, these do not have any negative effect on the email deliverability. As we mentioned at the beginning, they can even be a positive thing to keep the database clean and only have those contacts who are interested in our brand.
According to the ebook "Adapting to Consumers' New Definition of Spam"The term "Spam" has changed in recent years and no longer only refers to a spammer who intends to cheat or steal from people, but nowadays, spam is already everything that we consider irrelevant in our inbox.. So, according to Litmus, 43% of consumers tend to send emails to the spam folder because it is less effort than unsubscribing.
These statements in the Litmus ebook show us how important unsubscribes can be in our email marketing campaigns. Even if we lose users, we don't lose reputation. Those users are not interested in what we can tell them, and the best thing they can do is to say goodbye to us. Otherwise, the effect that their dissatisfaction can have on our contact lists can be much more damaging than losing them per se.
Therefore, having a identifiable, quick and easy deregistration process will prevent these frustrated users from indiscriminately sending our emails to the spam folder. If what they want is not to be part of our database, we must make it as easy as possible for them to do so, because although we think we are losing a user, we are really keeping our database clean and of high quality.
However, it is very important to keep our users happy so that they do not unsubscribe or mark our emails as spam. If we manage to offer them what they need, when they need it, we will save unsubscribes and a bad reputation. It is for this reason (and many others) that we insist so much on the importance of providing a satisfactory user experience. And to achieve this it is important that you segment your BBDD, that you personalise your emails, that the design is responsive and pleasing to the eyes of users and that you offer relevant and quality content..
