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Comment by singer | Hacker News Reader

Do you have any trouble with people reporting your drip emails as spam? I found that some people are reporting emails instead of clicking the unsubscribe link. Unfortunately, many email clients make that button more convenient than tracking down an uninstall link within the email.

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You know what would be neat? When you click the "spam" button in Gmail (or other clients with similar functionality) and there's an "unsubscribe" link in the email then Gmail could suggest visiting the link with some kind of a notification and buttons labeled "unsubscribe" or "no, this is spam".

I suppose that could be abused however.

Actually, Gmail does something close to that.

When you click "Report as spam", if it detects it's a mailing list, it offers to (try to) unsubscribe properly:

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/unsubscribing-made-eas...

It's a bit strange that they don't give you the option then to unsubscribe without marking as spam (you can do it but with more clicks), but I would think that if you unsubscribe and mark as spam the overall system doesn't take the spam factor at all or as much. In that case, it's probably limited to your own account.

Cool, I did not know that!

I actually do unsubscribe, but I would imagine that many just hit the "spam" button to "make it go away".

Gmail does something like that if emails include a List-Unsubscribe header: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=81126#un...

"more convenient than tracking down an uninstall link within the email"

Perhaps you should make your unsubscribe links easier to find?

The link is extremely easy to find. It's the only link that appears at the bottom of my emails.

Checking the box in my Gmail inbox and clicking the "Spam" button is much easier than opening the email and hunting down the unsubscribe link.

This may be a stupid question, but are you sure your unsubscribe functionality is working? After "Successfully unsubscribing" to Appsumo (trust me, I saw the picture of the founder when I was done) about 6 times, I was still receiving emails from them, and therefore marked them as spam. I also will mark the companies that don't have an easy unsubscribe all method as spam. (IE, you didn't give me the option to opt-in/out when I signed up, and send me a whole bunch of emails which I have to log in to your app to turn off)

Yes, the unsubcribe link does work. I think the problem is that people are not interested in purchasing the product, so they mark the "your trial is ending" email as spam because it's easy to do. I don't think most people understand the negative impact of marking emails as spam. They simply want to take the path of least resistance.

OT: we moved our unsub link to the top of our mailers and complaints have dropped to almost zero.

"It's the only link that appears at the bottom of my emails."

Personally, I've noticed an increasing affinity for the 'tag as spam' button.

It takes a certain amount of effort to scroll down, and find the unsubscribe (I'm not even sure if it's there), vs. having my inbox cleaned up by just clicking the darn 'tag as spam' button -- dead easy. Also, there's the uncertainty about how daunting the unsubscribe experience might be. These days, quite many startups get their users to go through tedious surveys before they can unsubscribe completely. This results in a sticky association that's hard to undo: 'unsubscribe' is a hassle.

Are there ways around this?

How about a large button above the fold that says 'Don't mail me.', 'Junk!' or similar. Something that indicates they'll have their intended results: less of this sorta mail, and a cleaner inbox. On the other hand, this might result in more unsubscribes.

Adding a large button to the top would certainly make it easier for those people who open the emails and want to unsubscribe. And I wouldn't worry about the increase in unsubscribers. I'd rather help people unsubscribe than have them mark my emails as spam.

I'm assuming that the majority of people are not even opening the emails though. Hitting the spam button is just too easy. I think the system is broken.

@Nitrogen, that sounds like a different issue. But, yes, it could be an issue if you're sending email with confusing subject lines.

The comments at the following link show what I'm referring to -- people taking the easy way out: http://ask-leo.com/why_shouldnt_i_use_the_report_spam_or_jun...

I'm assuming that the majority of people are not even opening the emails though.

It's probably partly our fault: we geeks have been telling our friends and family not to open suspicious or unsolicited e-mails for years.

I do this and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone else. At least "real", "evil" spam mails. Clicking an unsubscribe link is a confirmation of your email address and will usually lead to more spam than less.

Does the link unsubscribe instantly, or must the user log in bla bla bla ..

More often than not, I find following those unsubscribe links very annoying because I have to log in and fill out 5 different forms.. and then it doesn't even work :(

Not really. My audience is very engaged :)

Can you post a link? I'd like to check out your product.

Sure: http://www.bbguard.com.ve (Site is in Spanish)

The customer is always right.

Maybe your emails aren't appreciated in the spirit they are sent. Just because you cajoled someone to check a box to use your site, doesn't mean they appreciate your email campaign.

No they're not. There are a lot of jackasses in the world.

He didn't "cajole" anyone to do anything and the truth is the vast majority of people don't care one way or the other.

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