Apple is a forward thinking innovation-leader in the technology world. They proved it this month by releasing a new unsubscribe link that appears in the header at the top of your marketing emails…2 years after Gmail did the same thing.We love Apple. Everything we do at Digital Peanut is on an Apple device, other than testing sites and emails. However, we have to admit Apple isn’t always the pioneer we’d like to think they are. Back in 2014, Gmail released the feature that shows a neat unsubscribe link at the top of marketing emails. Two quick clicks can unsubscribe you from a newsletter, without having to dig around the bottom of the email, trying to find the hidden “unsubscribe” text. Earlier this month (October 2016), Apple finally joined in and released the feature in iOS 10.
How the Apple iOS list-unsubscribe feature works
In supported emails, you’ll see this section, above the email itself:
When you click the “unsubscribe” link, a little pop up window will show:
Clicking “unsubscribe” again will send an automated email. Completing this action will email the sender’s email platform with an unsubscribe message. The sender’s platform will then automatically remove you from their list. It’s very rare for the sender to check each email and remove you from their list manually, so you don’t need to worry about offending your local store who know your name and inside leg measurement. You’ll see a copy of the email in your sent folder right after you’ve completed the action.
Why doesn’t the unsubscribe link always show at the top of an email?
The unsubscribe link won’t show in the header at the top of a marketing email on your Apple device’s mail app if the sender hasn’t set up the link-unsubscribe feature properly. (Read the next paragraph to find out how that works.)
How does Apple iOS know when to show the unsubscribe header link?
Apple’s mail app looks for a List-unsubscribe header which contains a mailto: email address link. If that mailto: email address is present, the unsubscribe link will show.
There is a benefit to companies by complying with this feature
This unsubscribe process simply sends an email to the sender to unsubscribe them. It’s the same kind of action as clicking the unsubscribe link you (hopefully) put in your footer. Having this link visible right at the top of the viewers’ email makes them more likely to click that, rather than sending a spam compliant to their ESP (Email Service Provider). Spam complaints decrease your deliverability, resulting in more of your emails going to your receivers spam folders. That’s an obvious problem. By making your unsubscribe link more visible, people who want out of your emails can do so easily, thus improving your spam score. It’s as simple as that. Making your unsubscribe link visible and not obscured within 5 paragraphs of size 2 text is important. You don’t want to invoke people sending spam complaints. By making this feature work with your emails, your spam reputation will only improve more. More emails in the inbox usually means more happy customers!
Apple has made little or no attempt to make this “unsubscribe” link actually work. Please read what the message says. It says it only sends a message. To who? What happens when the message gets there? There are two major flaws in using the IOS List Unsubscribe Feature.
(1) If the email came from a spammer the unsubscribe message only verifies they have a good email address. They will not remove your address. If anything they will send you more spam. If you didn’t subscribe to the list then don’t unsubscribe. The sender has no interest in removing you. Companies are always working on spam filters to remove unwanted email. If it were as simple as sending an email to unsubscribe the spammers would have quit years ago.
(2) If the email cam from a legitimate email list they will have a link to unsubscribe. Yes, it is true they aren’t always easy to find. Our lists actually have three unsubscribe links. Use any one to unsubscribe. We don’t want to bother you if you have decided you don’t need the email anymore. Most unsubscribe links on the email use an automated system to remove your address. In most cases this removes you instantly by sending a message to a specific address with specific information. The IOS List Unsubscribe Feature simply sends a message. It does not send it to the automation address. It does not even attempt to work with any automation. It may not even sent it to a working address. It appears to be designed to be a manual system. This means that someone on the staff must read the email and hopefully find your address in the system and then remove your subscription. This takes time and there is a greater chance of it not being done correctly.
As for our company we are going to try to accept their unsubscribe requests. To do this we must first create a program that will filter their requests from one email system and reroute them to the proper email address. Then we must create another program that will collect the information from the email and unsubscribe the correct person. If Apple decides to change anything on their side (It will eventually happen) then we have to do it again. For us it won’t be too hard, but for many small companies with limited resources this can be a very expensive problem. Now this is my own personal opinion but I think think many large companies in this industry would like to put all the small companies out of business anyway.
Dale is very correct. By sending a response they will Spam you more. It has happened to me!