10 December 2009 2 Comments

Sneaky Unsubscribe Page


Somehow, somewhere, I got on the email list for US News and World Report. When I finally unsubscribed today, I thought their opt-out page was pretty sneaky.

US News and World Report Unsubscribe

I have always hated the “opt-out confirm” step, and think that unsubscribe links in emails should be a single click unsub. This one though used some subtle placement and language tricks that I’d expect to see more from shady grey-hat email marketers, than big old-media magazines.

As most users probably do, I read the page left to right, skip over or skim most of the text, and my first instinct is to click on the button marked “continue”. Since I just clicked “unsubscribe” on the previous page, my mind is expecting at first glance, that “continue” will continue the unsubscribe process I have already started. It actually keeps you ON the list if you hit that button.

Annoying.

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2 Responses to “Sneaky Unsubscribe Page”

  1. Gasman 15 December 2009 at 4:23 pm #

    Chalk your instinct up to user error. I read that opt-out message loud and clear.

  2. DAVID BOOLOS 1 February 2010 at 9:55 am #

    UNSUBSCRIBE


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