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.

Here it is…

Between work and home, I have a half dozen or so Google accounts covering my Gmail, adwords, adsense, and various analytics accounts…again for my personal and work web analytics. So if I am logged into Gmail, and go to log into analytics for one of my work related accounts, I am cookied and need to “sign in as a different user”. No big deal, I totally understand what is happening and why this is the way it is.

What drives me nuts though, is that on this login screen, Google gives the same weight and importance to this “sign in as a different user” link, as it does to the “I cannot access my account” link…in fact it puts the latter ABOVE the former, which causes me to inadvertently click the wrong link nearly 40% of the time.

I guess there is not much more to this post than that, and I am probably over-reacting here…but it annoys me. These links (to me) should not be of equal weight, or if they need to be of equal weight, should at least be vertically reversed and spaced a bit better.

The end.

I have not been able to replicate any of this…anyone else? If so, send me some screenshots, and some details (browser, platform, etc).

One of the zillion email lists, newsletters, update thingys I am on, is the weekly fare specials from Delta. I fly Delta a fair amount, and am always open to taking an unplanned trip if I see a really cheap ticket, so I set my alerts to come once weekly, showing Delta special fares originating from Boston and New York. For the first 6 weeks or so, things were smooth. Good fares, once per week, I liked it. I even contemplated if it was worth going to Cincinnati on a whim, simply because the fare was low (I didn’t).

However, for the past 8 or so weeks, my Delta weekly fare special email has looked just like this.

If you look closely, you will see that right in the middle (right where the fares used to show), it says:

Looks like we’re not running any special fares for you this week but maybe you will see a great deal for your family or friends. Take a look and let them know.

Having no specials is one thing – I get it. It happens. But why send me an email every week for nearly two months, telling me that you have no specials for me at all? To me, it seems like a crappy way to communicate with me as a customer. In addition to sending me a worthless email that I have to delete every week, it lowers my expectations of what Delta has to offer (No specials? Everyone has specials!) and begins to shape the way I rank Delta in my mind value-wise when I next go to purchase an airline ticket.

Two quick thoughts on how to improve this would be

1. Clearly say on the newsletter sign up page that there will be NO email sent out when there are no advertised specials in my area.
2. When there are no “specials”, just show me some of the cheapest fares originating from Boston each week, regardless of whether or not they are classified as “sale” fares…just show me SOMETHING!

In the meantime, I am just going to unsubscribe. Sorry Delta…

What the? This could go in so many different directions.

“Hey, it’s your mother. Call me I am being chased by ninjas. Bye.”

“Hey, it’s Tuesday. Call me I am pregnant. Bye.”

“Hey, it’s the doctor. Call me I have your test results and you have an hour. Bye.”

“Hey, it’s Jessic Alba. Call me I am in love with you. Bye.”

As I said, I do get a fair amount of these, so maybe I will start posting them a bit more. They are pretty hilarious. To me anyways.

Arrival at Unit, May 08, 2007, 8:52 am, BRIGHTON, MA 02135

As I read this, the tracking indicated that the item was delivered to the “unit”, which I believed to be my apartment unit, at 8:52 AM this morning. I was confused, since I was AT my “unit” at 8:52 this morning, and no package was delivered. I was mad.

As it turns out, “unit” in this case means local post office, not “unit” as in apartment “unit”. Probably could use a better bit of wording here to avoid confusion…like say

Arrival at LOCAL POSTAL BRANCH, May 08, 2007, 8:52 am, BRIGHTON, MA 02135

I don’t know…just a thought.

Henry Copeland, I am speaking to you directly. Please tell me why you do not offer standard ad sizes, and please do so in the comments below.

But nobody has the answer to how old and new forms of media fit together, which means that experimentation is key to understanding. And experimentation requires changing the status quo.

So right on, Toronto Star, for taking a great first step towards figuring out where you fit in the new media landscape!

More Kareem here.