Ron George Experience Design

Come on guys (UX at Myspace), seriously. I have been gone a few years and it seems like you guys are throwing UX to the wind. There is absolutely no way I you tested this, or if you did, you ignored the results. Now, on to the show.

I got a spam/solicitation in my inbox from a random MySpace account. I used to work there and had several accounts, most fake, and most from different countries, language settings, regions. I had all of these when we were testing administration notices and mainly the legalities depending on the municipalities. Certain states don’t allow ______, and others do, etc. The email was the typical “Ron, see what your friends are up to.” It is their way of trying to show off the latest presence features they have implemented. I scroll to the bottom to find the unsubscribe link.

So, I click the link and what do I find? This contraption.

23 Clicks to unsubscribe from emails. No way to uncheck them all… or just to opt-out of everything at once. No, they need to ask for every single detail. The way to think of this is User Intention and User Experience.

User Intention : for some reason the user wants to stop getting atleast one type of email, but maybe all. Studies show that people that click on unsubscribe links REALLY want to get out of it all.

Return Path released a study about unsubscribe experiences and the effect they have on the customer, I’ll mention a few items out of it, because registration is required to view the full report.

1. Make it easy and painless: Include a link all email messages.  If necessary, make sure an automated message is sent that provides confirmation to the user but asks for nothing in return (unless it was a mistake).  Then – stop sending messages.
2. Email Confirmation: When users click on the unsubscribe link, they should be directed to a landing page on your web site.  The unsubscribe form should be auto-populated with their email address.  They should be able to change their email address, just in case they clicked through a forwarded message.
3. Email Change of Address: Occasionally users just want to get the email at a different address.  They may use an alternative address for all of the email subscriptions as a way to filter them from their personal or work messages.  Make it easy for them to change their address.  Include an option on the landing page to change their email instead of unsubscribing.
4. Stop sending messages: I know, this is repitive, but important.  Sometimes you have messages qued up and ready to go.  Someone may unsubscribe on Tuesday and get a message on Thursday, especially if your email service doesn’t automatically remove them.  If at all possible, create a way to stop this practice.  If not, then your unsubscribe confirmation email and webpage should mention this with the sincerest apologies.
5. Offer alternatives: Make it easy to unsubscribe.  Provide a link to an unsubscribe landing page that autopopulates their email address.  Then, give them options:
   • Change of Email Address
   • Frequency of future emails (once per month/quarter/year) – better one annual message that they’ve asked for than none at all
   • Types of future emails – only event announcements, surveys, etc.
6. Learn: Keep the process simple, but learn something about the user before they unsubscribe.  Add a quick survey of 1-3 questions.  Are they less interested in your organization now for some reason?  Were the messages never relevant to them?  Or do they just get too many emails?  All can help you better understand your users in the future.