Comments on: Gmail offering unsubscribe option

By: vaske

vaske — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:39:29 +0000

Thanks, I was wondering why our List-Unsubscribe header doesn’t work in gmail, problem is in fact that we use pure URL instead of mailto… thanks for posting this

By: Ramprasad

Ramprasad — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:42:33 +0000

Gmail must have an option of “unsubscribe” as well as “unsubscribe + report spam”
I cant see the button anyway
BTW Why does gmail mot simply use a feedback loop.

By: Schlag Skezinsky

Schlag Skezinsky — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:48:06 +0000

Users will likely increase their usage of the unsub + report spam option because it eases their efforts at unsubscribing manually. This increased usage will likewise increase sender’s spam complaints & spam scores at gmail.com, denting their delivery rates. Hardly encouraging, especially when senders already include an unsubscribe link as required by CAN-SPAM. If Gmail wants wider adoption of List-Unsubscribe, their implementation is not enticing.

By: Andrei Georgescu

Andrei Georgescu — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:57:11 +0000

This is a good news but actually the button will be named “Unsubscribe and report spam”…and I have a bad feeling putting together “unsubscribe” and “report spam” because I believe that… in time “report spam” will be actually confused completely with “unsubscribe” and that will hurt email marketers reputation.

By: Kieran Cooper

Kieran Cooper — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:25:24 +0000

Laura, you mentioned that it only worked where the list-unsubscribe header was a mailto:, ie an unsub by email link. Do you know the gmail thing definitely doesn’t work if the header has an ordinary URL in it? It works in Hotmail but I wondered if your testing had yet identified whether that worked in gmail….

By: Gmail’s new unsubscribe feature « Hyper Gumbo

Gmail’s new unsubscribe feature « Hyper Gumbo — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:59:45 +0000

[...] hoping that they are planning on using their massive google-powers to track how often those unsubscribes end up generating more spam, rather than [...]

By: Greg Alton

Greg Alton — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:19:20 +0000

I wish everyone would implement feedback loops through the existing delivery status notification mechanism. It would be easier for all admins to implement systems, which respect subscribers.

By: Al

Al — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:57:11 +0000

I didn’t find any such option in Gmail when I tried to experiment with some lists that I am subscribed to. I searched their help pages and couldn’t find any info either. Also no info about this feature on their blog.

Does anyone have a direct link to Gmail help pages where I can find this info?

By: Dave Greiner

Dave Greiner — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:22:00 +0000

Thanks for sharing this news Laura. While I agree it’s a step in the right direction, it does seem counter-intuitive to only show this option when an email is reported as spam.

It’s also surprising that Google isn’t supporting the web-based unsubscribe mechanism like Hotmail, which means the unsubscribe happens instantly instead of eventually sending an email back to the ESP.

While it’s great to see an improvement, unsubscribing from something and reporting it as spam are two very different actions. It would be great to see Gmail replace the Report Spam button with an Unsubscribe button like Hotmail do, or at the very least offer it as a separate option for reputable senders.

Beggars can’t be choosers I guess.