How to cope with the Unsubscribe link added by Gmail?

At the beginning of 2014, Gmail added an unsubscribe link next to the sender name and sender’s email address. This means that recipients can unsubscribe whenever they want by just clicking the unsubscribe button. Within 3 days, you will receive the unsubscription request and the request will be processed. Don’t worry. This will not lead to decrease in your potential leads, but to reduce complaints and help improve deliverability.

Let’s recall how unsubscription improves list hygiene >>

Therefore, Gmail unsubscribe link does help reduce SPAM complaints effectively if your unsubscribe link is not obvious enough in your eDM. You know, some subscribers may change their preference suddenly that you fail to catch up. If they cannot find an unsubscribe button with one glimpse, they may simply click “Report SPAM”. Gmail now helps to avoid these acts.

However, Gmail will be able to collect your unsubscription record by adding this unsubscribe link. What does this mean? This means Gmail can evaluate your subscribers’ engagement using the unsubscription record. While Outlook has the similar unsubscribe link at the bottom of the eDM, it can also evaluate recipients’ engagement based on unsubscription record. Again, don’t worry if you have done 2 steps below.

 1. Put an unsubscribe link obviously in eDM


Gmail cannot provide unsubscribe link to all eDMs. Thus, if your eDMs do provide an obvious unsubscribe link, Gmail may not offer unsubscribe link to your subscribers.

 2. Send relevant & engaging eDMs to users rather than spamming


Sounds reasonable, right? By sending relevant & engaging eDMs, you will just boost readers’ loyalty and engagement. On the other hand, Gmail may add unsubscribe link to those irrelevant eDMs with low engagement, such as low open rate and click rate. Thus, Gmail may not provide unsubscribe link to your relevant & engaging eDMs. 
 
Unsubscribe link can definitely help maintain your list. Do put effort on the design of it.