Preference centres – Give your email subscribers control

I had a meeting recently with a client who were looking to improve their unsubscribe process after feedback recentlyreceived from their customers highlighted the fact that some were receiving communications that were not of interest to them. With a big push in list growth a while back, the need to manage the relevance of their emails was soon seen as a high requirement.

I was actually impressed that the client came to me with the need to evaluate their whole unsubscribe process, too often the unsubscribe process is seen as a negative thing and doesn’t get the attention it requires but it is important; after all, who wants to speak to someone who doesn’t want to listen?

Now when it comes to why people unsubscribe the reasons are never straight forward, there can be numerous factors as to why someone may want to unsubscribe, not just because they don’t want to receive messages from you. This is where the preference centre comes in.  Adestra have seen that when a preference centre option is offered unsubscribe rates drop significantly.

A preference centre is a way for subscribers to pick what titles, what type of communication (events, marketing, newsletters for example) and what 3^rd party emails they want to receive. It overcomes the problem of just offering a global opt-out and also gives them the chance to opt in to titles that they may not have previously been aware off; a method of cross-promoting titles. It can also act as ‘an update your details’ form, a great way to capture updated details, especially useful if you are segmenting data based on demographics or work information.

Adestra’s preference centre functionality can automatically manage all this. When clicking through from an email to update their details, a subscriber can automatically see what they are opted in to receive, as well as what they may be missing out on. Once they have amended their details and submitted, their contact information will automatically be updated, meaning no manual work is required from you. The form can also be hosted elsewhere, on your website for example, so subscribers always have a chance to update their details.

Ultimately a preference centre is a way of keeping your customers engaged and allows them to just receive the emails they want to receive; something that us email marketers keep going on about.

To find out more about  this please contact your account manager or email us

Andrew Abram, Client Strategy Consultant