As a marketer you want to maintain relationships with your email list, and one critical aspect is the individual’s ability to update an email address.  Keep in mind that between 20 and 25 percent of your list will change their email address annually.  Without a preference center, the only option for someone with a change of email address is to unsubscribe and sign up again.  That’s a hassle, and few will be dedicated enough to do this.  Additionally, without an easy way to update an email address, you lose all their promotional and click-through history.

You have the ability to save those who may opt-out.   Many times I have clicked on an opt-out link either out of curiosity or thinking it would take me to a preference center and that I’ll be presented with the option of choosing how often I would receive emails.  Often I am immediately unsubscribed, which is not my original intention.  Then I have to go through the cycle of signing up again.  While it should be easy for someone to opt-out, it should be thought of as a process.  In my experience, you may be able to save up to one-third of those who click on an opt-out link by bringing them to a preference center, particularly when presented with a choice to change how often they want to receive emails.

Even better, allow customers to tell you specifically what types of emails they’re interested in. For example, an apparel marketer might ask if the recipient is interested in men’s, women, girl’s or boy’s clothing and if she are interested in sales notices.  That allows the marketer to think about tailoring offers and content to the recipient’s interests.

You can also have your recipients provide additional information about themselves or cross-market additional email programs you may have in place.

The survey says…

Here are the results of an informal analysis of some of my favorite newsletters and what they do.  I examined at over 40 different e-mailers, including retailers, catalogers, nonprofits and B-to-B marketers.

• Almost two-thirds have a preference center
  
• Of those who do have a preference center, two-thirds allow people to easily change their email address and in some cases update ZIP code or mailing address information
  
• More than 40 percent of marketers with a preference center allow people to opt-out in the preference center, even though most also have a separate opt-out link in their email footers.
  
• One third also cross-market other types of email programs in the preference center.
  
• Thirty percent allow recipients to select categories of interest and/or the ability to update profile information
  
• Only 25 percent give customers the ability to tailor the frequency of communications.

It wasn’t always easy to realize that the marketer had a preference center in place.  In some cases, the type in the footer was tiny and grayed out with the information appearing in a long sentence such as: “If you wish to receive fewer emails or unsubscribe from all future emails, please click here or go to the following web address…”  This type of messaging takes effort to locate.  I much prefer either separate links like “Update My Profile” or “Manage My Email Preferences.”

I also ran into a few problems.  I clicked on the “Change My Email Address” link for one retailer and was brought to the page where I could update my frequency preferences, but couldn’t change my address.  With one well-known B-to-B marketer, the link to change my preferences resulted in an alert in my browser that there was a problem with the site’s security certificate.  So, the moral of this particular story is that you should periodically check your links.  They were probably set up quite some time ago, and things change on the site.  And for a few, I had to enter my email address and a password to get to my profile.  Of course, for most of these sites, I’d forgotten my password and had to request that it be emailed to me.

Hewlett-Packard had my all-time favorite preference center.  It was well organized and well-thought out.  I updated and customized my preferences, and after I submitted the changes I was presented with a screen that contained recommendations on other HP programs that might be of interest to me.  There was one main recommendation followed by four additional newsletters.  And next to each was a link to quickly view a sample.

Today, the customer has control of the marketing relationship.  Preference centers allow you to create a closer dialog with your email recipients by empowering them with self-service tools.  Happy customers who receive emails based on their choices are much more likely to stay with you for the long-term, and to buy your products or services.

Regina Brady is president of Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions, a direct and email marketing consultancy. She can be reached at (203) 838-8138 or reginabrady@att.net.

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