UnsubCentral Now Offers Choices Beyond Opt-Out For Email Recipients

When you get an email that you don’t want, you can usually click an unsubscribe link.

But many brands would prefer you “opted down” to other choices besides unsubscribing.

Today, UnsubCentral, a division of email service provider PostUp, is offering that kind of user choice for brands that utilize multiple email service providers.

Its new Preference Center, part of the UnsubCentral platform that was relaunched in July, allows email recipients to select choices besides just unsubscribing, like receiving only special offers or getting less frequent emails.

The Austin, Texas-based company cited a report from marketing research firm Smart Insights that 27 percent of email recipients opt out from receiving more brand communications. Obviously, keeping at least some of those from leaving a list entirely could benefit a campaign’s return on investment.

UnsubCentral specializes in email compliance and global opt-out list management for companies that use several email service providers (ESPs). If a brand used only one ESP or handled all of its own emailing, a neutral opt-out list manager like UnsubCentral might not be needed.

But if a brand uses multiple ESPs and multiple email lists, coordinating which recipients have opted out, switched addresses or communicated other changes — including those in both the brand’s customer relationship management system and in outside lists acquired specifically for campaigns — becomes more logistically challenging.

Todd Boullion, VP and general manager of both companies, told me that a typical use case for UnsubCentral might include two brands — say, ToysRUs and Huggies — conducting a joint email campaign that is intended to reach each other’s customers.

He added that he was not aware of “any company that fits in between” email service providers and is similarly offering multiple email options to recipients.

During beta testing, UnsubCentral found that about three-quarters of customers who employed the Preference Center changed their options so that they remained on the list in some capacity. The remaining 25 percent who interacted with the Preference Center still chose to opt out.

But it’s not clear what percentage of email recipients in a given campaign actually choose to use the Preference Center. Boullion noted that UnsubCentral only sees the ones who come to make changes, not the entire lists handled by the various ESPs.

But, he noted, “prior to launch of Preference Center, 100 percent would have opted out.”