The above image is credited to Career Employer.
Saying goodbye to contacts is one of the worst parts of managing your email list. But just because a subscriber clicked on the Manage Your Subscription (MYS) page, that doesn’t mean it has to be goodbye forever!
Through establishing a clear brand message and giving your subscribers other options (outside of just unsubscribing), you can give them one last shot to stay on your list; or at the very least, allow them to leave on a high note.
Your company’s Manage Your Subscription page is a vital step in your subscriber’s journey. Subscribers trust you to provide a clear way to remove themselves from your email lists when they’re ready to leave. By not using this preferences page effectively, you’re essentially missing out on the chance to win subscribers back to your lists.
What Makes a Manage Your Subscription Page Effective?
- Put the power in the hands of the subscriber – Give your subscribers the ability to do more than just unsubscribe. By providing clear options to change the frequency or content of emails they receive, you may be able to save them from leaving entirely. For example, getting coupon promo emails instead of weekly newsletters.
- Establish consistent branding across channels – You want to make sure your subscribers realize that it is YOU they’re leaving. You have a chance to remind them that they’ll be leaving behind the valuable content and special offers that only you can provide.
- Give them clear direction on how to remove their email address – The easiest way to make a subscriber mad (and thanks to GDPR… the easiest way to get fined) is to make unsubscribing difficult. Don’t leave a bad taste in their mouth, or they may never come back. Don’t overcomplicate the process.
- Maintain trust in your brand – Honor and respect your contact’s choice to leave by immediately removing them.
- Insert your company voice – Are your emails humorous, serious, visual? Carry that same tone over to your Manage Your Subscription page that subscribers have come to expect.
- Make it mobile-friendly – There is nothing worse than trying to unsubscribe on your phone and not being able to! This has happened to me too many times, and I feel like the only option I have at that point is to mark the message as spam, which is much more damaging to your sender reputation.
- Use imagery strategically – Don’t add a bunch of random images to make the page prettier or confuse your subscribers. Each image should be purposeful; for example, establish consistent branding or add value by showing your different message types.
In most cases, the simpler the Manage Your Subscription page the better. The last thing you want to do is confuse your contacts and jeopardize the relationship. Keeping the page clean and clear allows your contact to easily decide what works best for them. And who knows? Saying “goodbye” today may turn into a “hello” tomorrow!
The Anatomy of a Manage Your Subscription Page:
What do iContact’s Strategic Advisors and Designers look for in an effective Manage Your Subscription page? To start with, there are several basic sections of a standard Manage Your Subscription page. Check out our infographic of our standard MYS setup and real client examples below.
Examples of Effective Manage Your Subscription Page
Kaiser Willys Auto Supply
Kaiser Willys Auto Supply out of South Carolina specializes in the sale of Jeep parts and accessories.
Our favorite parts of Kaiser Willys’ MYS page:
- Cementing brand awareness by mimicking their website design as closely as possible on their Manage Your Subscription page, including their top banner.
- Empowering subscribers to choose the list(s) they’d like to stay on or leave.
- Giving contacts a clear way to remove themselves.
- Using CSS to keep the “Email Subscriptions” banner sticky to the top of the page while scrolling, creating trust that this is YOUR unique Subscriptions page.
- Using a black-and-white color scheme with a little color to make branding stand out.
- Having a double jeep background image “popping out” from behind the Manage Your Subscription container, re-creating the fun and excitement that comes with Jeep ownership.
Read more about Kaiser Willys here.
Quick Quotes
Quick Quotes, a family-owned scrapbooking company out of Washington, helps their clients preserve memories through easy-to-use scrapbooking kits.
Our favorite parts of Quick Quotes’ Manage Your Subscription page:
- Adding humor to their page through a cute pup in sunglasses and great header text to direct contacts towards different subscription options instead. I mean, who can say no to puppies?
- Having a permanent logo on the left, fixed-positioning (as a background image) so that the logo always stays to the left as a constant reminder to the subscriber of who they are leaving.
- Highlighting the email subscription address box with big text so the contact has clear direction.
- Giving subscribers clear list names to choose from in managing their preferences.
Sendik’s Food Market
Sendik’s Food Market, a Milwaukee-born grocery store, takes great pride in their excellent customer service and award-winning workplace for employees.
Our favorite parts of Sendick’s Food Market’s Manage Subscription page:
- Showcasing a smiling employee for a personal touch. Gives you the same feeling as if you went into their market.
- Simplifying their page to make it less complicated. No need to overcomplicate the page and frustrate subscribers.
- Using CSS to move the title box to left and float the subscriber information to shorten the page and give a modern feel.
- Empowering contacts to choose relevant list(s) to stay on or remove themselves easily.
Stew Smith Fitness
Stew Smith Fitness prepares men and women for tactical professions which require fitness testing and advanced training.
Our favorite parts of Stew Smith Fitness’ Manage Your Subscription page:
- Giving the page a feel consistent with their brand and mission through imagery and design elements.
- Including a clear logo for instant branding.
- Using CSS to skew the title section and adding Google fonts for maximum brand alignment.
- Using CSS for custom scrolling so that the text “disappears” behind the logo as you scroll down.
- Fixing the background image in place for a dynamic feel.
- Directing contacts to change their preferences in a direct manner.
Retro City Sunglasses
Retro City Sunglasses creates designer inspired accessories for everyday wear.
Our favorite parts of Retro City Sunglasses’ Manage Your Subscription page:
- Giving contacts the ability to update their information first and get better promotional offers, thereby helping them forget they wanted to leave.
- Using simplicity to direct contacts to the actions you want them to take.
Wrapping Up
The examples above showcase effective Manage Your Subscription pages. Each client, (with the help of our expert iContact Design Services Team!) has put together an effective portal for their contacts to unsubscribe or update their email preferences.
Our team of Strategic Advisors work together with the Design Services Team to help iContact clients put together impactful Manage Your Subscription pages.
Interested in Premier Services with iContact? Contact us today!
