In the series' previous post, we discussed Topic Management. Today, let's see how you can use Contact Preference to manage your contacts' email preferences using your public mailing lists. On clicking the unsubscribe/update profile link in your emails, your contacts will be able to choose the mailing lists they want to be a part of.
Here, you need to be meticulous about naming those lists. Their names should be very relevant to the purpose behind sending emails to your contacts so that they know what they are signing up for.
The mailing lists that you have set as private will not appear in the preference center. You can use private mailing lists for discussing topics that you think should be kept internal or limited to a closed group of recipients. Contacts will only be able to choose from your public mailing lists.
Here are some tips you might find useful while creating an email preference page:
- Ensure that all content is on one page — avoid extra navigation for contacts to update their preferences
- Keep the text concise and very relevant to your newsletters
- Have a mobile-friendly preference center page
- Present your preference center immediately after contacts sign up—this way you can start catering to the needs of your contacts right from the start
- Make sure you have an option to unsubscribe on the pages
Carefully examine your purpose behind sending emails to your contacts and determine how you are going to manage their email preferences. Are you sending out emails only on limited areas/subjects across your entire contact base? Or do you have multiple segments of contacts, each of which expect or gain something different from your email communications?
Managing your content and matching it with your contacts' preferences are mutually beneficial as it increases your contacts' satisfaction and also drastically reduces the likelihood of unsubscribes.