This is perfect! One click to unsubscribe and it's over. No long, drawn out, painful goodbyes. I've

This morning I received a marketing email from Hertz car rental. Marketing emails are fine if I like the product and use it often. But in this case, I simply don't rent nearly enough cars to warrant registering sports radio 1310 the ticket in one of their rewards program. Somehow I had gotten on Hertz's email marketing list and I wanted sports radio 1310 the ticket out...now. But it seemed as though the marketing team at Hertz had other plans for my desired unsubscription. This is where I quickly changed from "Matt the happy Hertz customer" to "Matt the happy Enterprise or Alamo or Dollar or [other car rental company here] customer."
I had just taken a two week vacation driving all across Italy, and upon my return it seems that Hertz wanted to reward sports radio 1310 the ticket me for my patronage by offering me 250 of their "bonus points" if I registered for their Gold Plus Rewards program. Typical email marketing stuff. I had had an excellent experience with Hertz over in Italy, despite the fact that the massive American super-sized car that they assigned to us completely dwarfed all the tiny Italian smart cars, Vespas and other toy-sized vehicles that are ubiquitous throughout the country. Not to mention sports radio 1310 the ticket the fact that American-sized behemoth cars are ill suited for the extremely narrow, winding roads that carve through the cliffs of the Amalfi Coast.
So the car handled well, the Hertz folks were pleasant and helpful during the initial rental, sports radio 1310 the ticket and returning the car at the Marco Polo Airport's Hertz lot was a breeze. I was a happy Hertz customer and would probably rent a car from them again, which is a pretty significant feat for any company, considering I'm brand agnostic when it comes to things like car rentals. I usually select based on price--so the cheapest vehicle with 4 wheels will do. I don't need to travel in style--I just need to cart myself from point A to point B.
Whether you're a car rental company, a hotel or any other business, email marketing can be a great way to reach your customers . They can inform customers about special offers, discounts, policy changes, company improvements, new features, helpful tips or other useful information relevant to the business. In Hertz's case, their email offered me some loyalty points in exchange for registering for their rewards program.
First of all, I never recall providing my email address to Hertz for the purposes of marketing. Now, I know that I had to provide them with my email address as part of the rental sports radio 1310 the ticket process, but it seems I must have overlooked the fine print about how they can use my information to market to me. Bad move. I, like many folks, do not like being auto-enrolled in various marketing campaigns. If you want to add me to your distribution list, ask me. If I write my email address on a rental form, then have a checkbox next to my email address that says "Check this box if you'd like to receive special offers from our company." If I like your company enough and use your products/services frequently then I will check the box. If I'm not interested then I won't check the box. As a business, it's probably in your best interest to ask first because sending me unsolicited emails is likely a recipe for aggravation anyway.
Ok fine. Hertz tricked me into signing up for their email campaign. Shame on me for not reading the unintelligible legalese in 5 point font. While I hate receiving sports radio 1310 the ticket unwanted emails, at least most companies give their customers an easy out: the unsubscribe link. Ah yes, the unsubscribe link! The last hope a company has in redeeming themselves. You've forced me onto your marketing list, but for the love of all things holy, please let me go without a struggle. In the best scenario, which is fortunately more common these days, unsubscribing sports radio 1310 the ticket can be achieved with one click. The customer clicks the unsubscribe link in their email and it automatically opens a browser window that simply says that you're no longer on their list. Problem solved.
Unfortunately, some email programs make it more difficult to unsubscribe than a single click of the mouse. Sometimes clicking the unsubscribe link takes you to a webpage that requires that you uncheck sports radio 1310 the ticket a subscription box, retype your email address to confirm that it is indeed you who is unsubscribing, or sometimes you may have to log into your online account with the company in order to change sports radio 1310 the ticket your settings. All of these are frustrating for the user who just wants to escape the clutches of your marketing campaign. One click is all it should take to opt-out of unwanted email subscriptions.
Hertz, on the other hand, decided it would rather make it's customers jump through a few hoops before they let them have their freedom. My first clue to the challenge that lay ahead of me was this friendly little paragraph at the bottom of their marketing email:
To stop receiving any electronic mail message from The Hertz Corporation and its subsidiaries, the primary sports radio 1310 the ticket purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or solicitation of a commercial product or service, sports radio 1310 the ticket please paste this address sports radio 1310 the ticket into your browser: unsubscribe.hertz.com.
That statement was clearly written by a lawyer. It is very formal and cumbersome, and it doesn't get to the point quickly or make it easy for the consumer to unsubscribe. The entire 39-word sentence could have easily been replaced with, "Click here to unsubscribe," and the same goal would have been achieved.
I removed the links from the excerpt sports radio 1310 the ticket above, but if I were to click the 3 underlined items they would take me to various options: I can find out why I received this email; I can unsubscribe from this list; Or I can update my subscription preferences.
sports radio 1310 the ticket This is perfect! One click to unsubscribe and it's over. No long, drawn out, painful goodbyes. I've made up my mind to leave and the company has opened the exit door for me. This is the way good email marketing should be done. No hassle. No frustration. No contempt for a company that tries to lock their customers sports radio 1310 the ticket into their email distribution sports radio 1310 the ticket lists. And, if I'm so inclined, I can explain my reason for unsubscribing by completing the optional survey.
So, after receiving sports radio 1310 the ticket the Hertz loyalty reward email, I have decided to unsubscribe from Hertz emails altogether. I've parsed through the legalese in my Hertz promotional email and I've clicked the unsubscribe link. That's when this eyesore flashes onto my screen:
It appears that Hertz, in an effort retain their email distribution list, has provided a 5-part unsubscribe form in hopes that customers will simply give up from exhaustion. Let me break down for you the problems I have with this form:
Worse yet, it's an entire form ...to unsubscribe! I just want out. If other companies can unsubscribe me in one click, surely a huge company like Hertz (and apparently its subsidiaries) should sports radio 1310 the ticket be able to do it as well.
There is so much text . If I'm already so frustrated with your email communication that I want out now, don't make this painful for me by forcing me to read 10 paragraphs of text. The only words I should have to read are, "You have been successfully unsubscribed."
In part B, there are two check boxes. I think I'm supposed to check the first box, but maybe I should sports radio 1310 the ticket check the second sports radio 1310 the ticket box too? But then it asks for my rewards number... If I don't have a rewards number, should I check it or uncheck it? Again, very vague instructions which makes it confusing to successfully unsubscribe .
Part C is only relevant to travel agents , which doesn't pertain to me, so why is it even being displayed. sports radio 1310 the ticket If I unknowingly check this box and click submit I receive an error message. More confusion.
Finally, the entire form is just not written in a user-friendly, customer tone . As I read this I feel as though I'm signing a contract. I'm no longer a customer. Hertz has made me feel like a threat by trying to cover all their liabilities sports radio 1310 the ticket with their legalese. Customers hate reading this crap. Write to me as though you're writing to another human being. The last paragraph (part E) highlights this confusing legal jargon perfectly. I really had to think about whether sports radio 1310 the ticket or not the information I was about to submit was being done in "good faith for purposes of accomplishing the foregoing." "Accomplishing the foregoing"?
As a consumer, I should not have had to go through all of these unnecessary hurdles just to avoid being hassled with unwanted emails. If you run a company that uses emails to market to your customers, then remember to keep the consumer's best interests in mind throughout the entire email marketing campaign. Making it as cumbersome as possible for your customers to gracefully exit your marketing sports radio 1310 the ticket messages sports radio 1310 the ticket is not a way to grow customer databases.
We never recommend that our hotel clients purchase email distributions lists for a similar reason: those people didn't sign up to receive emails from your business. sports radio 1310 the ticket They are unqualified. And while purchasing email addresses from marketing companies can certainly inflate the size of your email distribution lists, you are ultimately marketing your company to disinterested people who may not even be familiar with your product. Making it hard for those users to then exit your marketing trap only compounds the damage you're ultimately doing to your brand reputation. And in the world of online social sharing, your reputation can change sports radio 1310 the ticket in a heartbeat.
If you present your customers with the option to join your email distribution list (rather than forcing them onto your email list) and if you give them an easy way to opt out of your marketing campaigns, you will prevent that person from going from a disinterested customer to a frustrated and angry former customer--and one who is now looking to your competitor as the more accommodating option. Trapping your customers is never a good solution. It only pisses sports radio 1310 the ticket them off. As the saying goes: if it's truly love, set it free; and if it returns you'll know it was meant to be . And so it goes with your customers.