List Unsubscribe is an optional mailing list command specification header field consisting of text that can be included in the header portion of email messages. This is usually used by online newsletter publishers and email marketers as part of their email campaign. The recipients of the email and newsletter usually don’t see the “list-unsubscribe” on the header or subject line of the messages, they can only see a clickable unsubscribe text or unsubscribe button on the email. Windows Live Hotmail already included this option for their customers to easily unsubscribe from mailing lists whenever they want to do so.
This feature works by adding this line of code on the email header.
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:list@host.com?subject=unsubscribe>Mailto:list@host.com is referring to the email that should receive the unsubscribe request. You can change the email to whatever email you prefer. The ?subject=unsubscribe script refers to the header or subject line of the unsubscribe request. It would be better to add this additional script on the list-unsubscribe header so that you will easily recognize the email as an unsubscribe request.
Advantage of having the list-unsubscribe header
• Reduced email complaints – this new feature can help email senders lessen the complaints they are receiving from their customers by giving them the preference to easily unsubscribe to the email listing. Subscribers will be able to opt-out whenever they want to.
• Protect Sender’s Reputation - Some subscribers will likely hit the “Report as Spam” link or report complaints in some other way that can hurt the sender’s reputation or worst lead them to blacklist and get the reputation of “SPAMMER”, but by having this feature on the email header, senders can conserve their “sender reputation” by providing the subscriber the alternative to directly unsubscribe instead of reporting as spam. In Windows Live, when the “Unsubscribe” button or link is enabled, the “Report Spam” link option is disabled.
• Improve Email Deliverability – list-unsubscribe can help improve the email deliverability by reducing the spam complaints and reduce customer service requests.
• Improve Experience for Subscribers – this can also improve user experience by helping the users manage their emails and provide a common interface for varied mailing list. They can also recede from “wrong clicks” that could cause them to miss the messages they want.