Have you ever been unsubscribed without your consent?
We recently had an issue where some recipients clicked the “No images? Click here” link at top right in a customer's email campaign, which unsubscribed them!
This action by a subscriber takes them to a desktop version, but that triggered their email security settings to “scan” all the links in that web page for suspicious links including the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom.
What Happened?
As a result, 20 people were unsubscribed without their consent just by viewing it in their browser!
Why Did This Happen?
Unfortunately, this is a known side effect of the evolving security landscape in email delivery. Some mail security systems used by recipients are designed to scan incoming emails for potential threats and, in doing so, they may follow links (including unsubscribe links) automatically.
This behaviour happens entirely on the recipient's side, without their direct interaction, and is not triggered or controlled by the email newsletter tool that we offer to over 75 North American clients.
What Did We Do?
As a result, we switched all of our clients over to a double opt-out unsubscribe instead of single, which should avoid this issue in the future.
We did have to reach out to all 20 people to get their consent to re-subscribe them, which they were happy to do. :)
Get in Touch
If you have questions or want to get started in email marketing, please reach out. We are happy to answer any questions you may have.
