How to use plus-tagged email addresses for subscriptions and unsubscribes?
Summary
What email marketers say6Marketer opinions
Email marketer from MailerLite shares that users can create variations of their email address using a plus sign (+) and a keyword (e.g., `yourname+newsletter@domain.com`). This allows tracking which services are sending emails and managing subscriptions more effectively. To unsubscribe, you can filter emails based on the plus-tagged address or directly unsubscribe the tagged address.
Email marketer from Email Hippo shares that plus addressing is a valid email address variation. They advise that using plus addressing will not negatively affect deliverability but encourage you to always validate the email addresses to ensure they are real and working.
Email marketer from Personal Blog shares she uses plus addressing to organize emails into different folders automatically using filters. For example, all emails to `myemail+shopping@gmail.com` go into a 'Shopping' folder.
Email marketer from Reddit user explains they use plus addressing to track which websites sell their email address. Each website gets a unique +tag, and when they receive spam at that address, they know the source.
Email marketer from Litmus explains that plus addressing (e.g., `name+keyword@example.com`) allows users to create unique email addresses for different services. This helps track where spam originates and filter emails effectively. For subscriptions, it enables easy identification of the source. For unsubscribes, users can directly unsubscribe the plus-tagged address, preventing further emails to that specific tag while maintaining the main address.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum mentions some websites may not accept plus addresses in their forms, which can be a disadvantage.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks suggests putting the recipients in the message body so they know which address to later unsubscribe, with a message like "You are subscribed with <address>, click here to unsubscribe".
Expert from Email Geeks shares that it's a good time to check that you can subscribe, send mail to, see analytics from and unsubscribe plus-tagged email addresses.
Expert from Email Geeks mentions including real unsubscribe links is important and a good practice.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that Gmail has supported + for a while and Yahoo has a - (hyphen) feature for user-tagging.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that plus addressing can be helpful for determining where your email address has been shared, but it's not a perfect solution as not all websites accept plus addresses.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Microsoft explains that Office 365 supports custom email addresses with plus addressing. Users can add a plus sign and a keyword to their email address (e.g., `john.doe+newsletter@example.com`). This helps in identifying the source of emails and managing subscriptions. To unsubscribe, users can set up rules to filter emails to the plus-tagged address or unsubscribe the address entirely.
Documentation from Google explains Gmail ignores periods in Gmail addresses and allows plus signs. You can add a plus sign (+) and any combination of words or numbers after your email address. It can be used to filter email.
Documentation from Fastmail shares it supports plus addressing. Using a plus address can help filter incoming mail using the additional text after the plus.
Documentation from Apple explains that Hide My Email creates unique, random email addresses that forward to your personal inbox. While not strictly plus addressing, it serves a similar function for privacy and managing subscriptions.