What keywords can I use to filter reply messages for unsubscribe requests?
Summary
What email marketers say11Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Litmus Blog highlights the importance of understanding your audience's language and using a flexible system that can adapt to new or changing unsubscribe requests, including slang and colloquial terms.
Email marketer from EmailOctopus Blog advises including keywords such as 'unsubscribe,' 'remove,' 'opt-out,' 'stop emails,' and 'no more emails.' They also suggest considering common phrases like 'I want to unsubscribe.'
Email marketer from Reddit suggests including terms like 'unsubscribe', 'opt out', 'remove', 'stop', and common misspellings/typos of those terms. Also suggested to add swear words.
Email marketer from DigitalMarketer Blog suggests using a combination of explicit keywords like 'unsubscribe' and implied keywords such as 'stop sending me emails', as well as monitoring for negative sentiment indicators.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests looking for common spelling errors or autocorrects in replies to add to the keyword list for unsubscribe requests.
Email marketer from Reddit advises using negative keywords in addition to positive ones, like 'vacation' or 'out of office' so only real requests are unsubscribed.
Email marketer from HubSpot Blog recommends using a comprehensive list of keywords like 'unsubscribe,' 'opt out,' 'remove me,' 'cancel subscription,' and 'end my emails.' They also suggest monitoring replies for new keywords and phrases.
Email marketer from StackOverflow shares a comprehensive list including 'unsubscribe', 'remove', 'opt-out', 'stop', 'no longer want emails', and translations in other languages like 'désabonner' (French) and 'abmelden' (German).
Marketer from Email Geeks shares a list of keywords for filtering unsubscribe requests, including terms like 'annoying', 'block', 'cancel', 'delete', 'no consent', 'opt-out', 'spam', 'stop', 'unauthorised', 'unsolicited', and 'unwanted'.
Email marketer from Quora recommends identifying keywords in different languages if you have a global audience, such as 'unsubscribe', 'abmelden', 'darse de baja', and '取消订阅'.
Email marketer from Neil Patel Blog suggests including keywords such as 'unsubscribe,' 'remove,' 'opt-out,' and 'stop' in your filters. Additionally, consider variations of these words and common misspellings.
What the experts say2Expert opinions
Expert from SpamResource recommends monitoring replies for a broad range of terms, including direct requests like 'unsubscribe', 'remove', and 'opt out', as well as less direct phrases such as 'stop sending me emails' or even emotionally charged words indicating dissatisfaction.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that in addition to direct keywords like 'unsubscribe' or 'opt-out', it's important to identify and track phrases that may indirectly indicate a user's desire to be removed from the mailing list. This includes phrases expressing disinterest, complaints about frequency, or simply negative sentiment towards your emails.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Microsoft suggests using keywords such as unsubscribe, remove, opt-out and variations of these words to identify unsubscribe requests, especially when configuring rules within email clients or servers.
Documentation from Twilio SendGrid Documentation indicates implementing filters that capture 'unsubscribe,' 'opt out,' 'remove me from the list,' and similar phrases. The documentation also recommends using regular expressions to capture variations.
Documentation from Sendinblue Documentation advises creating rules that look for 'unsubscribe,' 'remove,' 'opt-out,' 'stop,' and similar keywords. They also recommend monitoring for misspellings and variations.
Documentation from Mailjet Documentation suggests filtering for words like 'unsubscribe', 'remove', 'opt-out' in reply emails, alongside less direct phrases like 'I don't want to receive these emails anymore'.