Gmail’s New Unsubscribe Button: Helpful or Hurtful?

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Earlier this month Gmail rolled out a new “unsubscribe button” feature for users, in order to allow users of the email service to easily and quickly unsubscribe from marketing email lists right from the address line. This certainly spells doom for marketing and business email effectiveness, doesn’t it?

Perhaps not, actually. This article from Direct Marketing News, “Gmail’s Unsubscribe Button Unlikely to Affect Marketers” makes it clear that the button is not something marketers need to worry about. The new feature automatically detects an unsubscribe link within an email and places a button at the top of the email in the address bar. The functionality is exactly the same as the link in the email, but now subscribers don’t need to search around for a tiny link within the entire email.

Deliver Mail to the Correct People

People will not click unsubscribe if they want to receive the email. And users unsubscribing (contrary to popular belief) is actually a fairly good thing. Businesses should aim to get their email (marketing, transitional or otherwise) only into the inboxes of those that want it. It is not effective to deliver mail to the wrong audience so the unsubscribe button from Gmail (or similar functions) will help to trim lists to the appropriate targets.

Not Spam is a Good Thing

Actually, it is a great thing. Being marked as spam is probably one of the most dangerous things in relation to future email deliverability and overall effectiveness. By giving recipients a quick and easy “out” it actually reduces the likelihood that they will mark the email as spam. It may not be much, but now, in Gmail’s case, “mark as spam” is 2 clicks away, while “unsubscribe” is only one.

All in all, while businesses may see some slight trimming in their email lists initially, this type of easy unsubscribe function will ultimately help businesses craft better lists and improve their deliverability. Companies should investigate monitoring their email deliverability even closer, to fully understand the impact of this new feature.

Jonathon Mahon is a content marketer, writer and designer based in Boston. He writes for various digital publications and blogs specializing in the cloud, email automation, software, and technology.​