A few weeks back we received an inquiry from a customer which read:
“do you have a simple , inexpensive bulk mailer program which I can use to send schedules , newsletters etc to targeted customers including an opt out option. I want a once off purchase – not a subscription service and I definitely don’t want to SPAM my customers as this will lose me business?”
A lot of you may already know what solution we would have offered the customer… Any Guesses?
Yes… our very own Email Merge for Outlook which basically meets all the requirements.
If you are new to Email Merge… Download our 30 day trial version to try it yourself and see just how simple and cost effective it can be for your email marketing needs.
One of the most commonly asked question we have had recently is…
How to add unsubscribe links to the mass emails sent using Email Merge?
In this post I will be showing you just how to add unsubscribe links and also managing your unsubscribe list using Email Merge.
Adding Unsubscribe links to emails
With the method of unsubscribe that I will be showing you, there will be a link in each email that you sent out, when the link is clicked, a new email will be created with pre-filled content and the subscriber can send that back to you. Here is how:
- Open Outlook
- Start the Email Merge wizard, move through the steps in the wizard till you reach the step to edit/compose your email
- Start typing your email
- Once done, please your cursor where you would like to add your unsubscribe link (I personally recommend right at the moment of your email)
- Enter a text of your choice for the subscribe link for example “To cancel your subscription please click Unsubscribe”
- Highlight all the text that you would like to create as a hyperlink. In this example I will only highlight the word “Unsubscribe”
- Now click the Insert tab > click Hyperlinks. This will open the following screen:
- On the right side under “Link to:”, select E-mail Address
- In E-mail Address:, enter the address on which you could like to receive the unsubscribe notification.
- In Subject:, enter “Unsubscribe from Newsletter” or something similar with the word Unsubscribe in it
- Click OK
This will now create a hyperlink in your emails. Your newsletter subscribers can request to opt out by simply clicking on the link and sending the notification email to you.
How to Manage unsubscribe using Email Merge
You will now be required to use the Do Not Send To list feature to manage your unsubscribe requests.
To Open the Do not Send List:
In Outlook go to your Inbox, click on the little arrow beside(below) the EmailMerge button on the Toolbar/Ribbon.
Click Do not Send List. The application will open the following screen:
1. Add an email-address to Do not Send List:
Click Add, the application will display the following screen:
You can add email address(s) to the Do not Sent list using 1 of the 3 options below:
- Manually add the new items to the list – Select this option if you would like to type-in the email addresses manually. (Enter 1 email address per line)
- Email address (sender) of currently selected email(s) – Select this option if you want Email Merge to automatically add email addresses for the emails you have already selected in the current folder. The email address of the sender will be added to the Do not Sent List.
- Emails in current folder with unsubscribe/bounce back words in subject
For the purpose of this example, I will select the last option as the unsubscribe email will have the keyword “Unsubscribe” in it.
You may also find that certain emails addresses on your list are no longer valid as emails you send are bounced back. EmailMerge can automatically add addresses of the above to the Do not Send List by comparing words in the Subject fields.
You can edit the list of words by clicking on Maintain Word List to add, delete or reset the Word list to default.
Now click Next and Email Merge will automatically add all email address with the keyword Unsubscribe in the subject to the Do Not Send To list.
You can repeat the above steps after each newsletter or email campaign to ensure that people who have unsubscribed are added to the list and not contacted further as this could really annoy them.
Here are a few reasons why you maybe want to try Email Merge:
- It’s a simple tool that works directly inside Outlook
- It’s one of the most inexpensive bulk mailer program
- It allows you to send newsletters and even schedule the time for sending emails
- There are no monthly subscription fee’s… just a once off purchase
- It lets you send out personalized emails therefore reduces the chances of SPAM
- Lastly the new “Do Not Send To List” feature even allows you to manage unsubscribes.
Hope you find this tip useful
Let us know what you think of this tip or Email Merge by leaving a comment below.
