How To Opt Out Of Email Mailing Lists
Randy Eadon
November 04, 2008
Emails are a great way to communicate, and there are many businesses that know this. What is hard is that emails can be unwanted, even when someone has signed up to get them. Companies fight hard to send out legitimate emails so they are not considered spam, but consumers can forget that they signed up and report them as such anyway. If you get emails that may have been something you signed up for, but no longer want, don´t report them as spam. Instead, opt-out of getting these emails.
At the bottom of an email, you may see a link that you can click to opt-out. Before you click on this, you have to know that you are going to a real link that will actually allow you to do that. If you happen to do this on an unsolicited spam email, you are only going to add yourself to more lists. That is because clicking on such a link in spam email verifies that your address is active and does nothing to remove you from any mailing list. In fact, it adds you to more.
What you can do is to make sure the email is coming from a real company. If so, you may vaguely remember giving permission to get emails. Look at the email address. If it is from Hotmail or Yahoo, or any other free web-based email service, it is a spam address. Do not click the link. If the address is legitimate, like someone @kmart.com, you are probably safe clicking the link to opt out. Simply enter your address and then submit. Any legit mailing list will take you off without any problems.
You can avoid these problems by really thinking hard before you allow someone to have your email address. There is usually a box that you can uncheck when you sign up for something. Make sure you look for that when you buy anything online, or sign up for any service. That will eliminate the problem, at least from real companies. You should also take pains to protect your email address. Never post it where a search could pick it up.
You can find more information on protecting your email addresses if you look around online. Be sure to find out more about email mailing lists as well, so you have a better idea of what you are looking at when you open any email with a link to opt-out.
At the bottom of an email, you may see a link that you can click to opt-out. Before you click on this, you have to know that you are going to a real link that will actually allow you to do that. If you happen to do this on an unsolicited spam email, you are only going to add yourself to more lists. That is because clicking on such a link in spam email verifies that your address is active and does nothing to remove you from any mailing list. In fact, it adds you to more.
What you can do is to make sure the email is coming from a real company. If so, you may vaguely remember giving permission to get emails. Look at the email address. If it is from Hotmail or Yahoo, or any other free web-based email service, it is a spam address. Do not click the link. If the address is legitimate, like someone @kmart.com, you are probably safe clicking the link to opt out. Simply enter your address and then submit. Any legit mailing list will take you off without any problems.
You can avoid these problems by really thinking hard before you allow someone to have your email address. There is usually a box that you can uncheck when you sign up for something. Make sure you look for that when you buy anything online, or sign up for any service. That will eliminate the problem, at least from real companies. You should also take pains to protect your email address. Never post it where a search could pick it up.
You can find more information on protecting your email addresses if you look around online. Be sure to find out more about email mailing lists as well, so you have a better idea of what you are looking at when you open any email with a link to opt-out.
Print
Email
