This is a question I have been asking for a long time, but as is confirmed here by AWeber’s Justin Premick, advice from very reputable sources, trains people not to do so.
This from the New York Times:
“Whatever you do, do not respond to an unsolicited e-mail message when it gives you the option to opt out of receiving more e-mail. That is a trick used by spammers to confirm they hit a live address.”
Good enough advice, if the “unsolicited e-mail message” is genuine spam, but of course we know that the average subscriber can’t seem to tell the difference between that and something they asked for 24 hours earlier, where the non-sinister unsubscribe links work perfectly well.
What can you do about it? As Justin says, “Like just about anything that spammers cause, the belief that unsubscribe links “validate” their email address can affect your own legitimate, opt-in email campaigns in two ways:”
If you found something you like here, why not subscribe?
Sponzurz
