OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla. — When it comes to clicking ‘Unsubscribe’ on marketing emails, many users are left wondering why they still have to type in their own email address — a question that prompted this week’s tech column by Jeff Werner.
GEEK NOTE
As I went to write this week’s issue, I was lamenting the utter lack of questions from readers in the field, and wondering what I was going to do in place of answering genuine user questions. Wouldn’t you know, my own Spouse Peripheral stepped in with one of her classic “I need a Geek!” moments and supplied the question for this week. Thank you, Dear!
QUESTION
I receive emails all the time that have an “Unsubscribe” link at the bottom. Some of these are from places that I’ve received emails from for years. When I click this link, it always takes me to a web page, and often the first thing it does is ask me what my email address is. Shouldn’t it already know my email address? Especially since the link was in an email that they sent to me?
– Spouse P.
Bluewater Bay, Florida
ANSWER
There’s no simple answer to what a web page should or shouldn’t do. Hopefully, it simply does what it has been programmed to do. Speaking as a Geek with nearly 40 years of experience as a software engineer, I can authoritatively say that not all programs work as their author intended.
And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
Without realizing it, you kind of hit the nail on the head in your question. You said this problem originates in an email that contains an “Unsubscribe” link. Then you said that when you click on the link it “always takes me to a web page.”
When that happens, your time in the email ends, and you are taken to a web browser, which in turn opens the linked page. It seems to me that you’re making some broad assumptions of what that web page knows.
In other words, how do you expect your email address to arrive on that web page to be automatically filled in? I’m sure you’ve seen it happen, so you know that it is possible.
The question then becomes: why doesn’t it do that every time?
The answer to that question has to do with how much money the emailer has invested in online marketing and how the link in the email was formed. Companies working on the cheap are not likely to have a large investment in creating emails.
They probably generate a single generic email, which includes an “Unsubscribe” link that connects to the page you see on their website. Everybody receives the same link, so it’s not customized for anybody, and you are forced to valiantly struggle forth and (*gasp*) type in your own email address.
Companies with a larger investment in their marketing tools can do better.
One of a number of things will happen to make sure the experience is personal and customized for you. First of all, instead of sending the same generic email to everybody, each email they send is personalized. If you look carefully and interpret what you see, you might just see the difference right up front.
Where a generic email might say something like “Dear Customer” or “Dear User,” the more advanced ones will often say “Dear Wendy” as if it were written just for you. In these cases, the “Unsubscribe” link can also be customized to pass your email address to the web page, so it can automatically populate it for you.
In another, even more advanced scenario, the email might contain a code that uniquely identifies you, and when you hit that web page, the code is passed in, and the underlying code of the page accesses the company’s customer database, looks up the code, receives your customer data, and then fills-in data on the web form for you.
For obvious reasons, I won’t go into a lot of detail on this part, but some of those emails that contain information about you can be used in attempts to exfiltrate personal data from sites where you have accounts.
If a cybercriminal somehow intercepts emails that have personalized links embedded in them, that can defeat at least one layer of protection that keeps you safe from criminal cyber activity. Consider that the next time you wonder why you have to type in your own email address.
Maybe that’s a small price to pay for the added peace of mind.
To view additional content, comment on articles, or submit a question, visit my website at ItsGeekToMe.co (not .com!)
Jeff Werner, a software engineer based in Niceville, Florida, has been writing his popular “It’s Geek to Me” tech column since 2007. He shares his expertise to help readers solve everyday tech challenges. To view additional content, comment on articles, or submit a question, visit ItsGeekToMe.co (not .com!).
