Uptick in Retailers Quickly Honoring Customer Email Unsubscribe Requests, Says OTA

About 86 percent of the 200 largest e-commerce websites immediately stopped sending marketing emails after customers sent unsubscribe requests, the Online Trust Alliance reported Wednesday. OTA said in a news release that it's a slight improvement over last year, but almost 6 percent, or 11 retailers, didn't honor unsubscribe requests, violating U.S. and Canadian anti-spam laws. "Making the consumer email experience as straightforward as possible, aligning email marketing practices to users’ interests and honoring customer unsubscribe requests is critical to merchants’ online brand reputation and ability to meet regulatory requirements,” said President Craig Spiezle. OTA said it signed up to receive promotional emails from retailers between April and September and analyzed the user experience.