Marketers hoping to maintain customer relationships should consider implementing a similar re-engagement component to their opt-out process. If you ask appropriately and remind recipients of the value of being on your list, you may find that enough customers will stay to make it well worth asking.

Managing opt-outs has always been a tricky issue for marketers.

When things are going crazy, take time to get the team together and take a breather and laugh, and get everyone on the same page personally as well as professionally.

You should try to get as much information as you can before the customer is gone for good. Were they receiving too many email messages? Are they no longer interested in your product or service? Was the content not relevant enough? You can even provide an empty text box on the Web site in which they can add their own feedback.

Certainly, after a customer indicates he doesn't want to receive any more emails from you, each additional message you send can leave a negative impression, harming your brand, your email delivery reputation and potentially get you in trouble with the law. You should never put obstacles between email recipients and an easy opt-out process. However, as long as you provide a clear and easy opt-out mechanism, you can still offer customers alternatives to leaving.

Managing opt-outs has always been a tricky issue for marketers. Generally, marketers do very little to maintain a relationship once recipients begin the process to be removed from an email list. However, in the course of our review of retail email programs, we uncovered a handful of companies that have developed impressive opt-out programs that can both help stave off list churn and provide senders important information to improve their email marketing programs.