Just signed up a third party email marketing provider, when I provide the template they give me a small tag to place which they subsitute with a user specific unsubscribe link.
My concern is that the link is single click, there is no subsequent confirmation, etc.. and whilst I am all for easy removal, I worry that any combination of malware scanners, AV engines, spam scanners will follow the link and thus unsubscribe many legitmate users.
Is this the norm to have a single HTTP GET request unsubscribe a user? How are other developers handling this issue?
Note: The provider in question is critsend
Interesting question. It’s not the norm. But it’s common with cautious email service providers. For example, MailChimp also has a 1-click unsubscribe for his freemium users. I’m not a big fan of that, too. (I’d prefer a prefilled form field, where the user confirms his wish to unsubscribe by clicking "submit".) However, I didn’t witness any problems using 1-click-unsub until now.
FYI, here’s a discussion addressing a similar topic (false positive double opt-in confirmations). You might also want to check out this article and this discussion (forum registration required).