We have found that customers who place the unsubscribe link at the top of the email and make it very prominent and easy to see, often reduce their spam complaints by 75%. This reduction in complaints can easily make the difference between getting blocked and not getting blocked by the Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
There is consensus among email marketing experts that it is time to move the unsubscribe link from the bottom to the top of all email marketing emails. The reason is simply that most ISPs have made it very easy to click the "report spam" button, which can really damage your deliverability, as opposed to the unsubscribe link which cleanly unsubscribes someone from your list without hurting your deliverability.
The first mention I have seen of this idea was a blog post on in April of 2008 by Mark Browlow called, Time to Move The Unsubscribe Link? Since then I have seen this idea brought up in a number of influential email marketing blogs and publications and so the answer to Mark's question is yes it is definitely time to move the unsubscribe link to the top of all email marketing emails.
Can I edit my unsubscribe link?
You can edit the unsubscribe link to include your own text. An unsubscribe link is necessary, so if you do not include your own on your message, the system will automatically insert one at the bottom of your email.
If you are using our templates:
1) Add the text you want to link
2) Highlight this text and press the "Link" button
3) Select "Subscriber Links" on the left and then "Unsubscribe / Edit Profile". Press OK.
If you are using your own HTML:
If you are manually applying the link in HTML, you can use the following value:
<a href="{{{unsubscribe}}}">Place your unsubscribe link text here</a>