Managing Unsubscribes with Email Marketing Director
Email Marketing Director helps you comply with CAN-SPAM laws by automatically
managing unsubscribe requests. To configure this feature, you need a POP3 or IMAP4 email account for EMD to monitor. The credential
for this account is entered in the Settings > Configuration > Bounce/Unsubscribe area, the same account is used for managing both bounces
and unsubscribes. In the message, you must have the unsubscribe merge field, {UNSUBSCRIBE "unsubscribe"} where you want the link to appear.
The portion inside the quotes can be modified to say whatever you want.
When the reader of your email clicks the link to unsubscribe, a new email message
is generated, addressed to the unsubscribe email account set up in the settings area. The subject line is pre-populated with the specific
information EMD needs to find the email address and the list where the email address is stored. The user clicks send and the request
will go to that email account to be read by EMD. When processed, the unsubscribe field for that address is updated in the list connected
to that campaign. If you want to remove the list from all of the lists in your program, make sure you have the Global Unsubscribe
check box checked in the configuration area.
Global vs. Single List Unsubscribes
There are two ways to manage your unsubscribes, you can unsubscribe people from all your lists, or from the list that generated the email.
You need to decide ahead of time which method you prefer. There is no law that says that you must remove an email from all your lists if
an unsubscribe request is made, but if you do, make sure the global unsubscribe feature is checked.
List Planning
At a high level, you must decide how you want to manage your lists. If you have different uses for your list, you can manage each list
separately. The request to be removed from one list, does not mean they are removed from all the other lists you use. When an unsubscribe
occurs, the unsubscribe date is added to the list and the record is filtered out of the list. This is important to realize, the record
is not deleted, simply filtered out of the list. If you allow people to resign up for a newsletter, when you import new sign ups, do not
check the de-dupe box during import. If you do not allow users to resign up and you want them off your list forever, make sure to check
the de-dupe feature when you import new records. The old record will be preserved and will continue to be filtered.
Deleting Unsubscribed Records
If you want to start with clean lists every time you run a campaign, you also have the option to remove bounced and unsubscribed emails
from your list. To do this;
- Edit your list and click the Remove Bounce/Unsubscribed Addresses
- Indicate whether you want to remove bounces, unsubscribes or both
- Use the CTRL key on your keyboard to de-select any addresses you want to keep
- Click Purge Selected, or Purge all (this will ignore any selections you make)
You will have the option to save the list as a file for future use if you want. Decide where you want to save the file and click ok.
If you truly never want to ever add someone who has unsubscribed to your lists
ever again, you can take the saved list and import it into the Global Suppression list. You will need to ensure that you have the
check box selected to check against the Global Suppression list upon importing.
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