In this article, we’ll explain what Unsubscribes and Suppressions are and how to manage these actions across Spektrix and Dotdigital. We’ll also explain how you can help customers resubscribe to your Email Contact Preferences.
Before reading this article, you should be familiar with:
What are Unsubscribes?
An unsubscribe (also known as an opt-out) occurs when a customer requests to be removed from your mailing list. This can happen when a customer clicks an unsubscribe link in an email campaign.
When a customer unsubscribes, their email Contact Preference changes from a Yes to a No response. This reflects that they have revoked the permission they gave to be contacted in a certain way.
How can customers unsubscribe?
Customers can unsubscribe by:
- Clicking an unsubscribe link in a Dotdigital email campaign
When a customer clicks an unsubscribe link in an Integrated Email campaign, they are added to your the suppression list in your Dotdigital account. This means the customer will no longer receive emails you send through Dotdigital. The Customer’s email Contact Preference is then updated in Spektrix during an overnight sync.
- Managing their Contact Preferences on the My Account page online
When a customer updates a Contact Preference to a No response on the My Account page, this is immediately updated in their Customer Record in Spektrix. As long as you use that Contact Preference as a filter in your Customer Lists the customer will not be included and their email address will no longer be synced with Dotdigital for future emails.
- Contacting the Box Office (Contact Preference is updated by a sales user)
When a sales user updates a customer’s Contact Preference to a No response this is immediately reflected on their Customer Record in Spektrix. As long as you use that Contact Preference as a filter in future Customer Lists the customer will not be included and their email address will no longer be synced with Dotdigital for future emails.
How to resubscribe a customer
The process required to resubscribe a customer differs depending on whether the customer has unsubscribed or complained to their ISP.
TIP: Customers can also resubscribe by completing a sign up form, or by managing their Contact Preferences.
Customer has unsubscribed
If a customer has unsubscribed by clicking the unsubscribe link in your email, they can resubscribe by updating their Contact Preferences on the My Account page of your website or by calling the Box Office.
If a customer’s Contact Preference is changed from a No to a Yes (in their online account or in the Sales Interface) the customer will receive an email from Dotdigital to confirm that they want to resubscribe. The customer must click the link to confirm within 24 hours.
- If the customer clicks the link they are resubscribed in Dotdigital and removed from the suppression list.
- If the customer doesn't click, or the link expires, they will not be removed from the suppression list in Dotdigital. This means that they will not receive any emails you send through Dotdigital.
TIP: You can manually remove a customer from the Suppression list in Dotdigital by following the steps in the How to remove a customer from the Suppression list in Dotdigital section below.
Customer has complained to their ISP
When a customer unsubscribes by complaining to their ISP, the customer will be added to the Global Suppression List (GSL).
To resubscribe a customer who has complained to their ISP (by marking the email as spam), you’ll need to ask the customer to send you an email confirming they want to be resubscribed.
Save this email as a [.msg] or [.eml] file extension and send it to our Support Team. Our team will send the attachment to Dotdigital. Once verified, the customer will be removed from the Global Suppression List and will receive an email asking them to confirm the re-subscribe.
WARNING: Do not forward the email from the customer. Save as [.msg] or [.eml] and send it to our Support Team.
What are Suppressions?
Suppressions exist in Dotdigital to temporarily, or permanently, stop certain customers from receiving your email communications.
When a customer is on the suppression list in Dotdigital they will not receive your emails. A customer’s email addresses can be added to the suppression list in Dotdigital for a number of reasons.
When do Suppressions occur?
Suppressions occur in Dotdigital when:
- A customer clicks an unsubscribe link in a Dotdigital email campaign
When a customer clicks an unsubscribe link in an email, their email address is added to the suppression list in Dotdigital with the suppression reason Unsubscribed.
- A customer’s Contact Preference is updated to a No response
When a sales user or customer updates their Contact Preference to a No response, this is immediately updated in their Customer Record in Spektrix. Their email address is then added to the account suppression list in Dotdigital with the suppression reason Unsubscribed.
- A Hard bounce occurs
Hard bounces occur when a customer's email address is permanently unreachable. For example, the email address or host server doesn't exist anymore or the address is invalid or misspelt.
When an email hard bounces, the email address is automatically added to the suppression list.
- A Soft bounce occurs
Soft bounces occur when a customer’s email address is temporarily unreachable. For example, if the customer’s inbox is full, there are temporary problems with the host server or the email campaign is too large for the customer's inbox.
Once an email address reaches the soft bounce limit that's set for your account, the customer’s email address is automatically added to the suppression list.
- Customer has complained to ISP
An ISP complaint is registered if a customer marks an email as spam.
If a customer has complained to their ISP or email provider about spam emails from your organisation, the customer will be immediately added to your Suppression List. If the customer regularly complains to their ISP about emails from multiple sources, their email address will be added to the Global Suppression List. This means the customer will not receive any emails that originate from Dotdigital regardless of which organisation sent the email.
- Suppressed by you
You or a managed user can suppress a customer’s email address in your Dotdigital account. When you suppress a customer their email address is then added to the your account suppression list in Dotdigital with the reason Suppressed by you.
- An email address is globally suppressed
Email addresses can become globally suppressed if the customer complains directly to Dotdigital or are known as spam traps or invalid. Your customers can be suppressed if they are flagged during a Global Suppression List (GSL) check.
How to check suppression reasons
You can view the suppression reason for an email address in suppressed contacts, on individual customers, or by using an email report.
- To find out how to view suppressed contacts, follow these steps:
- Go to Audience > Suppressions.
- Locate the Email suppression status column. This displays the reason for the email address suppression:
If you can’t see the Email suppression status column:
- Click DISPLAY in the top right.
- Click the Email suppression status checkbox.
- Click APPLY.
- To see the suppression reason in single customer view, follow these steps:
- Go to Audience > Suppressions.
- Use the search field or filter to find the contact. Select their email address to open the Single customer view.
- Select the Data fields tab at the top of the page.
You can see the reason for the email address suppression next to the Email field:
- To find out how to view suppression reasons using the email report, follow these steps:
To view bounced emails, unsubscribes or ISP complaints for a specific email campaign:
- Go to Analytics > Reports.
- Select the email campaign name.
Expand the MORE REPORTS dropdown menu and select the relevant drilldown report.
Managing Suppressions
Customers can be removed from the Suppression list automatically or manually.
Automatic unsuppressions
If an email address on the Global Suppression List (GSL) engages with any email campaign (for example, by clicking a link in a old email):
- The customer is removed from the GSL if they were added because they hard bounced, soft bounced, or had no MX record.
- The customer’s global soft bounce count resets to zero.
Learn more about the GSL in Use the Global Suppression List to revise your contact list.
Additionally, if a customer is suppressed because they reached your soft bounce threshold, email addresses are removed from your suppression list after one year.
Manually removing a customer from the Suppression list
To remove a customer from the Suppression list in Dotdigital, you’ll first need to update the customer’s Contact Preference in Spektrix. If the customer clicks the link in the re-subscribe email they receive, they will automatically be removed from the Suppression List.
In the event that the Customer does not click the re-subscribe link, you can follow these steps to manually remove a customer from the Suppression List:
- In Dotdigital, go to Audience > Suppressions:
- Check the box next to the customer you want to resubscribe
- Click the dropdown arrow next to more actions. Select Resubscribe:
The customer will receive an email asking them to confirm their resubscription. Once the customer has clicked the link they will be removed from the Suppression List.
REMINDER: You should only remove a client from the Suppression List in Dotdigital if the Customer’s email Contact Preference is already set to Yes.
Further Reading
For more information about Dotdigital and Contact Preferences, take a look at the Communicate with your Customers section of the Support Centre.