NOTE: This article is for customers with the "classic" Admin interface (horizontal top-navigation bar).



If your interface is different, view the New Admin Experience version of this article.

An "unsubscribe" occurs when a contact chooses to not receive some types of messages. Properly managing unsubscribes is critical to the success of your communication efforts.

What does it help you achieve?

• Legal compliance - Several international laws (see the Higher Logic Compliance & Security page) require commercial messages to provide an easy, obvious way for contacts to decline (unsubscribe) additional messages.
• Customer satisfaction - Make sure you're sending your customers the appropriate type and amount of emails by allowing them to unsubscribe from content which doesn't interest them. They'll be more attentive to the messages which they do want, and will have a better opinion of your company.
• Good sender reputation - Excessive sending volume can cause Internet service providers to filter out your messages. Avoid this by making it simple for contacts to opt-out of content they no longer wish to receive.
• Efficient communication - Reduce the number of email addresses you have to manage and the number of messages you have to send by getting the right content to the right person at the right time.

Unsubscribe options

The primary way Higher Logic Thrive Marketing Enterprise (Thrive Marketing Enterprise) helps you meet these goals is Unsubscribe Links. For each, there are a range of flexible options, and you can choose the options that are best suited for you and your contacts.

NOTE: As a sender, it's your responsibility to ensure that all contacts you upload in Thrive Marketing Enterprise have explicitly consented to receive communications from you. Thrive Marketing Enterprise can manage the "opt-out" portion of the process, but the "explicit opt-in" portion is necessary before you upload any contact list.

Unsubscribe links

In accordance with several international laws that are designed to protect personal rights of privacy (see CAN-SPAM act, Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), and GDPR Compliance), commercial emails must contain an unsubscribe link to give contacts the option to unsubscribe from additional mailings. This means you cannot publish a non-transactional message template unless it contains an unsubscribe link.

NOTE: See Transactional Templates & Messages to learn more about these types of messages.

Your account may also have advanced options, like including multiple links that perform different tasks:

The options that would work best for you were determined when your Thrive Marketing Enterprise account was set up; at that point, the following was taken into consideration:

• What laws are applicable for the countries where you do business and where your contacts live?
• What kind of experience do you want your contacts to have?
• How will you organize your communications (by type of contact, by type of content, by day sent, etc.)?

Unsubscribe options

Thrive Marketing Enterprise offers three basic unsubscribe options:

• Unsubscribe from All - If a contact clicks unsubscribe, he/she is unsubscribed from all groups in your account - both existing and future.
• Message Category - You can create categories (e.g., newsletters, promotions, etc.) and associate multiple groups to them. If a contact unsubscribes from one group in the category, he/she will be unsubscribed from the other groups in the category as well.
• Manage Your Own Unsubscribe - You can use your own unsubscribe link to manage the unsubscribe process on your system. You would use this if you have an alternate system which you will use to track and enforce unsubscribe requests OR if you follow restrictions which are not encompassed by Thrive Marketing Enterprise's other options. Using this option, you provide a link to Thrive Marketing Enterprise which is stored in your account settings. A keyword is used to add the link to each email.
  NOTE: This option cannot be used to circumvent Thrive Marketing Enterprise's unsubscribe enforcement. Doing so is a violation of our terms and can lead to suspension of your account.

To view your account's unsubscribe setting, simply navigate to the Tools tab. It is displayed in the Account Settings area, as shown below:

Create an unsubscribe link

While our pre-built templates all contain an unsubscribe link by default, there may be times when you need to manually add one (e.g., in a custom template you've created).

To do so:

1. While editing your message, add a WYSIWYG zone where you want the link to appear (generally, this will be in the message's footer).
2. Enter your unsubscribe text (e.g., "Click HERE to unsubscribe").
3. Highlight the text you want to be the unsubscribe link (e.g., "HERE"), and then click Insert Link in the toolbar.

4. In the resulting pop-up, select Unsubscribe from the Link Type menu.
5. Click OK.

CRM and AMS Integrations

Thrive Marketing Enterprise can be integrated with leading CRM and AMS applications. These systems are designed to be the main repository for your data. To assist with that goal, Thrive Marketing Enterprise will transfer unsubscribe activity back to your CRM or AMS.

With proper data management, unsubscribed contacts should never be deleted in the CRM or AMS. Should this happen, however, Thrive Marketing Enterprise's unsubscribe functionality will act as a backup and block the message from being sent to the contact.

Suppression

Suppression is the ultimate method for flagging a contact as "Do Not Contact." Suppression status can only be managed through your Thrive Marketing Enterprise account.

Suppression follows different rules and a different workflow than unsubscribing. See Manage Suppression to learn more.