NOTE: If you use Template Designer 2 (TD2) and Message Designer (MD2), you can achieve similar results leveraging Message Categories and Landing Pages.

Opt-outs allow your subscribers to stop receiving a specific type of message you send from your Higher Logic Thrive Marketing Professional (Thrive Marketing Professional) account (rather than universally unsubscribing from all of your messages).

• Opt-outs give your subscribers the freedom to choose which messages they would like to receive and which messages they would not.
• While you always need to include a universal unsubscribe link, additional opt-out options mean greater flexibility for your subscribers.

As a best practice, you'll want to create your opt-outs as Interests (see Interests Profile Fields to learn more). There are a few reasons for this:

• You'll be able to view specific subscriber details within an opt-out interest (such as their email address).
• You'll be able to easily manage the use of the opt-out interest within your messages, like simply excluding all members of the opt-out interest.

Create an opt-out interest

1. Navigate to Contacts > Profile Fields.
2. Click the plus icon (+).
3. In the Create Profile Field dialog, select Interests from the menu. The Create Interest dialog will immediately display.

4. In the Create Interest dialog, enter a name, Target Group folder, and description for your opt-out interest. As a best practice, and to keep everything aligned, always name your opt-out interest in a way that parallels your main interest. For example, if your main interest is named "Training," your opt-out interest might be named "Training Opt-Out."
5. Click Save. Your new opt-out interest now appears in the list.

Add an opt-out link to your message template

Once you've established your opt-out interest, it's time to add it to your message template.

1. Navigate to Messages > Templates to view a list of all of your existing templates.
2. Identify the template you want to modify. Click to select it, followed by Edit.

3. In the template footer, identify a location for your opt-out interest link and click the Insert/Edit Hyperlink button in the toolbar.

4. In the resulting window, use the following options:

1. Hyperlink Type - Opt-Out Link.
2. Opt-Out Form - Select the subscription form for your opt-out interest (the default form is always available).
3. Name - The name of the opt-out.

5. Click Insert Hyperlink. The opt-out link now displays in the message template footer.

Apply the opt-out Interest to your message

With your opt-out link placed in your template's footer, you're ready to apply the opt-out interest to your message.

1. Navigate to Messages > List.
2. Identify the message you want to modify. Click to select it, followed by Edit to open the Mailing Designer. (alternatively, you can create a new message)
3. On the Set-Up tab, scroll down and expand the Advanced heading. The Select Opt-Out Link field is available because you're using a template with an opt-out link.
4. Click Edit to the right of the Select Opt-Out Link field.
5. In the resulting window, click the Select Informz Opt-Out Interest radio button. The window expands to include two new dropdown lists: Action and Interest.
6. Set the Action to Add To and set the Interest to the new opt-out interest that you've created.

7. Click Update to save your changes. Now, anyone who chooses to opt out of your message becomes a member of the selected opt-out interest.

Exclude your opt-outs from messages

Now that you have an opt-out interest set up that resides in a template and a message, you'll need to exclude that group from your messages. There are two ways to do this:

• Use the Set-Up tab in Mailing Designer.
• Create a compound target group that excludes the opt-out interest.

NOTE: This article discusses the former method. To learn more about creating compound target groups, click here.

To exclude an Opt-Out group from a message:

1. Return to the Set-Up tab, and then scroll down and expand the Advanced section.
2. Click Edit to the right of the Do not send to field.
3. In the Do Not Send Mailing To window, check the Those in the following Target Groups(s) checkbox. The window expands, allowing you to select the desired target group.

4. Click the Target dropdown list and select your opt-out interest.
5. Click Add to List to add your opt-out interest as an excluded target group.
6. Click Update.

Now, when you send your message, you'll exclude everyone who has joined the opt-out interest.