When a contact opts out of your email marketing, it's called an unsubscribe. As an email service provider, Outfunnel is required to comply with CAN-SPAM and other anti-spam laws. This means that we are legally required to add an unsubscribe link to every email and once a contact unsubscribes you will not be able to email them again through Outfunnel.
This helps us maintain good deliverability, reduce spam reports and ensure only the contacts that want to hear from you receive your emails.
Please note that Outfunnel's deliverability system may also initiate an unsubscribe in case their email has bounced. Read more about bounces.
How to add an unsubscribe link to your email?
When you create a new campaign, Outfunnel includes the unsubscribe link in your email automatically. It looks like this:
No longer interested? Unsubscribe
The word "Unsubscribe" is hyperlinked with the following merge field: {{unsubscribe_url}}. Once you send out an email this renders into a unique unsubscribe link.
Please note that:
The unsubscribe link does not render in test emails (scroll down in this article to see what the recipient experience looks like).
It's not possible to send out a campaign without the unsubscribe link but you are welcome to adjust the wording around it to make it sound more natural. You can also set up a default footer.
What happens when a contact unsubscribes?
Once a contact unsubscribes they are removed from any existing email campaigns and you can no longer add them to new campaigns even if they match the target recipient segment. If they match the segment, they will simply be excluded.
When an unsubscribe happens you'll see the unsubscribe and the reason in two places:
Under the campaign report in Outfunnel;
In your CRM based on the email engagement recording settings.
⚠️ A high bounce and/or unsubscribe rate may lead to account suspension. This helps us maintain best-in-class email deliverability for our customers. We recommend keeping an eye on your email health and reading through the deliverability guide.
Recipient unsubscribe experience
Here's what the experience looks like for the recipient:
1. The recipient receives the email campaign and clicks on "Unsubscribe"
2. A browser window opens and the recipient needs to confirm their action
3. Once confirmed they are unsubscribed and they can leave additional feedback
Unsubscribe a contact manually
A recipient might ask you to unsubscribe them from your list instead of clicking on the unsubscribe link in the email. You can also unsubscribe a contact manually via Outfunnel:
Open the Contacts tab in Outfunnel
Search for the desired contact
Click on "Unsubscribe" in the top right corner
💡 Once a contact has been unsubscribed it cannot be resubscribed via the interface. If you'd like to resubscribe a contact please reach out to support.
Tips, observations, and useful definitions
💡 If someone clicks the unsubscribe link on a shared campaign, it will unsubscribe the original recipient.
💡 {{unsubscribe_url}} renders as a long string of text so we highly recommend adding it as a hyperlink behind the text. For example, you'd want to add {{unsubscribe_url}} as a URL like this: Unsubscribe
💡 If a contact wants to receive emails from you again, they’ll have to click on the unsubscribe link in the email campaign, or if they no longer have access to this, simply reach out to our support.