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List Unsubscribe

Updated

List-Unsubscribe is an integrated third-party tool to include an Unsubscribe link in the email message headers of some email clients, such as Gmail.

It is important to make it easy for contacts to unsubscribe or opt out from your mailings.  When contacts are able to easily opt out, they are less likely to file an abuse complaint or mark your messages as spam, thereby increasing your deliverability.

Some email clients support List-Unsubscribe, a dynamic 'Unsubscribe' link that is defined in the message header.  This feature is enabled by default when a new list is created, and should be used even if the percentage of email clients that support List-Unsubscribe is small.  It is a delivery best practice, giving email-savvy recipients an additional method of opting out.

Using List-Unsubscribe

To publish your message with List-Unsubscribe:

  1. Go to LISTS> VIEW LISTS.
  2. Select your list to open the Edit List page.
  3. Click the ADVANCED tab.
  4. Select "Include List-Unsubscribe in email headers".  By default, a URL to the system Unsubscribe link will be included in the email header.  
  5. To define an alternate Unsubscribe link, enter it in the HTTP Value field.
  6. To define an Email address to send an opt-out request, enter the address in the Email Value field in the following format:

mailto:mailbox@domain.com

You can also use the bounce mailbox for your realm, see below.

  1. Click SAVE.

Prior to 9.6.0

In versions prior to 9.6.0, there is no option to define a specific URL or Mailto.  Instead, you can enable or disable the option with a checkbox.  The List-Unsubscribe feature is enabled by default.  To change the setting:

  1. Go to LISTS> VIEW LISTS.
  2. Select your list to open the Edit List page.
  3. Click the ADVANCED tab.
  4. Select "Include List-Unsubscribe in email headers".
  5. Click UPDATE or SAVE.

Read more here:  http://www.list-unsubscribe.com/

Using a Bounce Mailbox with Mailto

If you do not wish to manually manage the opt outs that may come in via the List-Unsubscribe Mailto email responses, use your realm Bounce Mailbox to handle the removal requests.  To do this, set the Mailto email address to your bounce address, and then specifically define the Subject Line and Body of the the message as follows:

mailto:[Bounce Mailbox]??EMAIL_REF??@[Bounce Host Domain]?subject=List-Unsubscribe&body=List-Unsubscribe%20Opt%20Out%20Request

When you deploy your campaign, the Bounce tag will automatically convert to a string that contains information about the Campaign, List, and Contact, for example:

<bounce_1FAA0997E9FC85277F9BA2AF9B953@response.whatcounts.com?subject=List-Unsubscribe&body=List-Unsubscribe%20Opt%20Out%20Request>

The bounce handler will recognize the subject "List-Unsubscribe" as an opt out request.  The system will process the opt out request, removing the subscription for the specific contact from the list and generating a Manual Opt Out bounce tracking event.

For the [Bounce Mailbox]??EMAIL_REF??@[Bounce Host Domain] portion, use the same Bounce Address as is used in your List.  If you have a question about what this should be, please contact your Technical Account Manager or the Technical Support Team.​

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