Enable Confirm Opt-In for new sign-ups

Send an automatic confirmation email when new contacts join your list to obtain permission to send

Using Confirm Opt-in (also called double opt-in) for your new subscribers isn't required, but it's the strictest way to obtain permission to send emails to your contacts.

• What is Confirm Opt-in?
• Why use Confirm Opt-in?
• Enable Confirm Opt-in

What is Confirm Opt-in?

When Confirm Opt-in is activated, contacts who sign up for your mailing list through one of our sign-up tools are sent an automatic Confirm Opt-in Email to the email address they provided, asking them to confirm their subscription. Contacts must click the confirmation link in the email to be added to your list. It’s a good idea to customize the verbiage on your sign-up form to let new subscribers know that they’ll be receiving a confirmation email and they need to click the link to confirm their subscription to your mailing list.

Important: If contacts don’t click the link, they'll be labeled in your account as "Awaiting Confirmation" and won’t receive any further emails from you. You cannot manually resend the Confirm Opt-in email to contacts. If contacts let you know they didn’t receive the confirmation email, have them check their junk or spam folder. If they still don’t find it, ask them to sign up through your website form again to trigger the email a second time.

Once contacts click the confirmation link:

• The contact is added to your email list.
• Your Welcome Email automatically sends to them, if you have one set up.
• You can start sending emails to them.
• The contact's email address becomes uneditable. (If they change their email address, you need to add them as a new contact.)

Once enabled, the Confirm Opt-in Email will be sent to new subscribers only. It will not be sent to any of your existing contacts. But, you can choose to send a separate Reconfirm Opt-in Email to a specific list to confirm their interest, too.

Why use Confirm Opt-In?

Confirm Opt-in may be an option that's right for you if you’re more focused on gaining engaged contacts, rather than simply growing your list. It’s all about quality versus quantity. Just keep in mind that there's a high probability that some contacts may never confirm their subscription.

Enabling Confirm Opt-in:

• Gives you confidence that contacts are genuinely interested in joining your mailing list.
• Verifies that the email address used to sign up is valid and active.
• Decreases the chance of negative complaints from contacts or contacts reporting you as spam.

Since Constant Contact is a permission-based service, regardless of whether you enable Confirm Opt-in, all of our sign-up tools provide:

• An explanation to new contacts that they are providing you permission to send emails to them.
• Instructions for how they can unsubscribe through the Unsubscribe link in the footer of every Constant Contact email.
• A link to the Constant Contact Email Privacy Statement.

Enable Confirm Opt-in

Important: Your user role must be either Account Owner or Account Manager in order to enable Confirm Opt-in.

To enable Confirm Opt-in for your new sign-ups:

1. Click the profile icon in the lower-left and select Account settings.
2. Click the Advanced settings tab.
3. In the Manage contact emails section, click Manage.
   
   
    
4. Click Activate next to Confirm Opt-In (Double Opt-In) to Emails.
   
   
    
5. Click Yes, Continue on the confirmation message.
   
   
    
6. (Optional) Click to edit the name of your Confirm Opt-In email. Your contacts don’t see this name, they only see your subject line.
7. Click “Email settings” to edit the subject line, preheader, From name, From email address, and reply-to email address.
8. Add your logo, if it's not already inserted.
9. (Optional) Customize the content and colors to match your branding.
10. Once you’re finished customizing the email, click Continue.
    
    
     
11. Click Activate.
    
    
     

Now when new contacts join your mailing list, they’re automatically sent the Confirm Opt-In Email. You can deactivate the Confirm Opt-In Email at any time, but any contacts who have been marked as Awaiting Confirmation will remain in that status until they confirm their subscription.

Questions?