Preference centre

What the preference centre is

Every email you send has an unsubscribe link at the bottom. That link opens your preference centre: a page on your publication's website, made for that one reader. From there a reader can:

• choose which kinds of email they want, if you have set up groups
• pause all emails for a while, if you allow it
• unsubscribe from everything

You set it up under Tools, Preference center. The page has two tabs: Insights and Settings.

Each reader's link is personal, so there is no general address to share. The Settings tab shows the pattern the link follows on your website.

Settings

The Settings tab is split into sections, and a live preview shows what readers will see. Group changes are saved straight away: each group is saved with its own Create group or Save group button, and reordering or deleting a group is saved as soon as you do it. Changes in the other sections are saved together with Save changes.

Unsubscribing

With Show "Unsubscribe from all" turned on, the page has an Unsubscribe from all emails button. Unsubscribing takes the reader off this publication only. Their subscriptions to other publications are not touched. They see your confirmation message, or by default "You have been unsubscribed from" followed by your publication's name.

Most places require a simple way to opt out, so keep this setting on unless you are sure.

One-click unsubscribe from the mailbox

Gmail, Yahoo, Apple Mail and other mail apps often show their own Unsubscribe button next to the sender's name. Your emails support this. When a reader uses it, they are unsubscribed straight away, without opening your preference centre. This works even if you turn off "Unsubscribe from all" on the page.

Mail apps and security scanners sometimes open links in emails automatically. Simply opening a link never unsubscribes anyone. A reader always has to press a button, either on your page or in their mail app.

Exit survey

Turn on Ask for a reason and add the reasons you want to offer, such as "Too many emails". The question appears only after the reader has unsubscribed, never before, and answering is optional. Answers show up on the Insights tab under Why they left.

Coming back

An unsubscribed reader can subscribe again from your website. Because leaving was their decision, they have to confirm their email address before they are added back.

Pausing

Turn on Allow pausing and choose the Durations offered: 7, 14, 30, 60, 90 or 180 days. Pick at least one.

A reader who pauses gets no newsletters and no automation emails until the pause ends. Then they start receiving again on their own, with nothing to cancel. While paused, they can press Resume now on the page to come back early.

Paused readers are still counted as subscribers. That is why a send can reach slightly fewer people than your subscriber count.

Groups

Groups let readers choose what they receive instead of all or nothing. Without any groups, the page offers only the all-or-nothing unsubscribe.

Create one with New group:

• Internal name: only you see this.
• Name subscribers see and Description: what readers read on the page.
• Show on the hosted page: turn it off to make an internal group. Readers never see internal groups, but automations and segments can still use them.
• On by default: decides what counts for readers who have never opened the page. When it is on, they are treated as opted in. When it is off, only readers who opt in themselves receive it.

The groups appear on the page in the order of the list. Use the arrows to move them up or down. The number beside each group is how many readers it would reach today.

How groups affect your sends

Groups do nothing on their own. They take effect when you file a newsletter under them. On a newsletter's Audience step, under Categories this issue belongs to, pick one or more groups:

• A reader who has opted out of any of the groups you pick won't receive that issue.
• With no groups picked, the issue goes to everyone in the audience you selected.
• Groups can only make an audience smaller, never bigger.
• Groups marked Opt-in only reach just the readers who opted in themselves.

Once a newsletter is published, its groups can't be changed.

Each group also has a matching subscriber tag that automations and segments can use.

Deleting a group

Deleting a group also deletes every reader's choice for it and its matching tag. Newsletters that were filed under it are no longer filtered by it.

Insights

The Insights tab shows what readers did on the page over the period you choose:

• Stayed instead of leaving: of everyone who acted on the page
• Changed preferences: the number of readers, not the number of changes
• Paused: with how many resumed early
• Unsubscribed
• Groups: opt-ins and opt-outs for each group
• Pause lengths chosen and Why they left

Troubleshooting

A group isn't showing on the page: check that Show on the hosted page is on for that group.

I turned off "On by default" and my audience shrank: readers who never opened the page now count as not opted in. They won't receive issues filed under that group until they opt in.

"Why they left" is empty: the exit survey has to be turned on before anyone is asked.

Save says to pick a pause duration or a reason: with pausing or the survey turned on, you need at least one duration or reason. Add one, or turn the switch off.

A reader says their link doesn't work: ask them to use the unsubscribe link in their most recent email. Each link belongs to one reader.