When you have verified double opt-in enabled for your Dotdigital account, an automated confirmation email is sent to your contacts when they sign up or are imported, and email addresses for these contacts aren't added to your lists until they complete the double opt-in process.
Double opt-in (DOI), also known as confirmed opt-in (COI), is regarded as best practice because it makes sure that your contacts really want to receive your emails.
Double opt-in also protects you from:
Malicious opt-ins (for example, opt-ins that are made by spam bots).
Spam complaints.
Learn more in Email opt-in types.
Enable verified double opt-in
Expand the User menu and go to Settings > General > Account settings.
Under Email regulatory settings, select either:
Enforce double opt-in for signups from signup forms and some API methods only (default)
New contact email addresses added using a signup form, or added individually by API, are sent a double opt-in confirmation email. Bulk contact additions, or additions through a Survey, page, or form do not trigger a confirmation email.Enforce double opt-in for all signups, including bulk uploads
All new contact email addresses are sent a double opt-in confirmation email, however they are added to the account.
Select SAVE SETTINGS at the bottom of the page.
Signup form vs Survey, page, or form
The default Email regulatory setting - Enforce double opt-in for signups from signup forms and some API methods only - triggers a double opt-in confirmation email to contacts who are added to your account through a Signup form.
This setting does not trigger a double opt-in confirmation email for contacts added to your account through a Survey, page, or form, as these additions are slightly batched, and therefore count as bulk contact additions.
Double opt-in confirmation email
By default, a system email is sent out to contacts who are required to confirm their opt-in.
The system email looks like this:
It's possible to add your company logo to the system email, or, if you prefer, choose a triggered email campaign to send as your double opt-in confirmation email instead of the system email.
Learn how in Customise the double opt-in confirmation email.
Configure verified double opt-in settings
You can choose what happens after contacts click the confirmation link and complete the double opt-in process.
To do this:
Expand the User menu and go to Settings > Contacts > Subscription settings.
Under Double opt-in settings, expand the Confirmation action drop-down menu and choose between:
Show custom message
You can show contacts a short message such as Thanks for the confirmation. You can set this wording by entering it into the Custom message field.
Direct to a URL or page.
You can enter the URL of a website page in the Enter a URL field, or you can expand the Choose a page drop-down menu to choose a page you've created with our Pages and forms tool.
Learn more about creating a landing page in Create a page.
Select SAVE.
Verify your contacts
Depending on the settings you chose, your contacts are automatically sent either the default confirmation email or the triggered campaign that you selected.
Contacts’ email addresses won't appear in your lists until they've clicked the confirmation link in the email to complete the double opt-in process. They are held in a pending state until they confirm their opt in.
After contacts complete the double opt-in process, they either see the text that you entered on the Double opt-in settings page, or they're taken to the page you specified. Their email address is added to your account as a marketable channel, and their email opt-in type is set to Verified double.
Pending contacts
Pending contacts are contacts who have been sent a verified double opt-in email but are yet to complete the double opt-in process. To find them:
Go to Audience > Suppressions.
Select the Pending contacts tab.
After contacts confirm their email opt in, they are removed from this page and their email address is added to your contacts.
Information on pending contacts is stored in the Suppressed contacts area until you choose to manually delete them, or you can use the account regulatory settings to automatically expire pending contacts after 30 days.
This is 30 days after the date that they were last sent a verified double opt-in email.
Learn how to configure this setting in Manage your account settings.
This helps keep your list manageable, and allows email addresses to be re-added to the pending list and sent another round of confirmation emails in the future.
If a pending contact tries to complete the double opt-in process after being deleted, they aren’t added to your contacts. They need to sign up again and be sent a new verified double opt-in email.
Confirmation email limits
Each contact can be sent a maximum of four confirmation emails.
You can't send more than one confirmation email to a contact in a five-minute interval.
Confirmation emails expire after three days.