Confirm sign-ups by email

Double opt-in means a new subscriber gets one email with a link, and nothing else is sent until they press it. It is the strongest proof you can hold that someone wanted your email. It costs you some sign-ups, and it protects everything else.

You can turn it on for a form, for a list, or for contacts added from your shop or another tool.

#Turn it on for one form

1. Open Email & SMS, then Tools, then Forms, and open the form.

   On screenEmail & SMS › Tools › Forms

2. In the Permission card, find Ask people to confirm by email?

3. Choose one:

   • Follow the list. The answer in brackets shows what the list does.
   • Yes — send them a confirmation email first.
   • No — add them straight away.

4. Press Save.

Only a sign-up form can ask for confirmation.

#Turn it on for a list

1. Open Audience, then Lists & segments, and open the list.

   On screenAudience › Lists & segments

2. In the Sign-up settings card, tick Ask people to confirm by email before they join.

3. Optionally fill in Send this list's emails from. Use an address on a domain you have verified. If it is not verified when we send, your usual address is used instead.

4. Press Save.

A form set to Follow the list now asks for confirmation too.

#Turn it on for contacts that arrive from a shop or another tool

Open Settings, then Email, then Sender preferences. Under New contacts from your shop or another tool, choose Subscribe them straight away or Email them to confirm first.

#What the person sees

1. They fill in the form. The form shows its waiting message. The starting text is Almost there. Check your inbox and press the button in the email we just sent.

2. They get the confirmation email. The sender is a verified address on your domain, and the email is sent as an order-or-account style message, so it reaches them.

3. They press the button. A page thanks them. The starting text is Thanks — you are confirmed and on the list.

4. Now they are added to the list and their permission is recorded.

Until they confirm, the Forms list counts them under Signed up but not Confirmed, and the form's page shows how many are still waiting to confirm. In Latest sign-ups, a person who has not confirmed shows Waiting. If confirmation is off for that form, the column says not needed.

A confirmation link lasts seven days. After that, it says That link has expired, and the person signs up again to get a new one.

#Edit the words

On the form's screen, the The confirmation email card ("only used when people confirm by email") holds:

• Subject, Heading, What it says and Button for the email.
• What the form says while they wait.
• What the confirmation page says.

For the pages around it, open Settings, then Other, then Consent pages. Check your inbox is shown after they sign up when confirmation is on. After it worked is shown after a confirmation or any other change. See "Edit your sign-up, unsubscribe and preferences pages".

#If it didn't work

• No confirmation email arrives. You need a verified sending domain. Without one the confirmation cannot be sent and the person stays unconfirmed. Check Settings, then General, then Domains. Ask the person to check spam.
• "That link didn't work." Their email app may have cut or shortened the link. They sign up again to get a fresh one.
• Lots of people stay on Waiting. Look at the email's subject and button. A clear button, like the starting Confirm my email, helps.
• "Only a signup form can ask people to confirm by email." You switched the form's kind away from sign-up. Change it back.