Consent, unsubscribes and held-back contacts

Every person on your account is either someone you can email or someone who is held back. The Can we email them? answer on the Contacts page tells you which, and says why.

#How the answer is worked out

Marketing email is checked in the same order every time, by the same code that sends your campaigns:

1. Is there a block? An unsubscribe, a spam complaint, a dead address, or a stop that somebody on your team set.

2. Are they on the never-send list? A short list that applies to every brand on the platform.

3. Is there consent? This depends on the setting Who may get an offer, described below.

4. Have they gone quiet? Someone with no opens, clicks or orders for 12 months is held back.

A receipt is different. It needs no consent and goes to someone who unsubscribed. Only a dead address and the never-send list stop a receipt. See "Receipts and marketing are different".

#The setting that decides consent

Go to Settings → Email → Sender preferences. The card Who may get an offer has two choices:

• Anyone who gave you their email on your own site. They opted in by typing it in, and they opt out with the unsubscribe link. Uploads and imports are never covered by this.
• Only people who ticked a box. Nothing marketing leaves without a recorded yes.

The card Cart recovery works the same way for cart reminders: Anyone who typed their email at your checkout or Only people who ticked the box.

Whichever you choose, an unsubscribe always wins.

#The Held back list

On the Contacts page press Held back list. The page is titled Held back. Each row shows Person, Why, What is held, Since and Can this be undone?. The buttons across the top filter by reason:

• They unsubscribed
• They marked it spam
• The address does not exist
• Somebody here stopped it
• Arrived held back in a file
• Held: no opt-in on file
• Quiet for too long

You can search by email or name, and Download CSV exports the list.

#What can be undone

Almost nothing, on purpose. Only a block that our own software caused can be released, for example people you imported with A connector got it wrong. For those, press Start emailing them again, write a sentence saying why, and confirm. Your name and your sentence are kept with the record for good. The reason must be at least 10 characters.

These can never be undone:

• An unsubscribe. The person asked to stop.
• A spam complaint and a dead address.
• People you imported with I don't know.
• People your team stopped with Stop emailing them.

#What each block stops

An unsubscribe, a spam complaint, a quiet contact or a team stop stops marketing only. That person still gets receipts for their orders. A dead address stops everything, because there is nowhere to send.

#Dead addresses and temporary bounces

A dead address is a mailbox that does not exist. We remove it the first time and never try again. A temporary bounce is a full mailbox or a busy server. We retry for up to two days and the person stays on your list. Reputation → Bounces explained shows the counts. See "Read the Reputation screen".

#Recommended to stop

At the top of the Held back page, Recommended to stop lists people who have not opened, clicked or bought in about a year. They will be held back within the next 30 days. Their order emails keep going. Tick the people you want to act on, then:

• Stop emailing them now holds them back now.
• Not these — keep mailing them leaves them alone. They are not offered again for a year.

#Hold a group back

On the same page, the card Hold a group back has a Paste addresses button. Paste email addresses, one per line, and marketing stops for each one already on your account. An address we have never seen is skipped, and nobody is created.

#Consent history

Open a contact and look at Where their consent came from. Every yes and no is listed with its date and source, such as signup form, checkout, signup form, confirmed by email, or they texted STOP. When the file or form recorded the words the person saw, they appear too. Nothing in this list can be edited.

#If it didn't work

• Someone says they never unsubscribed. Open their contact page. The record shows the date and the source.
• Imported people are held back. That is the import rule. See "Import contacts and consent".
• I stopped the wrong person. It cannot be undone from the screen. Email support@aminoengine.com.
• The button Start emailing them again is missing. That block cannot be released.