Double opt-in

With double opt-in, a new subscriber gets an email with a button. Until they press it, nothing else is sent. If they never press it, they are never marketed to.

It is the strongest proof that somebody wanted your email. It costs you some sign-ups, and it protects your sending reputation. A smaller list that complains less usually lands in the inbox more often.

You can turn it on in three places.

#For a list

1. Go to Email & SMS → Audience → Lists & segments and open the list.

   On screenEmail & SMS › Audience › Lists & segments

2. Scroll to Sign-up settings.

3. Tick Ask people to confirm by email before they join.

4. If you want, type an address in Send this list's emails from. It must be on a domain you have verified. If it is not verified when we send, we use your usual address instead.

5. Press Save.

#For one form

In the form editor, the question Ask people to confirm by email? has three answers:

• Follow the list (the list's setting is shown in brackets)
• Yes — send them a confirmation email first
• No — add them straight away

Use Follow the list unless this one form is different.

#For contacts that come from your shop or another tool

Go to Settings → Email → Sender preferences. The card New contacts from your shop or another tool has two choices:

• Subscribe them straight away. Single opt-in. We take your shop at its word.
• Email them to confirm first. Double opt-in. Nothing else is sent until they press the link.

Press Save on the card. This applies to people added through our plugin or through the API.

#What the person gets

The confirmation email has the subject Please confirm your email, the heading One more step, and a button Confirm my email. It says that if they did not ask for this, they can ignore it and nothing happens.

• The link works for 7 days.
• We do not send a second confirmation to the same address within 24 hours, so a shop that posts the same consent on every order does not email a customer once per purchase.
• When they press the button, we record their consent with the source signup form, confirmed by email. You can see it on their contact page under Where their consent came from.
• After they press, they see the page After it worked. While they wait, they see Check your inbox. You can change the words of these pages under Settings → Other → Consent pages.

#What you need first

A verified sending domain. The confirmation email goes out from hello@ on your first verified domain. With no verified domain, no email can be sent and the contact stays unconfirmed. See "Set up your sending domain".

#If it didn't work

• Nobody is confirming. Check the email in Messages. Search for the address and look at the state. It may have gone to spam, or the sender domain may not be verified.
• The same person is not getting a second email. We wait 24 hours between confirmation emails for one address.
• A link says it has expired. It lasted 7 days. Ask the person to sign up again.
• People joined without confirming. Check which setting applies: the list, the form, or Settings → Email → Sender preferences.
• I want to change the words in the confirmation email. Forms use the wording set on the form. Contacts added by your shop or the API get the standard wording above.