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  Setup Subscribe/Unsubscribe Undeliverables Mining Queries Advanced Features FAQ

Processing Subscribe/Unsubscribe Requests

Subscribe Requests

You can process subscribe/un-subscribe requests from any sub-folder of your Outlook Inbox, except one that starts with the word "unsubscribe", which is reserved for only handling unsubscribe requests, because anything scanned in this folder will show only the email address being un-subscribed and the subscription flagging field, which will automatically be populated with "OFF".

When you import data for subscription requests, it's a good idea to have an inbound form field name or alias that  matches the subscription flagging field in your database.  In this way, e-Scribe will automatically populate the subscription flagging field with the appropriate data.

In the interests of efficiency and keeping the data small, use either "On" or "Off" (the default), "Yes" or "No", or "1" or "0", rather than "Subscribe" or "Unsubscribe" (although the program will recognize these as well.)

You can also manually enter this data by selecting the appropriate range of cells in the subscription flagging field you've specified in your e-Scribe user preferences, and typing "On" or "Off", etc.

Unsubscribe Requests

You should process all un-subscribe requests by putting them in a folder that starts with the word "unsubscribe".  Any emails scanned from such a folder will be given special treatment.  e-Scribe will look firstly at the subject line of the email to see if there is an email address in it.  If there is, it will populate the import table with this address, rather than the "From Address", or any address in the body of the email.  The purpose of this approach is to take advantage of un-subscribe links that automatically populate the subject line of an email with the word "Unsubscribe " and the person's email address.  You can merge the contact's email address into this hyperlink with e-BLAST!  In this way, you will be sure to capture the actual email address that an email was sent to, rather than that of a forwarded account from which the person responded.

Unsubscribe Mailto: Hyperlinks

To setup an unsubscribe link in your emails, select text you want to add the hyperlink to, and insert a "Mailto:" hyperlink in the form:

           Mailto: unsubscribe@yourdomain.com?Subject=Unsubscribe #ALT_Email#

When you send this with either e-BLAST! or FortuneFlow HTML Edition, the hyperlink will be personalized to the recipient with their alternate email address field (This can be any field you specify and have copied email addresses into using UpdateACT.exe.)  This will produce a link in your email that delivers to the recipient with their email address in place of the #ALT_Email# field.

When a recipient clicks on the link, their default email client will open to send you an email addressed to your unsubscribe email address:

     unsubscribe@yourdomain.com

and the Subject

     "Unsubscribe: john.doe@nowhere.com"

Now you don't have to guess who mystery un-subscribe requests are coming from - you'll know.

Use a Microsoft Outlook Rules Wizard to automatically move emails with this address or "Unsubscribe" in the subject into the Unsubscribe folder.  This will save you from having to manually move them there before scanning them and updating your database.