How do email consent and unsubscribes work?
Open a contact's Email card to see News emails, Unsubscribed and Blocked. News goes only to people who said yes; unsubscribed and bounced addresses are skipped.
NinjaHQ keeps track of who agreed to hear from you and who asked you to stop, so you do not have to. This is also what protects your gym under email laws.
Before you begin
- Owners and managers can see this on every contact's page.
- You do not manage consent by hand. Families answer it on forms and in the unsubscribe link at the bottom of your emails.
Steps
- Open Contacts and click the person.
- Find the Email card.
- Read the three lines:
- News emails: "Yes" with the date and where they said yes, or "Not signed up (never asked, or said no)".
- Unsubscribed: shows what they stopped, either "from news", "from notices" or "from everything", with the date.
- Blocked: shows when their address bounced or they marked an email as spam. Nothing more is sent to a blocked address.
- Below it, Emails and messages lists every email sent to them and whether it was sent, waiting, held or failed.
What you'll see
- Notices go to your current customers, for real information they need. Every notice and news email has an unsubscribe link.
- News goes only to people with a recorded yes. When you pick an audience, the count already leaves out people who unsubscribed or bounced.
- Importing a list never signs anyone up for news. Only an explicit opt-in in the old system's file carries over, and anyone marked do-not-contact is never emailed.
- Texts follow the same idea. Someone who replied STOP shows in Contacts under Show > Said stop to texts, and you cannot text them.
- Pre-ticked news boxes appear only for U.S. visitors of a U.S. gym. Everywhere else the box starts unticked.
Troubleshooting
A family says they never opted in but they get news. Open their contact page and check the date and source next to News emails. If it is wrong, ask them to unsubscribe with the link in the email.
A parent asked me to stop emailing them. Ask them to use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email. The Email card only shows the state; it has no unsubscribe button.
A contact shows "Email can't receive mail". The address is mistyped or the domain cannot get email. See How do I review the email addresses NinjaHQ fixed?.
Questions
Can I add someone to my news list myself?
The contact page only shows consent; it has no switch for it. People get on the news list by saying yes, on a form box or in the system you imported from, so the record of their yes is real.
What is the difference between a notice and news?
A notice is real information a family needs, like a camp time or schedule change. News is promotion and only goes to people who said yes.
Someone says they never get our emails. What do I check?
Open their contact page and look at the Email card. If it says Blocked, their address bounced or they marked an email as spam, so nothing more is sent there.