Set up global double opt-in
Many countries/regions around the world have laws that require permission, or consent, before email marketing communications can be sent. Typically, to gain consent, a contact submits your signup form where their information is then captured and saved to your customer database.
The double opt-in process (also known as confirmed opt-in) includes a confirmation step and asks contacts who sign up for a new subscription list, or who choose to increase their level of data-protection consent, to confirm their request by selecting a link that is sent to their registered email address.
Double opt-in is a good idea in all countries/regions, and in many countries/regions (especially in Europe), it's required by law.
The double opt-in process works as follows:
A new or existing contact uses a subscription form or landing page to subscribe to a newsletter or adjust their consent level.
On submitting the form, the contact is shown a page that tells them to check their email for a confirmation message that includes a link that the contact must select to confirm their request.
Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys sends a confirmation email of the appropriate type (subscribe or consent) to the address that is registered for the contact.
The contact opens the confirmation email, reads the text, and then selects the link. This action opens a web browser, which submits a coded URL that identifies the contact and request message to Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys.
Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys registers the click, applies the requested subscription or consent change, logs the change, and immediately redirects to a thank-you page that is shown to the contact.
Note
This unit explains how to set up global double opt-in. To set up double opt-in a per-form basis (for any form submission), go to the next unit (Set up double opt-in on a per-form basis).
The components that you'll need to create and set up to manage global double opt-in include:
A marketing email message to confirm the subscription request
A subscription confirmation-request message is sent to contacts each time they register for a new newsletter subscription, while double opt-in is enabled for your instance. This process applies to known contacts who are using a subscription center and for new contacts who are registering for the first time.
For more information, see Create a subscription confirmation-request message.
A marketing email message to confirm increased consent
The increase consent confirmation-request message is sent to contacts each time they increase their consent level by using a subscription center or landing page. No confirmation message is required when a contact chooses to reduce their consent level.
Note
Make sure that your consent confirmation-request message clearly explains why consent is important and what it means. It's important that you build a trusting relationship with your contacts, and that their consent confirmations reflect an informed decision-making process on their part.
For more information, see Create an increase consent confirmation-request message.
A content settings record for confirmation-request messages
All marketing email messages include dynamic values that are taken from the content-settings record that is associated with the message at send time. Unlike most marketing email messages, which are sent by a customer journey that determines the content settings to use, consent messages are often sent outside the context of a customer journey so you must have a content-settings record available for use with them.
Review your content-settings records and decide which to use (or create a new one if needed).
You will choose the content-settings record to use for all confirmation-request messages when you set up double opt-in for your instance, as described later in this topic.
For more information, see Create a content-settings record for confirmation-request messages.
A thank-you page for each type of confirmation
When a contact selects the confirmation link in a confirmation email, Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys registers the confirmation, applies the requested action, and redirects the contact's browser to a thank-you page. You must create your thank-you pages as marketing pages in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys. Thank-you page templates are provided out-of-the-box to help get you started.
For more information, see Create and deploy marketing pages.
Double opt-in settings for your site must be set up and enabled
- The double opt-in feature is global for your Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys instance. When it's enabled, all new-subscription and increase-consent requests will require double opt-in and the same settings will apply everywhere. Before you start to set up and enable double opt-in, make sure that you have all the other elements that were previously described in this topic available in your system.
For more information, see Set up double opt-in for new subscriptions and consent changes.