Email Opt-out and Bounced FAQ

What is the difference between "Email Opt Out" and "Email Bounced?"

The Email Opt Out feature tracks whether or not a contact unsubscribed from email messages sent by the Broadcast Email tool. The Email Opt Out checkbox on the Contact record will be checked if a person unsubscribes, and he/she will not be included in future TargetX Broadcast emails. 

Users may continue to send individual one-off emails using the Send an Email button on the Contact record to recipients who have chosen to opt out. When doing so, the following message will appear to alert you to their opt-out status:

"Warning!  <<Contact Name>> asked not to receive emails.  Do you want to send this email?"

The Bounced checkbox on the Contact record designates contacts whose emails have bounced back on three consecutive campaigns. Contacts marked as "bounced" will not receive Broadcast Emails but can be sent one-off emails using the Send and Email button. 

Why are Contact records marked as bounced?

 When a Contact's email has one hard bounce OR three consecutive soft bounces, his/her record will be marked "Bounced," and the contact will no longer be eligible to receive email messages. Read more about hard and soft bounces in Sendgrid's help article: Bounces.

NOTE: The Contact field "TargetX_Email_BounceCount__c" is a deprecated field no longer used in the CRM. This field will not show how many times a contact has bounced.

 An email address can bounce for a variety of reasons: the email address may be invalid, an auto-response/away message may include verbiage for which the Email package is not filtering, the receiving email inbox may be full, or the recipient's ISP (yahoo.com, hotmail.com, etc) may be down or experiencing issues.

If you are storing Broadcast Member data, you may run a Broadcast Intelligence Report using the Report Type "Broadcasts with Email Broadcast Members and Contact" to identify bounced records.

The Dropped activity record on Email Broadcast Member records is because the recipient should have been included but was dropped because of the bounce.

How can I opt a student back INTO emails after they were Bounced?

If a student stopped receiving emails because their email bounced, you can opt them back in to receive future emails if you received a new address or if the student confirms that the email address on file is correct:

• Navigate to the Students(Contact) tab.javascript:void('Edit%20Link')
• Locate the student you wish to opt back in.
• Uncheck the bounced checkbox on the Contact record. 

 

How do students opt-out of Email messages?

 An unsubscribe link is automatically included in the footer of each broadcast email that is sent from the system, as required by the CAN-SPAM Act.

If a Student or a Parent contacts you and requests explicitly to opt back in, you may deselect the Email Opt Out field on the Contact record, but only with their permission (again because of the CAN-SPAM Act).

The Opt-Out fields are automatically taken into account before a message being sent. Anyone who has unsubscribed from the system will not be sent a message through the Campaign/Broadcast process. For additional information on opt-outs, see Managing Email Opt-outs.