When a contact unsubscribes from your marketing emails sent via Engage, they opt out of all future marketing emails for your account. Likewise, if they opt out of text messages, they are declining future text messages from your Givebutter account.
Transactional and system emails (such as donation receipts, tickets, and event reminders) are not marketing emails. Supporters will continue to receive these regardless of subscription status.
How unsubscribes work 📵
Emails, text messages, and mail are considered different communication lines. They can be subscribed to or unsubscribed from each other independently.
The "unsubscribe" button in emails allows your contacts to unsubscribe without the concern that they will be contacted again via that method. To unsubscribe from text messages, a contact can reply "STOP" to your most recent message.
If a contact who believes they opted out of contact from your account continues to receive marketing messages, it can result in complaints that could put your account at risk for compliance issues. Remember, transactional emails (like receipts) are not considered marketing emails, and these will be sent regardless of subscription status.
Addresses that can't receive email 🚫
If an email to a contact hard bounces, is refused by our email provider, or is reported as spam, the contact stays subscribed, but that email address is marked as unable to receive email. We'll skip it on all future Engage sends until you update the address or resume emails. You'll see a warning icon next to the email under the contact's name and in their hover card, and a Can't receive email label next to the address in the profile sidebar. Click the label to update the address or resume emails.
Blocking applies to the email address, not the contact. If several contacts share an address, they're all affected, and resuming emails for one resumes them for all. Receipts and other system emails are still sent to these addresses.
Hard bounce – The receiving server permanently rejected the email, but the address may still be real. Update the address or resume emails.
Mailbox doesn't exist – The address no longer exists or has a typo. Updating the address is usually the better choice.
Stopped by our email provider – The address was already on our email provider's block list, so no email was sent. Update the address or resume emails.
Invalid address – The address isn't formatted correctly, like a missing ".com" or a stray space from an import. Update the address or resume emails.
Spam complaint – The contact reported one of your emails as spam. You can update the address, but only our support team can resume emails to it.
Secondary email – If a contact's secondary email can't receive email, only that address shows the label. Their primary email isn't affected.
Reducing unsubscribes ✉️
To minimize unsubscribes, we recommend using tags and segments to manage targeted communications with your supporters. Tags and segments help ensure that communication is relevant to a specific group of contacts.
You can also read more about how to reduce spam complaints for outbound emails →
If a contact unsubscribes from your marketing emails, this will not impact your ability to email them directly or inhibit them from receiving transactional (receipt) or system emails.
FAQ 🤔
Can I export my unsubscribed contacts?
You can't export just your unsubscribed contacts, but you can still get them in list format on a spreadsheet! Export your contacts like normal, and sort the resulting spreadsheet by subscription status to group your unsubscribed contacts. You can sort by subscription status for email and text messages separately.
If someone unsubscribes, will they still get their emailed receipts?
Yes! Unsubscribes only refer to marketing emails sent out through Engage. This does not apply to receipt emails. Donors will always be sent a receipt.
Does a bounced email unsubscribe my contact?
No – the contact stays subscribed. Their email address is skipped on future sends until you update it or resume emails from their profile.