Looking for Clarification regarding User Email Preferences

Pat Piper

Good day! I am planning to add email attributes to RE and create a User Email Preferences Form that will allow the user to select the types of email he/she would like to receive. I read several threads about this topic iin the Community and it sounds like the recipient list MUST be created through query in RE in order for this to work. Is that correct?


We have three email types and no primary (yet) which makes creating email recipient lists in RE next to impossible. If folks who receive an email from an imported list click the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the email, they are sent to a User Email Preferences Form on which they can select what they want to receive using attributes. Once they select their choices how does that information get communicated to their RE record? How do I keep track of who has selected what email types or opted out of certain email types? Where is that part of the equation?


Thanks for any guidance!


Pat

Karla Dillon

Pat Piper:

Good day! I am planning to add email attributes to RE and create a User Email Preferences Form that will allow the user to select the types of email he/she would like to receive. I read several threads about this topic iin the Community and it sounds like the recipient list MUST be created through query in RE in order for this to work. Is that correct?


We have three email types and no primary (yet) which makes creating email recipient lists in RE next to impossible. If folks who receive an email from an imported list click the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the email, they are sent to a User Email Preferences Form on which they can select what they want to receive using attributes. Once they select their choices how does that information get communicated to their RE record? How do I keep track of who has selected what email types or opted out of certain email types? Where is that part of the equation?


Thanks for any guidance!


Pat

Pat,

I am having "issues" with this as well. Please, someone out there please answer this question for us.

 

Crystal George

Hi Pat,


I don't believe that users who receive an email through an imported list will see the User Email Preferences form, I nearly certain they just see the main opt-out option. When an email is sent through imported list it's not connected in any way to their record in the database, so the system wouldn't know what to display for their preferences to provide them with options.


Now that NetCommunity allows you to select which email you're sending to, does this help to send by constituent lists?

Jayne OLeary

Pat Piper:

Good day! I am planning to add email attributes to RE and create a User Email Preferences Form that will allow the user to select the types of email he/she would like to receive. I read several threads about this topic iin the Community and it sounds like the recipient list MUST be created through query in RE in order for this to work. Is that correct?


We have three email types and no primary (yet) which makes creating email recipient lists in RE next to impossible. If folks who receive an email from an imported list click the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the email, they are sent to a User Email Preferences Form on which they can select what they want to receive using attributes. Once they select their choices how does that information get communicated to their RE record? How do I keep track of who has selected what email types or opted out of certain email types? Where is that part of the equation?


Thanks for any guidance!


Pat

Hi Pat,

I am intently following this feed as we are in the process of globally updating RE to maintain the specific attributes our email recipients can choose to opt in or out through choices set up in NetCommunity. From my own research the query set up in RE for all of your constituents cannot be an imported list into NetCommunity but must be a direct query. Your RE must be globally set up so that the tables in your config table have the yes/no option for each question for those to communicate back to the specific constituent record in RE once your recipient has opted in/out. BBNC support can help with that.

I am still hoping to hear even more on the subject and hope that if I have made an error here, someone will correct me as we are just launching this huge endeavor.

Jayne

Victor Nuovo

I really wish I was wrong about this, but I don't think email preferences works for emails sent to imported lists. Furthermore, even with emails using lists based on constituent queries, the recipient needs to be registered and logged into NetCommunity to access preferences, which rarely applies to people who want to opt out. I'd be thrilled to know I have this wrong, but that is what we've been told by Blackbaud when we tried to see why we get complaints from alumni who have tried to change their preferences but cant.


Victor

 

Tony Williams

Hi everyone,


For imported lists, if a recipient clicks on the Email Preferences link, he or she will be presented the option to opt-out. Opting-out will be the only option available to them since imported lists due not interact with the RE database to track preferences. Opt-outs for imported lists are stored in the BBNC database only for this reason. 


If using constituent lists, the recipient will be presented the ability to opt-out along with any available Newsletter sign-up options and constituent attributes enabled on the User Email Preferences part. Since we are emailing to a constituent record, a constituent identifier is attached to the end of the email preferences URL, which allows the user's desired options to come into the NetCommunity plugin in RE as a Profile Update regardless of whether they have a BBNC username.


Thanks!

Tony