Opt outs in On-Line Express

Laura CarlsonWeiner

How is eveyone handling the Opt Outs in On-line Express?         Do you just note the "DNC" icon by the email address that has been opted out, or do you go in and note on Bio 1 tab the check off box "requests no email', and what about adding a solicit code - Do not Email.     How soon after you send out your Eblast do you check the stats and pull the Opt Out lists?   Or do you go into the "Unusable email addresses" master file and do you coding in RE from there.    Just looking for best practices in coding OPT Outs in RE.


Also thinking about setting up an "Opt In" system so constiutent can select the types of email blast they wish to receive,  1) emails about events, 2) e-newsletters, etc.... How did you make this work? 


Laura Carlson-Weiner

Cal State LA

Jen Claudy

OLX handles this for you, unless you need to export the data to another system or you want to see on the Constituent Record that the email address is an Unsubscribe or a Hard Bounce.


At my last org, I used different [Phone Types] and ignored the [DNC], [Primary] & [Inactive] checkboxes, and [Requests No Email] checkbox altogether (I don't like how they work).  We were already using [eHome] and [eWork] as [Phone Types], so we added options: [XeHome Unsubscribed], [XeHome Hard Bounce], [XeHome Removed], [XeHome Invalid], [XeWork Unsubscribed], [XeWork Hard Bounce], [XeWork Removed], [XeWork Invalid].  ("Removed" meaning that the email was removed from the email/OLX lists for a reason other than unsubscribe or hard bounce...like if someone made the request of a staff member...and "Invalid" meaning that there was a problem with the address that couldn't be corrected, but it wasn't marked as a hard bounce from OLX.)


This worked well for us, as we could very easily query on the [Phone Type], and OLX was set to only use [eHome] and [eWork], so we didn't run the risk of sending to someone who had unsubscribed but not via OLX (in just 5 years, that org used Constant Contact, NetCommunity, Constant Contact, Vertical Response, Constant Contact, Online Express, and as I was leaving, they were planning to go back to Constant Contact again...completely different staff at that point, and it was a decision being made primarily on the fact that the one person designing the messages didn't want to learn a new platform).

Amanda Mogridge

Laura Carlson-Weiner:

How is eveyone handling the Opt Outs in On-line Express?         Do you just note the "DNC" icon by the email address that has been opted out, or do you go in and note on Bio 1 tab the check off box "requests no email', and what about adding a solicit code - Do not Email.     How soon after you send out your Eblast do you check the stats and pull the Opt Out lists?   Or do you go into the "Unusable email addresses" master file and do you coding in RE from there.    Just looking for best practices in coding OPT Outs in RE.


Also thinking about setting up an "Opt In" system so constiutent can select the types of email blast they wish to receive,  1) emails about events, 2) e-newsletters, etc.... How did you make this work? 


Laura Carlson-Weiner

Cal State LA

I just got an email today that there is a new feature in RE called "Consent" which lives on the Bio 1 page and the button, next to Solicit Codes, leads to a Consent Record which is where you can record Opt-Outs, Opt-Ins and other communication preferences. Apparently you can also create a Business Rule so when you add a consent record, it will automatically add a Solicit Code (so you can make it automatically add "Do Not Email" solicit code if you add Opt-Out in a consent record. We are hosted, so I'm not sure if you aren't hosted if it came through yet or not, but here is the site which gives more information about it - I am literally just exploring it now, and that's all the info I have so far: http://blackbaud-gdpr.azurewebsites.net/products/re7/ 

Jen Claudy

The last part of this BlogPost talks about OLX and Consent Records.

Amanda Mogridge

Thanks Jen, do you mean this line?:  "If you integrate with Blackbaud NetCommunity or Online Express, consent is collected from forms on your website and downloads to the Raiser’s Edge as constituent consent records. You can also add a consent record manually -- such as when consent is received over the phone or via a reply card." 

My confusion is that it says "consent is collected from forms on your website" - the only form that collects consent information in Online Express, from my understanding, is the signup form (except if someone clicks Unsubscribe from an email, and even that they don't have option of which types of emails they are unsubscribing from), but on signup forms, at least through my version of OLX, there is currently no option to list the categories of communications someone can opt into, such as newsletters, invitations, appeals, etc. The only fields I can put on the form are First Name, Last Name, and Email Address (see screenshot). Will OLX signup forms contain additional fields in the future so we can utilize the "Category" field in the Consent Record?

Jen Claudy

I think when someone signs up using the Sign Up Form, a Consent Record is downloaded with that transaction from OLX to RE.  However, the preferences of what types of emails to receive is still in the Idea stage.  See the OLX Idea Bank...and Ideas like this one, although I'm sure there are duplicate Ideas posted as well.


I don't know enough about it, but you might be able to put the OLX Sign Up Form inside a different form, where the outer form can collect additional data.  You would need to go add that data to RE after downloading the OLX sign ups.  It has been a big request for several years now to allow additional fields in the Sign Up Form...and also to allow for more versatility in what types of emails to send.  But for now, I think it's still a Form limited to three fields and an all-or-nothing unsubscribe option.

Amanda Mogridge

Thank you for all of your helpful responses, Jen! I'll vote for the ideas. Blackbaud has been really great at making things happen and a lot of good stuff coming out all the time. 


Thanks!