One-click Unsubscribe for Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys (Dynamics 365 Marketing)

Any business that sends more than 5,000 emails per day to Gmail or Yahoo accounts must include one-click unsubscribe option as of February 1, 2024. Your emails may not reach their intended recipients at Google and Yahoo if you don’t follow these updated regulations.

What is One-click Unsubscribe?

One-click unsubscribe is a feature commonly used in email marketing, which allows recipients to opt out of receiving future emails with a single click. This mechanism is typically implemented through a specific link or button found in the email, which, when clicked, automatically removes the individual’s email address from the sender’s distribution list.

The primary purpose of the one-click unsubscribe function is to provide an easy and immediate way for recipients to stop receiving unwanted emails. This feature respects the recipient’s preferences and ensures a positive user experience by allowing them to easily manage their inbox and reduce email clutter without going through a complicated or time-consuming process.

The benefits of one-click unsubscribe include:

Enhanced User Experience: By offering a hassle-free way to opt out, senders respect the recipient’s time and inbox, potentially leaving a positive impression even as the recipient chooses to unsubscribe.

Compliance with Regulations: Many countries have laws and regulations, such as the CAN-SPAM Act in the United States, which mandate the inclusion of an easy way for recipients to unsubscribe from email communications. Implementing a one-click unsubscribe helps ensure compliance with these legal requirements.

Improved Email Metrics: By allowing those who are not interested in the content to unsubscribe easily, senders can maintain a more engaged and interested audience, leading to better open rates, click-through rates, and overall email performance metrics.

Reduced Spam Complaints: When users find it easy to unsubscribe, they are less likely to mark emails as spam. This can improve the sender’s reputation and decrease the likelihood of future emails being automatically directed to spam folders.

Managing Email Subscriptions with One-click Unsubscribe in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys incorporates a robust one-click unsubscribe feature designed to streamline the process of managing email subscriptions.

Activation and Implementation

To activate the one-click unsubscribe feature, users must navigate to Settings > Other settings > Feature switches and set the One-click unsubscribe toggle to On, followed by saving the changes.

This feature, which automatically includes the necessary headers in all commercial emails sent through outbound marketing and real-time journeys, requires no modifications to existing emails or journeys. It’s important to note that this feature becomes available with the December 2023 release or later versions, and it may take up to 30 minutes for the feature switch to take effect.

When activated, Customer Insights – Journeys adds these headers to emails:

List-Unsubscribe 

List-Unsubscribe-Post

Functionality in Email Journeys

Outbound Marketing Journeys: For emails sent from outbound marketing journeys, selecting the one-click unsubscribe link directly updates the Bulk Email attribute of the recipient’s contact record to Do Not Allow, effectively preventing any future commercial emails from being sent to this contact. This action does not update subscription lists or custom consent fields, and additional steps may be needed to manage these elements.

Real-time Journeys: In real-time journeys, the one-click unsubscribe feature is more granular, allowing consent to be managed at the contact point level (e.g., email address, phone number). Emails can be sent with a specific purpose and, optionally, a topic.

If a recipient opts out, they are marked as opted-out for the specific purpose or topic, ensuring they do not receive future communications for that category. However, they might still receive emails for other purposes or topics under the same parent purpose.

Managing Consent Updates

When a recipient opts out via the one-click unsubscribe link, Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys updates the contact point consent (CPC) records to reflect this action. The system will indicate the source of the update as “Email – list-unsubscribe” and the reason as “Opt-out – One-click unsubscribe”.

Custom Workflow for Consent Management

Organizations managing consent for different brands or lines of business separately have the option to create and register a custom workflow to manage the one-click unsubscribe process according to their specific needs.

This involves navigating to Settings > Process Center> Processes, creating a new process, and specifying the changes to contact preferences upon unsubscribing, such as updating different properties rather than just the Bulk Email attribute.

Things To Do If You’re Running Mass Email Campaigns With Dynamics 365 Customer Insights

To maximize your email delivery rates and ensure your messages reach your recipients’ inboxes, consider the following best practices:

Use Double Opt-in: This requires new subscribers to confirm their email address.

Implement SPF (Sender Policy Framework): SPF helps servers verify that your emails are coming from an authorized domain.

Set up DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): DKIM adds a digital signature to your emails, allowing receiving servers to verify the email’s authenticity.

Configure DMARC: DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) uses SPF and DKIM to give email domain owners the ability to protect their domain from unauthorized use, commonly known as email spoofing.

Avoid Spam Triggers: Be cautious of using words, phrases, and formatting (like excessive use of exclamation marks or all caps) that are commonly associated with spam.

Check your IP address against blacklists: Utilize tools to verify if your sending IP address is blocked and take the required corrective steps.

Maintain a Consistent Send Volume: Sudden spikes in email volume can signal spammy behavior to ISPs.

Leverage an ESP’s Infrastructure: ESPs like Mailchimp, SendGrid, and others have optimized sending infrastructures and relationships with ISPs to help improve delivery rates.

The simplicity of a one-click unsubscribe feature represents more than just a technical functionality within Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – it signifies a commitment to maintaining transparent and respectful communication with your email subscribers.

However, understanding and implementing these features within Dynamics 365 Customer Insights can be challenging without the right expertise. This is where Techcronus, a seasoned Dynamics 365 solutions partner, comes into play. With a deep understanding of Dynamics 365 and a keen focus on delivering customer-centric solutions, Techcronus can help you navigate the intricacies of email marketing, ensuring that your strategies are both effective and compliant.

Don’t let the complexities of email subscription management hold your business back. Reach out to Techcronus today and take the first step towards transforming your email marketing strategy with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights.