How to show subscribe checkbox only if previously unsubscribed | Community
Skip to main content
A
Anonymous
February 21, 2017
Question

How to show subscribe checkbox only if previously unsubscribed

  • February 21, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 4629 views

I've seen a couple of different ways of dealing with the previously unsubscribed but nothing that works exactly for what we're looking for. In respect to anti spam laws like CAN-Spam we're looking for a resolution that allows us to show the subscription checkbox only if the lead has previously unsubscribed. We don't want to automatically change these unsubscribe field based on form fill because we don't want to have to have the language at the bottom of the form that tells leads submissions will subscribe them to our stream. We also don't want to offer leads who are already subscribed a very obvious way to unsubscribe (it's still included in the footer of our emails).

Has anyone set up anything similar to this? Are we be overcautious? Would love to hear what everyone else is doing to respect can-spam laws and such.

    This post is no longer active and is closed to new replies. Need help? Start a new post to ask your question.

    3 replies

    Dory_Viscoglio
    Dory_Viscoglio
    Level 10
    February 21, 2017

    In the past I've had success with only showing the subscription preferences on our forms if a person was not already subscribed to something. This way there wouldn't be any confusion with a person not checking the box and does that equal an unsubscribe or not (personally, I don't consider leaving an unchecked box an unsubscribe, but have seen people who do).

    An email preference center/unsubscribe page is really where a person should be opting out of email lists that they're on.

    Dan_Stevens_
    Dan_Stevens_
    Level 10
    February 21, 2017

    The approach that Dory suggests was our intent as well.  But we ran up against the following challenge:

    • When the forms are embedded on our website (non Marketo LPs), the out-of-the-box pre-fill doesn't work.  Originally, we used a hidden form field ("opt-in date") to see if a value already existed; and if so, we hid the opt-in checkbox/language.

    And of course the reason why we wanted to hide the field is because Marketo considers boolean fields - even when the value is empty - as having a value ("false") - rather than NULL.  So if someone who was already opted-in, didn't check the opt-in checkbox, Marketo would overwrite the TRUE value with FALSE.

    Thus the reason for our complex process discussed in the thread below.

    Dan_Stevens_
    Dan_Stevens_
    Level 10
    February 21, 2017

    You can read how we do it in this thread: Re: Opt-in field checkbox on Form

    SanfordWhiteman
    SanfordWhiteman
    Level 10
    February 21, 2017

    Maybe easier than you're framing it. This sounds like the pattern I call self-hiding field: a field whose own visibility is determined by its current value. So if it is checked, it is hidden; if unchecked, it's visible. Right?

    A
    Anonymous
    February 21, 2017

    Like Dory said, we don't want any confusion like the boolean field changing to 'true' because the box was left empty so we decided against using the unsubscribe filed and instead have a field called 'Newsletter Registration.' From there we will run a data management campaign to resubscribe anyone who was unsubscribed and checked the box on form submission.

    I'm having trouble creating the hiding / showing rules because we're using Newsletter Registration but unsubscribe is determining whether to show the field.

    Dory_Viscoglio
    Dory_Viscoglio
    Level 10
    February 21, 2017

    So for conditional visibility rules, you need to have the unsubscribe field as a hidden field on the form that is prepopulated with their value. Then, for conditional visibility you can reference that value.

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement

    Loading footer...