Email double opt-in (DOI) requires new email subscribers to confirm their email address before they're added to your marketing list. When double opt-in is turned on, anyone who submits their email address receives an automatic confirmation email. They're only counted as opted-in and eligible to receive marketing emails or enter welcome journeys after they select the confirmation link in that email.
Note: Profiles won't receive promotional journey messages (e.g., Abandoned Cart, Browse Abandonment) until they've completed double opt-in. Transactional messages are not affected and will still be sent.
What is it?
Double opt-in is a compliance setting available at the account level for email. When it's turned on, every new email address submitted to your account enters a pending state instead of being added directly to your marketing list. A confirmation email containing a unique confirmation link is automatically sent to that subscriber. Subscribers who select the link are marked opted-in and become eligible for marketing sends and welcome journeys. Subscribers who don't confirm stay pending and don't receive marketing emails.
You can customize the confirmation email's subject line and redirect URL (both required), along with from name, from email address, and email content, including the confirmation link or button and any terms and conditions language.
Before you can turn on double opt-in, your account needs to meet the following:
Attentive is set up as your email provider (double opt-in isn't available if you use Attentive only to collect email addresses for another platform)
Your account has a default company region and localized setting configured
Your account isn't set up for single account management (SAM)
Double opt-in must also be turned on for your account by Attentive before it appears in your settings — see the first step below.
How do I use it?
Pre-requisite: Request access
- Contact your Attentive CSM or submit a request to Attentive Support to enable double opt-in for your account.
Step 1: Turn on double opt-in
- Under the Setup menu, navigate to Settings > Email Settings.
- Select the Compliance tab.
- Select the radio button for Double opt-in.
- Scroll down in the UI to build the confirmation email.
Step 2: Build your confirmation email
- Set your From name and From email address.
- Enter a Subject line (required).
- Add your email content, including a confirmation link or button and any terms and conditions language. We recommend including an unsubscribe footer so pending subscribers can opt out easily.
- Enter a Redirect URL (required) — the page subscribers land on after they confirm.
- Click Save.
Step 3: Create a sign-up unit to collect email addresses
- Build a new sign-up unit that captures email addresses.
Why should I use it?
- Meet applicable legal requirements. Email double opt-in is required under certain laws (e.g., German law (UWG)) for email marketing, and recommended in Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Luxembourg, and Norway.
- Migrate from another platform without losing subscriber consent. If you're moving from a provider that already uses double opt-in, you can import your existing confirmed subscribers as opted-in without requiring them to reconfirm.
- Protect your list quality. Because subscribers actively confirm their email address before you send them marketing messages, double opt-in reduces the number of invalid or uninterested addresses on your list.