Configuring email in Rock involves more than just sending messages; it's about safeguarding your communication channels and maintaining a positive sender reputation. Why? Because when your emails get marked as spam, it can harm your reputation and impact whether your messages reach their intended recipients. Not to mention the possible legal consequences. Consider this: even if someone signed up for your emails, they might still report them as spam if they can't easily find the unsubscribe option. Or worse, they might start to unsubscribe but then resort to marking your emails as spam if the process isn't straightforward. That's why it's crucial to make unsubscribing as effortless as possible. This is especially true for Gmail accounts. Gmail specifies that everyone must “make it easy for recipients to unsubscribe” and “if you send more than 5,000 messages per day, your marketing and subscribed messages must support one-click unsubscribe.” Gmail also indicates that if your unsubscribe method involves sending an email, the request to unsubscribe must be processed within two days. Why all the focus on Gmail? Well, with over 1.5 billion active accounts, it’s probably used by many in your target audience, so we want to ensure we're sticking to their guidelines. TipLearn MoreTo read more about Gmail’s spam requirements, with links to additional resources, check out our blog post on the topic. We also look to Gmail's rules because they will help cover you from a legal perspective. Gmail policies are more stringent than the US CAN-SPAM Act, which also has requirements related to unsubscribing. Adherence to the CAN-SPAM Act is crucial. Otherwise you expose your organization to potential legal action and hefty fines from the FTC. Now, let's talk about how Rock can help you comply with these requirements. We've designed features to streamline the unsubscribing process. For more details on these settings, see the Communication Mediums section above. 1 Bulk Email Threshold - Automatically categorizes emails as bulk if the recipient list exceeds this threshold, ensuring unsubscribe links. This hides the bulk option for new communications. 2 Request Unsubscribe Email - Generates an email for unsubscribing, which must be processed within two days. If Enable One-Click Unsubscribe is set to “Yes” (which we recommend) this email address should never be used. 3 Enable One-Click Unsubscribe - Our recommended default setting of “Yes” is in line with Gmail's requirements. 4 Unsubscribe URL - Provides an alternative to one-click unsubscribing, directing recipients to a specified URL. TipNot Gmail-CompliantIf Enable One-Click Unsubscribe is set to “No” and if the Unsubscribe URL is blank, nothing will be added to the header of the email. With the above configuration in place, your emails will generally have two “Unsubscribe” options as pictured below. 1 Header Unsubscribe - Supports one-click unsubscribe functionality, though it’s not universally supported by all email clients. 2 Footer Unsubscribe - The older method of directing recipients to the Rock Unsubscribe page on the external site. When someone is taken to the Unsubscribe page on the external site, they’ll see the page pictured below. Upon arriving at the page, they can proceed to set their email preference. 1 No Mass Emails - This will mark the individual’s “Email Preference” to “No Mass Emails” on their profile. 2 Receive All Emails - The person’s profile will be updated to have an “Email Preference” of “Email Allowed.” 3 Update Email Address - The person will be presented with a field for entering their new email address, and their “Email Preference” will be set to “Email Allowed.” 4 No Emails - The person’s “Email Preference” will be set to “Do Not Email.” 5 No Longer Involved - The person’s “Record Status” on their profile will be set to “Inactive.” This ensures that they will not receive future emails. If the person didn’t unsubscribe from a communication list, their Person Profile email settings in Rock will be updated to “No Mass Emails.” If it’s already set to “No Mass Emails” then it will be updated to “Do Not Email.” Changes to a person’s Email Preferences are logged in the Person History area under the History tab in the Person Profile.