Laneful Docs

User Management

Compliance

Overview

Unsubscribe functionality is a critical and legally required feature for any email delivery system. It ensures recipients can easily opt out of unwanted communications while maintaining compliance with regulations like CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and CASL.

Laneful provides a comprehensive unsubscribe system that balances user control with business needs. Recipients can choose to unsubscribe from specific email categories or opt out completely from all communications from your workspace.

Legal Requirement

Including unsubscribe links in commercial emails is not optional—it's a legal requirement in most jurisdictions. Failure to provide easy unsubscribe mechanisms can result in significant fines and penalties.

Types of Unsubscribes

Partial Unsubscribes

Partial unsubscribes allow users to opt out of specific categories of emails while continuing to receive others. This is ideal for businesses that send different types of communications such as:

• Marketing newsletters and promotions
• Product updates and announcements
• Educational content and tutorials
• Event notifications and webinar invitations
• Weekly digests and summaries

Users can selectively unsubscribe from unwanted categories while maintaining subscriptions to content they value.

Global Unsubscribes

Global unsubscribes represent a complete opt-out from all non-transactional emails from your workspace. When a user chooses this option, they will no longer receive:

• Any marketing or promotional emails
• Newsletters and content updates
• Product announcements
• Event notifications

Managing Unsubscribes

Accessing the Unsubscribes Dashboard

To view and manage unsubscribes, navigate to:

Analytics → Unsubscribes

From this page, you can view a comprehensive list of users who have unsubscribed, including their email addresses, unsubscribe dates, and which specific groups or global unsubscribe status they've selected.

Dashboard Features

Manage Unsubscribed Users

View and manage email addresses that have opted out. Admins can remove unsubscribes if needed.

Filter by Groups

Filter unsubscribes by specific categories or groups

Implementation

Adding Unsubscribe Links

There are two main ways to add unsubscribe functionality to your emails:

1. Using the Unsubscribe Token

Add the unsubscribe token directly in your email content. Laneful will automatically replace it with a functional unsubscribe link:

<!-- In your email HTML -->
<p>
  If you no longer wish to receive these emails, 
  <a href="%%UNSUBSCRIBE_URL%%">click here to unsubscribe</a>.
</p>

<!-- In plain text emails -->
To unsubscribe, visit: %%UNSUBSCRIBE_URL%%

2. Using Email Templates

If you're using Laneful's email templates, you can add an "unsubscribe" block from the template editor UI. This block will automatically render with proper styling and functionality.

Automatic Link Generation

When you use %%UNSUBSCRIBE_URL%% in your email content, Laneful automatically generates a unique, secure unsubscribe link for each recipient. This link contains encrypted information that identifies the user and tracks the unsubscribe action.

Unsubscribe Groups

Unsubscribe groups allow you to categorize your emails and give recipients granular control over what types of communications they receive. This approach improves user experience and can reduce overall unsubscribe rates.

Creating Unsubscribe Groups

To create and manage unsubscribe groups:

1. Navigate to Analytics → Unsubscribes
2. Click on the Unsubscribe Groups tab
3. Click Create New Group
4. Enter a descriptive name for your group
5. Save your group

You can create as many groups as needed to organize your email communications effectively.

Group Examples

Marketing

Promotional offers and product announcements

Newsletter

Weekly updates and industry insights

Events

Webinar invitations and event notifications

Product Updates

Feature releases and platform changes

Educational

Tutorials, guides, and best practices

Survey & Feedback

Research requests and feedback collection

Using Groups in Email Tracking

Associating Emails with Unsubscribe Groups

To associate an email with a specific unsubscribe group, include the group ID in your tracking settings when sending the email:

{
  "emails": [{
    "from": {
      "email": "newsletter@yourdomain.com",
      "name": "Your Company"
    },
    "to": [{
      "email": "user@example.com",
      "name": "User Name"
    }],
    "subject": "Weekly Newsletter - Industry Updates",
    "html_content": "<p>Your newsletter content...</p>",
    "tracking": {
      "opens": true,
      "clicks": true,
      "unsubscribes": true,
      "unsubscribe_group_id": 123
    }
  }]
}

When users click the unsubscribe link from this email, they'll be presented with options to unsubscribe from the specific group (ID: 123) or from all emails globally.

Default Behavior

If you don't specify an unsubscribe_group_id, the unsubscribe link will only offer a global unsubscribe option. Including a group ID provides users with more granular control and may help reduce overall unsubscribe rates.

Best Practices

✓ Do

• Make unsubscribe links easy to find
• Process unsubscribes immediately
• Provide clear unsubscribe group options
• Use descriptive group names
• Include unsubscribe links in all marketing emails
• Test unsubscribe functionality regularly
• Honor unsubscribe requests within 10 business days
• Provide confirmation of unsubscribe action

✗ Don't

• Hide unsubscribe links in fine print
• Require users to log in to unsubscribe
• Make the unsubscribe process complicated
• Continue sending after unsubscribe
• Use broken or non-functional unsubscribe links
• Require personal information to unsubscribe
• Use unsubscribe as a way to verify email addresses
• Send "we're sorry to see you go" campaigns

Email Frequency and Preference Centers

Consider implementing a preference center that allows users to modify their email frequency rather than unsubscribing completely. This can include options like "weekly digest instead of daily" or "important updates only."

Monitor Unsubscribe Rates

Keep an eye on your unsubscribe rates through the Analytics dashboard. High unsubscribe rates may indicate issues with content relevance, send frequency, or targeting. Use this information to improve your email strategy.

Automatic Email Suppression

Automatic Protection

When a user unsubscribes from your emails, Laneful automatically suppresses all future emails to that address. This means you don't need to manually manage unsubscribe lists or worry about accidentally sending emails to users who have opted out.

How it works:

• User clicks unsubscribe link and opts out
• Email address is immediately added to suppression list
• All future email attempts to that address are automatically blocked
• You'll see these blocked attempts in your analytics dashboard

Documentation

Email Unsubscribes

On this page