Manage unsubscribes and communication preferences

Review unsubscribes and delivery restrictions before following up with someone who is not receiving messages. A recipient’s communication preferences, an invalid address and a carrier block are different situations and may need different actions.

Understand the scope

Activity Messenger distinguishes marketing from reminders and operational communications, and email from SMS. Choose the purpose that describes the content. Non-marketing is not a guarantee of delivery and is not a way to bypass every unsubscribe or suppression.

Recipients can manage supported notification preferences from the links in messages and their account. Keep these recipient-facing choices separate from administrative corrections to an invalid address or number.

Review the list

Open Lists > Unsubscribes. Search for the contact and inspect the reason and channel. Possible reasons include an unsubscribe, complaint, bad email or bad number. Check the record that supplied the destination and correct inaccurate data there as well.

Record a request manually

Select + to add a person. Enter their relevant contact details and choose the communication scope: marketing, reminders, or both. Record the choice that matches the request; do not assume that an email preference automatically describes the person’s SMS preference.

For a migration, first import an Excel/CSV list of unsubscribed contacts, then use the import-from-list option. Carry existing opt-outs into the new system instead of treating an imported address as new permission to market.

Before removing an entry

Confirm why it exists and whether the person actually wants to receive that category and channel again. Removing a local record does not guarantee that a carrier-level restriction is cleared. Do not repeatedly resend to a complaining or invalid destination.

For delivery diagnosis, see undelivered messages. For recipient instructions, see managing notifications.

Scopes: what each option blocks

Every message you send has a Communication type: Marketing or Non-marketing. The message editor preselects the Default type of communication chosen under Communications › Settings. Automatic notifications that Activity Messenger sends on its own, such as registration confirmations, invoices and payment reminders, waitlist and booking notices, are non-marketing.

Each entry on the Unsubscribes list has a scope, shown in the Communication column. When you add someone with +, the scope is chosen under Do not send messages for these types of communication:

Marketing: Program information blocks only messages sent as Marketing. The person still receives messages sent as Non-marketing and automatic notifications.
Non-marketing: Reminders, follow-ups and cancellations blocks only messages sent as Non-marketing, including automatic notifications. Marketing messages still go through.
To any type creates two entries, one for each scope, and blocks every message.

Blocking is also per channel. An entry that holds only an email address does not block text messages, and an entry that holds only a mobile number does not block emails. At send time, Activity Messenger skips a person when the message type matches the scope of an entry for that email address or mobile number.

Bounces, complaints and invalid numbers are recorded with the scope of the message that failed. Choosing Non-marketing is not a way to reach an address that bounced; correct the address first.

Unsubscribe a whole list but keep sending reminders

To unsubscribe everyone in an uploaded list at once:

Open Lists › Unsubscribes and select +. The dialog Add someone to the unsubscribes list opens with two tabs: Person and List.
Open the List tab and pick the list under Import a list of people into the Unsubscribes. Only uploaded Excel/CSV lists appear here; upload the list first if needed.
Under Do not send messages for these types of communication: choose Marketing: Program information to block marketing only.
Select Add. Every person in the list gets an entry with the Admin badge (Unsubscribed by an administrator).

People unsubscribed from marketing keep receiving operational messages as long as you send those messages with Communication type › Non-marketing. Automatic notifications are already non-marketing. If you choose To any type, reminders and automatic notifications are blocked too.

You can also flag people while uploading a list. In the upload dialog, check Import subscription column? and select the column that says whether each person is subscribed. Rows containing No, False, 0, Inactive or Unsubscribed are added to the Unsubscribes with the Marketing scope and the Admin badge.

Reverse an unsubscribe

Open Lists › Unsubscribes, find the person, and select the × icon (Remove from unsubscribes list) in the last column. The message Flagged recipient was successfully removed from the bounced list. confirms the change, and the person is included in the next send-out. Removing works for entries with the Admin, Unsubscribed, Bounced, Complaint and Bad number badges. If you used To any type, there are two entries to remove.

A mobile number with the STOP badge cannot be removed by an administrator. Activity Messenger answers This person unsubscribed to SMS messages with the word STOP. They must send the word START to subscribe again. If that entry also holds an email address, only the email part is removed. The person must reply START or UNSTOP from their phone, as described below.

A Bad number or Bounced entry comes from the carrier or email provider. You can remove it, but it comes back if the next message fails again, so correct the number or address in the person's record first.

Every change is recorded in the Communication preference log, opened with the history icon on each row or by clicking the row. It shows Added to unsubscribes list or Removed from unsubscribes list, the source (for example Unsubscribes page, STOP text message, START text message, Unsubscribe link, Email delivery status, SMS delivery status, Admin import) and who made the change.

SMS keywords: STOP and START

Activity Messenger reads the replies sent to its text-message numbers. A reply counts as a keyword only when the whole message is the keyword; capitalization and surrounding spaces do not matter.

STOP, END, UNSUBSCRIBE or ARRET adds the mobile number to the Unsubscribes list with the STOP badge. The scope is the type of the last text message the number received from your organization: Marketing when it replied to a marketing text, Non-marketing when it replied to a reminder.
START or UNSTOP removes that entry. Both words work the same way. If the number is not on the list, the reply is ignored.

The reply must come from the same mobile number and go to the same Activity Messenger number that sent the last text. Marketing text messages end with Reply STOP to opt-out so recipients know how to unsubscribe. A STOP entry is the only one an administrator cannot remove; only the recipient can reverse it by texting START or UNSTOP.

An entry with the Unsubscribed badge on a mobile number means the SMS provider reported the number as opted out when a message was sent. Removing the local entry does not clear a block kept by the carrier or provider.

What the recipient sees

Every email includes an Unsubscribe link in its footer. It opens a page titled Unsubscribe that asks Please confirm that you no longer want to receive marketing emails from [organization]. After I confirm, the page shows You are unsubscribed! and You will no longer receive marketing emails from [organization]. The link unsubscribes the email address from Marketing only; the person still receives non-marketing messages and automatic notifications. The entry appears in the Unsubscribes list with the Unsubscribed badge and the source Unsubscribe link.

When Allow clients to choose their communication preferences is on under Communications › Settings and the client selected tags, the page first asks What would you like to unsubscribe from? with one checkbox per tag, a button Unsubscribe from selected topics, and a separate Unsubscribe from everything button. Removing tags does not add the person to the Unsubscribes list.

If the person came from a subscriber form, the page also shows a Communication preferences card with a button to that form.

With the same setting on, clients also get My preferences in their account, with Preferred communication method: No preference, Email only, SMS only or Email and SMS. This choice selects the channel for regular communications; it does not re-subscribe an address or number that is on the Unsubscribes list. The page warns when the mobile number replied STOP (Reply START before enabling SMS notifications again), when the number is invalid, or when the email address bounced or complained.

Settings reference

Setting	Where	Default	Effect
Default type of communication	Communications › Settings	Marketing: Program information	Preselects the Communication type of new messages and templates. Non-marketing messages go to people who unsubscribed from marketing.
Communication type	Message editor, above the recipients	Default type of communication	Marketing skips people with a Marketing entry; Non-marketing skips people with a Non-marketing entry.
Do not send messages for these types of communication:	Lists › Unsubscribes › +	Marketing: Program information	Scope of the entry created for the person or list. To any type creates a Marketing entry and a Non-marketing entry.
Import subscription column?	Lists › upload a list	Off	Adds rows marked No, False, 0, Inactive or Unsubscribed to the Unsubscribes with the Marketing scope.
Allow clients to choose their communication preferences	Communications › Settings	Off	Adds My preferences to the client account and tag choices to the unsubscribe page. Unsubscribes still apply.

Common questions

Can I undo an unsubscribe? Yes for most entries: open Lists › Unsubscribes and select Remove from unsubscribes list on the row, as in Reverse an unsubscribe. The exception is a mobile number with the STOP badge, which only the recipient can reverse by texting START or UNSTOP.

How do I unsubscribe a list but still send them reminders? Add the list through + › List with the scope Marketing: Program information, then send reminders with Communication type › Non-marketing. Automatic notifications are non-marketing and keep going out. See Unsubscribe a whole list but keep sending reminders.

Why did a client stop receiving reminders? Look them up in Lists › Unsubscribes. An entry with the scope Non-marketing: Reminders, follow-ups and cancellations blocks reminders, as does a To any type entry, a STOP reply to a reminder text, a Bad number or a Bounced address. The Communication preference log shows when and how the entry was created. Also confirm the reminder is sent as Non-marketing and that the client's contact details are correct.

What does STOP do? Replying STOP, END, UNSUBSCRIBE or ARRET to a text adds the number to the Unsubscribes list with the STOP badge, in the scope of the last text received. Activity Messenger stops texting that number for that scope until the person replies START or UNSTOP; an administrator cannot remove the entry. See SMS keywords: STOP and START.

Does the Unsubscribe link in an email also block text messages? No. It unsubscribes the email address from marketing emails only. Text messages are managed by replying STOP, or by an administrator adding the mobile number on the Unsubscribes page.

Can I export the list? Yes. On Lists › Unsubscribes, select Export and choose Marketing or Non-marketing to download an Excel file with the name, email and mobile number of each entry in that scope.

For reply handling and sender numbers, see SMS sender numbers and reply-to numbers. For consent rules, see Personal information and electronic message laws.