Using Marketing Automation to create a double opt-in subscription

With Sendinblue’s Marketing Automation feature you can set up double opt-in for your subscription forms. Double opt-in subscription has many advantages.

The double opt-in subscription workflow in our example consists of sending a confirmation email after your contact has submitted a subscription form. In this email, the new contact has to click a button to confirm their email address. They are then redirected to your website and added to the contact list of your choice. They then receive a final email confirming their subscription.

We will go over the following steps:

  1. Create a custom Workflow
  2. Step 1: A contact is added to a list
  3. Step 2: Send a double opt-in email
  4. Step 3: Wait until transactional email activity
  5. Step 4: Send a double opt-in confirmation email
  6. Step 5: Add the contact into a list

Before you start

  • Make sure your contacts are automatically added to the same Sendinblue contact list. This can be done using our plugins, our API or with Zapier.
  • We suggest that you create your confirmation emails in Sendinblue first so that you can add them to a Marketing Automation workflow.

❗️ Important
There are two ways to create a double opt-in subscription. Make sure to only use one of the two methods available: enable double opt-in subscription through Marketing Automation OR through a Sendinblue subscription form. Otherwise, your contacts will receive duplicate double opt-in emails.

Create a custom Workflow

  1. In Sendinblue, go to the Automation tab
  2. Click Create a Workflow
    double-opt-in-scenario-EN-1.png
  3. On the Create a new workflow page, click Create a Custom Workflow
  4. Enter your workflow name and add a description
  5. Click Start automating

Step 1: A contact is added to a list

In this first step, we will start by adding the entry point where a contact of yours is added to a list. This will be the list where you gather contacts that have submitted your subscription form. Your workflow will be triggered every time a new contact is added to this list.

  1. Click Add an entry point to add the first entry point of your workflow. The entry point used in our example can be found under Contact Details and is called A contact is added to a list
    double-opt-in-scenario-EN-3.png
  2. Select the list where you gather contacts that have subscribed to your form
  3. Click OK

Step 2: Send a double opt-in email

In this second step, we will add the action where a double opt-in email is sent to a contact. This action is triggered by the first entry point where your contact was added to a list after filling in your subscription form. This double opt-in email allows the contact to confirm their email address by clicking a button.

  1. Click the + sign to add a new action to your workflow. The action used in our example is called Send an email
  2. Select or create the double opt-in email template of your choice. The email template used in our example is called "Double Opt-in Email"
  3. Click OK
    double-opt-in-scenario-EN-4.png

💡 Good to know
The email template must contain a button that clearly states that it is used for confirming the email address. This button should redirect the clicker to a page on your website, e.g. your home page.

double-opt-in-scenario-EN-5.png

Step 3: Wait until transactional email activity

In this third step, we will add the condition that must be satisfied to trigger the fourth step. In our example, we must wait until a contact clicks the button in the double opt-in email you sent them and is redirected to your website. By clicking the button, they double-confirm their subscription.

  1. Click the + sign to add a new condition to your workflow. The condition used in our example can be found under Wait until and is called Transactional Email Activity
  2. Select Clicked and choose the double opt-in email template that you created
  3. Enter the URL of the webpage you selected in your double opt-in confirmation email (see image above in Step 2). In our example, we have chosen the “Double Opt-in Email” email template with a click redirecting to https://example.com
  4. Click OK
    double-opt-in-scenario-EN-7.png

Step 4: Send a double opt-in confirmation email

In this fourth step, we will add the action where a double opt-in confirmation email is sent to a contact. This action is triggered by the third step where your contact clicked the button in the double opt-in email you sent them. This action lets the contact know that they confirmed their email address.

  1. To add a new action, click the + sign in the Yes branch of the workflow. The action used in our example is called Send an email
  2. Select a Double Opt-in confirmation email. In our example, we use the "Default Template Double opt-in confirmation". Generally, this email confirms that the user has subscribed to your newsletter and suggests that they return to your website
  3. Click OK
    double-opt-in-scenario-EN-8.png

Step 5: Add the contact into a list

In this fifth step, we will add the action where a contact is added into a double opt-in list. This will be the list where you gather the contacts that have subscribed through your double opt-in process.

  1. To add a new action to your workflow, click the + sign. The action used in our example is called Add the contact into a list
  2. Select or create a list that contains all the double opt-in contacts. In our example, the list is called "Double opt-in list"
  3. Click OKdouble-opt-in-scenario-EN-10.png

And that’s it! Now you can use Marketing Automation to manage your double opt-in subscriptions. You can, of course, continue this workflow by sending a new email 30 days later, for example.

double-opt-in-scenario-EN-11.png

🤔 Have a question?

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