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:

1. Your contact has filled up a subscription form with their email address.
2. The contact is added to a temporary list in Sendinblue
3. A confirmation email (double opt-in) is sent
4. Your contact confirms the subscription by clicking the button in the email
5. Your contact is added in your Double opt-in contact list
6. (Optional) A last confirmation email can be sent. to warn the contact that he was successfully added to the list.

Using the marketing Automation tool, this translates to the following steps:

1. Create your double opt-in email template
2. Create a custom Workflow
3. Step 1: A contact is added to a list
4. Step 2: Send a double opt-in email
5. Step 3: Wait until transactional email activity
6. Step 4: Send a double opt-in confirmation email
7. 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.

Create your double opt-in email template

If you haven't done it already, the first thing you want to do is create the email template(s) that will be used during this workflow. 

2 emails will be sent:

• 1 mandatory email where the user will confirm the subscription (= double opt-in).
• 1 optional email where you inform the user that the subscription has been confirmed.

To create your template, go to Campaigns > Template > New Template. You can create your template using either the old Drag & Drop editor or the new Drag & Drop Editor 2020.

For the double opt-in template to work, the following 2 actions are required:

• Add a button that clearly invite the customer to click to confirm their subscription.
  (e.g "Yes I confirm my subscription")
• Add your confirmation page or home page as a URL on the button.
  This will be necessary for Step 3: Wait until transactional email activity so that we know the button was clicked. In our example we used "www.example.com". 
  

Create a custom Automation Workflow

1. In Sendinblue, go to the Automation tab
2. Click Create a Workflow
   
   
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
2. Select Contact Details > A contact is added to a list
   
3. Select the list where you gather contacts that have subscribed to your form
4. Click OK

Step 2: Send a double opt-in email

In this second step, we will send an email to the added contact. This action is triggered when your contact is added to a list after filling in your subscription form.

The email we want to send here is the double opt-in email confirmation that will allow the contact to confirm their email address by clicking a button. It is the email template that you create above (Create your double opt-in email template).

1. Click the + sign under the first entry point to add a new action to your workflow.
2. Select the action Send an email.
3. 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".
   IMPORTANT: Make sure to follow the above instructions in Create your double opt-in email template if you select an existing template. It should contain the confirmation button linked to your home page or confirmation page.
   Do not use the default double opt in confirmation email that is used only with Sendinblue form, or if you want to use it, make sure you added your home page/confirmation link on the button.
   
4. Click OK.

Step 3: Wait until transactional email activity

In this third step, we will wait for the contact to click on the button to add it to the Double Opt-in contact list. Indeed, by clicking the button, they double-confirm their subscription. As you put your home page/confirmation page on the confirm button, we'll check who has clicked on it and been redirected to this page.

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 above in Create your double opt-in email template). In our example, we have chosen the “Double Opt-in Email” email template with a click redirecting to https://example.com
4. Click OK
   

Step 4: Send a double opt-in confirmation email (optional)

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. This step is optional, you can simply add a confirmation page when the client clicks on the button if you want.

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 your Double Opt-in confirmation email. In our example, we use the "Double opt-in confirmation - last email". Generally, this email confirms that the user has subscribed to your newsletter and suggests that they return to your website
3. Click OK
   

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 OK

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.

🤔 Have a question?

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