Here's the most important rule in email and text marketing: only message people who asked to hear from you. Sending without permission is spamming, and Ontraport doesn't allow it. Ontraport can shut down accounts that keep breaking its email standards, and carriers block texts that look like spam, and you're still charged for them. Here's how Ontraport tracks permission.
Permission matters most for bulk messages. Bulk email is any email sent from an automation, or sent by hand to two or more contacts. A one-off email to one contact, or a message in Inbox, isn't bulk.
Every contact has a Bulk Email Status, in the Lead Information section of their record. It decides which emails they can get.
Single opt-in and double opt-in contacts can get all your email. Single opt-in usually means they filled out one of your forms. Double opt-in means they also clicked the confirmation link in your double opt-in email, which proves the address is really theirs. Even then, permission only covers what they asked for. If someone signed up for vegan recipes, don't send them keto recipes.
Three statuses can't get any bulk email. Pending review means the contacts were just imported and aren't approved yet. Unconfirmed means your form requires double opt-in, and they haven't clicked the link. Hard bounce means the address can't receive mail, because it no longer exists or it soft-bounced four times in a row. And Transactional and personal only means the contact unsubscribed. They can still get transactional email, but no marketing. You can still send any of these contacts a one-off email.
The usual way to get permission is a form. In the form's opt-in settings, Single opt-in is the default. Choose Double opt-in required if you want people to confirm first. Until they click the link, they stay Unconfirmed, and your automations won't email them.
You can also import a list from another service, but only if everyone on it opted in. You'll sign the usage agreement as you import. Every import goes through approval, and some lists get a manual review. If yours is picked, your account administrator gets questions by email, and you should hear back within 24 hours. Once it's approved, those contacts become single opt-in.
As you saw in the last lesson, checking Transactional Mail lets an email reach people who've unsubscribed. Use it only for invoices, account and shipping notices, password resets, and required business notices. No newsletters, offers, follow-ups or calls to action, not even in a P.S. Ontraport may review transactional emails, and misuse can cost you transactional email, all your sending, or your account.
Ontraport adds an unsubscribe footer, with your business address, to every bulk email. When someone unsubscribes, they switch to transactional only. To let contacts opt out of one topic instead of everything, add your automations to the Subscription Management page. You'll find the option in each automation's Subscription Settings when you publish it.
Start each email with a short reminder of why they're getting it and how to unsubscribe. And send more often to people who engage, and less often to people who don't.
Keep spam complaints at or below 0.1 percent a week, and bounces no higher than 7 percent. Add the Complaints column to your messages collection to watch it. Before you import an old list, clean it with a list-cleaning service.
You can't send from a free address, like Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook. Set up a custom domain under Administration, in Custom Domains, and send from an address on your own domain. Custom domains are available on paid accounts.
Texting is simpler. A contact has either opted in to texts or they haven't. They opt in by entering their SMS number on one of your forms, or by texting your Ontraport SMS number first. To opt in contacts through the API, or to import a list that's already opted in, contact Support.
The first time you text someone, Ontraport adds your Sender Compliance Message, which you set in your sender profile. It should say what they signed up for and how to opt out, with a keyword like STOP. For example: "You're subscribed to pet grooming tips. Reply STOP to opt out." It's sent again if a contact hasn't engaged in over 18 months. And if you text US or Canadian numbers, register your Sender Profile, or carriers may block your texts.
To opt out, contacts text Stop, Unsubscribe, Cancel or Quit, and they're removed automatically. After that, the only way back in is to text START. Filling out a form won't change it.
So: get permission, send only what people asked for, make opting out easy, and watch your complaints and bounces. Next up: Email and SMS broadcasts, where you'll put all of this to work.