Email distribution list, Don't understand how "unsubscribe" works Options

[wyndwoman]

I've been doing some experimenting with the subscribe/unsubscribe links, and I'm confused. (Or maybe I understand it perfectly, and it's really a Trumba problem )

If I add an email address through the subscribe link, the address shows up in the distribution list for the calendar. But if I then unsubscribe through the email unsubscribe link, the address remains in the distribution list. Further experimentations shows that even though the address is in the distribution list, it doesn't recieve any email from that particular calendar.

This is not making sense to me. Shouldn't the address be removed from the distribution list when a person unsubscribes?

How can I tell who's actually getting the calendar email?

When my church decided to use the email function, we decided to simply add all of the members' email addresses that we have to the distribution list, with directions in the email and in our paper newsletter about how to unsubscribe if they don't want to get the email. We figured we would monitor the number of addresses in the distribution list to see how many people have unsubscribed. This will be important information to have as we assess the efficacy of the calendar and email.

However, I can't see any way to actually know who's recieving the email. Have I missed something, or is this a deficit in the email functionality?

Thanks,
Lorraine

[Jill]

Hi Lorraine,
Is this the same as the issue in this topic: Topic 948? If so, I'm sorry to report that the behavior has not changed yet. I'll bring this up again with the developer. I agree that it is a rather important issue and it would be nice to know for maintenance purposes when people opt out. Plus, I personally would feel unsettled if I were knowingly sending regular email that's going to end up in some bounce/redirect destination.

I don't know if I'll have any news for you to follow up, because it's probably going to be a part of a bigger discussion. If I do hear anything, I'll post again, but you can always feel free to bump this in a few weeks if I haven't come back with anything.

Jill / Trumba UA

[wyndwoman]

Yes, it does appear to be the same issue, just coming at it from a slightly different vantage point.

Yeah, it's important. I have no way to know who's actually getting the email, and I need to be able to report to the powers that be how popular the email is and whether we should continue to do it.

For your marketing department: the answer to that question will directly inform whether we stay with Trumba or not. If we can prove that the email is popular and accepted, we will stay with it for the next year (hoping for the best with non-profit/tiered pricing). If we can't prove that people have not opted out, the comittee holding the purse strings will ask us to find a cheaper option that does not include the email functionality.

Thanks for looking into it again.

Here's what I would be looking for:

1. Separate the distribution list into those who are recieving the email, and those who have opted out. (This would allow the admins more flexibility than simply removing those who opted out from the distribution list.)
2. Count and displays the number of people on each half of the distribution list, so the user doesn't have to count them by hand.
3. Frosting: Display the date of the most recent opt-in or opt-out.

Should I add that this is basic functionality that really must be included in a product that costs $99/month?

[Jill]

Thanks for your details, Lorraine. This helps a lot. I don't know exactly what will happen, but all of these features sound like "standard" things. Our developers are working on making changes to the email area right now, so it's good timing to hit them up with requests like this. I'll refer them to your post.

Jill / Trumba UA

[wyndwoman]

Bumping this to the top again. Any progress in this area?

[Jill]

Hi Lorraine,
I don't have any details yet, but I just wanted to check in to let you know I'm still looking into this. I know that it's still on the list, but I hope to have more info to pass along on Mon.

Jill

[Jill]

Hi again, Lorraine,
I got some info from our developers, for what it's worth. They didn't make any promises re: specific timeframe, but it does sound as if the features could be done sometime during this quarter. I'm sorry I don't have a more solid answer or info about how exactly they'll be done.

Jill / Trumba UA

[Jean Renaud]

Friends, I'm browsing through your Forum Support, and this tread corresponds to my actual problem.

I have someone who unsubscribed to an E-Mail calendar by mistake last week.
1) Since I was still seeing her E-Mail address in the distribution list, I deleted her E-Mail address from the E-Mail distribution list AND re-enter it again, but
2) She's telling me that she didn't receive it this morning
3) I still see her E-Mail address in the distribution list ?!

So after reading this tread, I now need to know:
- How this unsubcribe feature works?
- How can we "reactivate" an E-Mail address?
- Like it was said previously, it becomes important for us to know 2 things: who is receiving our E-Mails, and who is asking us to delete their E-Mails from our distribution list.

Waiting for your reply, my friend. -- Jean.

[Steve A]

Hi-
If you have set up a scheduled email for a published calendar, a visitor can subscribe to your calendar email. You set up the email by selecting the Email button and working through the setup wizard. In addition, select the Publish button and select the Publish Settings tab and click Edit Publishing Settings. At the bottom there is the option to enable email subscriptions which you want to ensure is set to Yes and then click OK.

Visitors can click on the Subscribe link directly above your calendar and will be able to subscribe to either a daily, weekly or monthly email, as set up by the account holder. They are prompted to enter in their name and email address and then click Subscribe to “x” Email. As the account holder, you can view the distribution list for visitors who have subscribed to your calendar by selecting the calendar and then selecting the Email button. When a visitor receives an email they do have the option to opt out from receiving future emails and unsubscribe by following the link in the footer of the email; or you as the account holder can remove that email address from the distribution list by selecting Edit Distribution List and removing the email from the list.

You may notice that within your distribution list that some emails may appear in red with double red exclamation marks. This indicates that the email addresses has bounced. Trumba will attempt to send an email three times and if it fails on the third attempt, we will not send emails to that email address. The email address can bounce if the email address is invalid; if the email server for that email address does not accept email from Trumba.com (so they need to add Trumba.com to their safe list); a spam filter may be rejecting emails from Trumba.com; or the owner of the email address has opted out from receiving any emails from Trumba.com.

If you are seeing email addresses in your distribution list that are valid and are not receiving email, please email support with your account login (email only) along with the email addresses and we can research these email addresses to determine why they are still appearing in the distribution list as well as why that visitor may not be receiving the emails.

Thanks,
Steve

[Opuntia]

I would like to make a suggestion that the symbol for folks that unsubscribe to emails should be different from the ones where the email is returned due to invalid address or other reasons. Just allows the manager to make a more informed descision.

A few questions:
What happens if you delete all the bounced emails from the distribution list and the address book and sometime later you manually add that email back, will it automatically display as a bounced email since that info is in your database?

If a person unsubscribes and then resubscribes, will that somehow be reflected in the distribution list/adddress book?

I'm sure I'll have more questions, for some reason distribution lists & address books is slightly confusing to me.

Thanks,
Matt

[Steve A]

Hi Matt,
When you view the Distribution List, we currently only display the email addresses of individuals who are either currently receiving the email or they are scheduled to receive the email but their email address has bounced. Once a person removes themselves, or you remove that person from the distribution list, they no longer appear in the list. So the only icon we display would be the !! for the bounced emails.

If you go ahead and delete all of the bounced emails from the distribution list and address book and later go back in and add them, unless that user has contacted us letting us know they are not getting the emails and we clear the flag and they set Trumba.com to their safe list; or you contact Support and have us clear the flag on the bounced emails, the emails will still appear as bounced if you put them all back in as the email is still in our database as an email address that does not accept email from Trumba.com.

If a person “resubscribes” to your distribution list, there is no indication that they have done this. The only change you may see if that one day you see their name/email address in the list, then the next day you do not and the following day they may be back with either the same or different email address.

Also remember that the distribution list is not related to the Address Book in anyway. You can add email address from your address book to a distribution list, but you cannot import a distribution list in to your address book.

Thanks,
Steve

[Opuntia]

Steve,

Thanks, a followup question and comment:

1. So if a person unsubscribes from a distribution list, and I accidently add them back, will they not be added? Is then the only way for them to get back on the list is to resubscribe?

2. How about a different symbol for emails that subscribed on their own vs. those that I manually added.

-Matt

[Steve A]

Matt,
If you add a person back to the distribution list, either on purpose or by accident, they will be on the distribution list until they either unsubscribe again, or until you remove them from the distribution list.

We currently do not have different icons/symbols that can be displayed to denote if a person has subscribed on their own or if they have been added by the account holder. I have submitted a feature request for this feature enhancement on your behalf.

Thanks,
Steve