Automation Example: Allow Your Contacts To Take a Break

Details

Rather than completely losing a contact through an unsubscribe - why not give them the option to take a break from your email & SMS communications for a period of time?

This is common practice for online stores that conduct frequent email marketing - who will provide this option to their customers via their email's unsubscribe link, alongside the usual unsubscribe option (which is generally always needed in order to meet anti-spam requirements).

What This Example Will Cover

In this example, we will setup a new field to detect whether a contact is 'on a break' (as well as the duration), we'll add this field to the Update Profile form (as well as include a link in case the user wants to unsubscribe completely), and finally, we'll setup the automation to re-subscribe them once their 'break' is over.

If you already have an active Update Profile form that you use, you can add the new 'take a break' option to it (as shown below).

How-to Guide

Part 1: Add the New Field

1. Select Lists and Forms from the sidebar.
2. Double-click on the desired list, to open forms view for that list. All of the forms associated with your chosen list will now appear as different tabs near the top of the screen.
3. Select the Update Profile form.
4. Click Add New Fields, over to the right.
5. In our case, we're going to use a dropdown field, as this allows the user to select one of several options. Select the Dropdown option.
6. Click Add.
7. Configure your new dropdown field as follows (you can adjust the timing options if you like):
   
8. When done, click Save.
9. Next up, we'll add a field to record when the contact first started their 'break' from receiving content. This step is optional, but is probably a handy detail to know - just in case! Click Add New Fields again.
10. This time, we're going to use a date field - select the Date Picker option.
11. Click Add.
12. Configured your new date field as needed - here's how we've configured ours:
    
13. When done, click Save.
14. By default, this newly added field will get added to form - but we don't want it to display. Locate the field in the Fields panel off to the right, and click the 👁️ icon to hide it from the form.
15. On the right hand side, locate and expand the Advanced Settings panel.
16. Enable the Do not show login form if contact has clicked through from an email option.
    
17. When finished, click Save.

Part 2: Link the Update Profile Form To the Unsubscribe Form

As we'll eventually be redirecting the 'Unsubscribe' option in your email footer to this form instead, you'll need to link to the unsubscribe form from this Update Profile form (as shown in our screenshot near the top of this article).

1. Edit the text on your form to give the user an option to unsubscribe completely. In our example, this is the text we used:
   Use this form to update your interests, email preferences or to take a break from our emails for a little while. If you'd prefer to unsubscribe completely, you can do so here.
2. Next, we'll add a link to the unsubscribe form. Highlight the text that you wish to make a link.
3. Click the world / chain (insert link) icon from the toolbar, as shown.
   
4. Configure the link as follows - using the Web Form option, as shown. In the List field, be sure to select the list you're currently working with.
   
5. When done, click Insert Link.
6. Adjust your form design if required.
7. When finished, click Save. We've now create a new field, added it to your form, and linked the Update Profile form to the Unsubscribe form.

Part 3: Setup the Automation

1. Select Automation from the sidebar.
2. Select the Advanced Automation tab.
3. Click New Workflow.
4. Give the workflow a name and click Save.
5. Click New Step.
6. In the first section, set the action as A trigger against the following List and select the folder & list that contains the Update Profile form you've been working on.
7. In the second section, set the trigger as Update Profile, then select the folder and form from the subsequent dropdowns.
8. Under Filter your Contacts section, click Add/Edit.
9. Setup your filtering options as follows:
   
10. Click OK.
11. In the third option, locate the Change the following value(s) in the Contact record section and click Add/Edit.
12. Setup your filtering options as follows. This will deactivate the contact (so that you don't accidentally send to them) and set the 'Break start date' to the date they filter through the automation.
    
13. Click OK.
14. Turn off any of the other options on this third section (unless you want to send the contact a message confirming their changes).
15. In the fourth option, set the timing as Immediately.
16. Click Save. So far we've create the step to deactivate the contact - next, we need to create the steps to reactivate them after their break time has passed.
17. Back on the main automation setup screen, click New Step.
18. In the first section, set the action as A trigger against the following List and select the folder & list that contains the Update Profile form you've been working on.
19. In the second section, set the trigger as Update Profile, then select the folder and form from the subsequent dropdowns.
20. Under Filter your Contacts section, click Add/Edit.
21. Setup your filtering options as follows:
    
22. Click OK.
23. In the third option, locate the Change the following value(s) in the Contact record section and click Add/Edit.
24. Setup your filtering options as follows. This will re-activate the contact (so that they get included in sends again - and clears out the break duration field).
    
25. Click OK.
26. Turn off any of the other options on this third section (unless you want to send the contact a message confirming they'll receive content from you again).
27. In the fourth option, set the timing as A period of time after the Trigger occurs and set the value to 30 days.
28. Click Save.
29. Repeat steps 17 to 28, this time selecting 60 Days instead (within steps 21 and 27), and then repeat these same steps again for 90 days. Essentially, we need an automation step for each setting; 30, 60, and 90 days. Once completed, your automation steps should look something like the following (if you wish, you can rename them as we've done):
    
30. Click Save to return to the main Advanced Automation area.
31. Finally, click the ellipsis (...) next to the automation and choose Activate. Your automation is now ready. 

Part 4: Request a Modification To Your Footer

While you can easily link to this new Update Profile form from anywhere in your email by inserting a link to it, if you'd like to have the 'Unsubscribe' link in your footer modified to direct users to the Update Profile form instead, please submit a ticket with us to request this change.

If you have a Corporate account type, you will likely be able to make these changes yourself.

If you make or request this change, you must always ensure your Update Profile form still gives users the option to unsubscribe completely - by linking it to your Unsubscribe form. Instructions for doing so are provided above, within the how-to guide.

Important Things To Keep in Mind

In order to have nice, neat lists, some of our users periodically delete deactivated contacts by following this guide. However, it's important to note that the steps in the guide above temporarily set your contacts (who are 'taking a break') to deactivated. Then, once their break is over, it sets them back to active again.

Therefore, if you delete deactivated contacts from time to time, it's important to exclude anyone who is 'on a break' - otherwise you'll be deleting them from your list, too. To exclude contacts that are 'on a break' from the search results, be sure to include an additional search filter which looks for the absence of a value in the 'break duration' field.