Handling Email Opt-outs and Blocked Email Addresses

PDCflow offers an email opt-out workflow to help companies manage their customers' email communication preferences and meet FDCPA Reg F communication requirements.  

What is an Email Opt-out Workflow and Why Might My Business Need One?

An email opt-out workflow offers companies and customers a way to manage consumer email preferences. Organizations within specific industries are required to offer recipients a way to say whether or not they want communication via email within the emails they send. Other organizations want to be sure they are aware of customer communication preferences so that they can communicate via the best method possible.  

When a PDCflow account has Email Opt-outs ON, all Flow emails sent will include a clear and conspicuous statement explaining how to opt out of future Flow emails. The recipient can click a link to opt out of receiving emails from the company. 

Every PDCflow account has access to an Email Opt-Outs report which lists any email addresses that have been blocked because of a bounce response or an opt-out.  

Turning Opt-out Functionality On or Off

To access your account’s Opt-out setting navigate to Configure > App Settings. On this page, you’ll see an option with the title Enable Email Opt-Out. When this is set to ON your account will have Opt-outs enabled and Flow emails will include an opt-out statement and like at the bottom of the message. 

Alternatively, if the Enable Email Opt-Out option is set to OFF then opt-outs will be disabled. Flow email won't have an opt-out statement in the email message. 

When Enable Email Opt-outs is ON for a PDCflow account, each Flow email sent will include a small statement at the bottom that explains to the recipient “This message was sent to you by {Company Name}; if you want to opt-out of similar emails, click here.” If the recipient clicks the link they will be opted out from future Flow emails and added to your account’s opt-out list. This process makes it easy for your email recipients to opt-out of future Flow emails from your account simply by clicking a link. 

Accessing Your Email Opt-outs Report

Within your account, you have access to an Email Opt-outs report which lists every email address that is blocked due to a terminal bounce response or an opt-out request. 

To view a list of the email addresses that are blocked navigate to Reporting > Email Opt-outs. You can filter or search this page to find specific email addresses and view specific date ranges of when the email address was blocked. Blocked reasons are Bounced (the email address is invalid) or Opted Out (the recipient opted out from email communications from your company via PDCflow).

If you need to update the user’s preferences within another system like a CRM or account management system you can download a CSV of the list by clicking the Download button. 

Handling Opt-ins

If an email recipient decides to opt back into receiving email communications (or a bounced email address has been fixed) it is possible to unblock a blocked email address. This option should only be used when the email recipient has given you express permission to be sent emails and if the email address has been verified. 

Throughout the PDCflow system, email address fields will support the ability to unblock a blocked email address: if a blocked email address is entered into an email address field the user will see a warning that the email is blocked and be given the option to unblock the email by opting it back into email communication.