Contact preferences protect customers and your business. Review them before broadcasts, newsletters, journeys, and sequences, especially when a message is promotional.

What this guide helps you do

• Understand why unsubscribe and contact preferences matter.
• Choose the right subscription group or sender context.
• Avoid sending to people who should not receive a message.

Before you start

• Know whether the message is marketing, transactional, operational, or internal.
• Use a verified sender mailbox or approved sender identity.
• Confirm the Audience excludes people who opted out when required.

Do it manually

1. Open the Audience, broadcast, journey, newsletter, or sequence.
2. Check the sender and subscription group.
3. Preview recipients and look for unsubscribe or missing-email warnings.
4. Review the message footer and unsubscribe link behavior when available.
5. Send a test or keep as draft until preference checks pass.
6. Document exceptions with internal notes rather than bypassing preferences.

Ask Faster AI

• Review this broadcast setup for unsubscribe and contact-preference risk before scheduling.
• Check whether this journey uses the right subscription group for a welcome email.
• List contacts in this Audience who should be excluded from marketing email.

Review before saving, sending, or starting

• Do not bypass unsubscribe state for marketing email.
• Use transactional messaging only for legitimate operational communication.
• Keep private compliance decisions in internal notes, not customer-facing copy.

Common issues and fixes

• If sending is blocked, check sender setup and subscription group.
• If too many people are excluded, review the Audience purpose before changing preferences.
• If a customer complains, stop further outreach and update their preferences.

After you use this Audience

• Review who entered the Audience after the first send, journey start, or follow-up task.
• Open a few customer records to confirm the group still matches the business intent.
• Keep a note on why the Audience exists, when it should be reviewed, and who owns changes.
• If the Audience should stay current automatically, convert the one-time logic into clear rules and preview it again.

Welcome email examples

For how unsubscribe expectations fit into a welcome sequence and regular newsletter handoff, read the welcome email sequence examples. Welcome Email Sequences That Turn Signups into Customers.

Audience segmentation strategy

For how segmentation should reduce unnecessary sends while still respecting subscription and contact preferences, read the customer segmentation article. Customer Segmentation for Small Teams: Send Less, Sell More.

Email marketing playbook

For how deliverability, consent, and unsubscribe expectations fit into a practical email program, read the email marketing guide. Email Marketing for Small Businesses: The Only Guide You Need.

Email deliverability at scale

For why respecting unsubscribes and suppressions is not just compliance but also sender reputation protection, read the deliverability engineering article. What It Takes to Deliver Email at Scale.

Newsletters people open

For why preference options and honest subscription groups keep people subscribed longer than all-or-nothing email, read the newsletter growth article. Grow a Newsletter People Actually Open.

Connected workflows

• Connect a form to an Audience or journey
• Send a newsletter
• Create a welcome journey
• Use customer activity for follow-up

Placeholder media

• Screenshot placeholder: add an annotated screenshot of respect unsubscribe and contact preferences with customer names, emails, counts, and private campaign data blurred.
• Video placeholder: add a short walkthrough that starts from Engagement, shows the manual path, then shows the review step before any journey, broadcast, newsletter, or sequence goes live.

Related help

• Create an Audience
• Preview Audience counts before sending
• Respect unsubscribe and contact preferences