An opt-out list is a list of e-mail addresses and mobile phone numbers of sample members, who may no longer be contacted to participate in surveys. This implies that invitations via e-mail or SMS (mobile phone number) will no longer be sent to the sample members included in this list. Before a survey invitation is sent, the system always verifies whether e-mail addresses and/or mobile phone numbers in the corresponding sample are on the opt-out list.
Survey participants (sample members) can be manually opted-out, or they can exclude themselves from further participation by clicking the Unsubscribe link in the survey invitation. The placeholder {{member.opt_out_link}} must be included on the position of this opt-out link in the corresponding message layout. As soon as a participant clicks this link, he or she will be placed on the opt-out list.
In this field, you can search by e-mail address or mobile number. If the opt-out list is quite long, you can quickly find a certain sample member. Only the sample members will be displayed whose specified combination of letters appears in the e-mail or whose specified combination of numbers appears in the mobile number (e.g. number ending in 508).
This button allows you to manually add a sample member to the opt-out list. When you click on it, the Add opt-out entry window will be displayed.
In this window, you can enter the e-mail address and/or the mobile number of the corresponding sample member. As soon as you have filled in one or both items, you can click the green Add opt-out entry button. This sample member will immediately be included in the opt-out list and will no longer receive an invitation via e-mail and/or SMS (mobile phone number) to fill out a survey.
If you click this button, an Excel file with all sample members on the opt-out list will be generated.
- The first sample member in the image above has clicked the Unsubscribe button in the message, when receiving the e-mail invitation to participate in the Employee satisfaction survey.
- The second and third sample members were manually added to the opt-out list: via Add opt-out entry (2) or Import opt-out entries (4).
If you click this button, the Import opt-out entries screen will be displayed which allows you to download an example file containing all relevant opt-out data. After having clicked the Download example file button, an Excel file will be downloaded which you can fill out with data of sample members to be unsubscribed. These are:
- E-mail address of the sample member who should no longer receive a survey invitation via e-mail
- Mobile number of the sample member who should no longer receive a survey invitation via SMS
- ChannelEmail: if you enter the value 1, then the sample member will not receive a survey invitation via e-mail at the e-mail address specified here
- ChannelPhone: if you enter the value 1, then the sample member will not receive a survey invitation via SMS on the mobile number specified here
When you have filled this Excel file with the desired data of all sample members to be unsubscribed, you can save this file in any location on your PC.
In order to import this Excel file again, you must click in the grey box containing the text Drop elements here at the bottom of the Import opt-out entries screen. You can then select the file containing the opt-out data on your PC. Once you have done this, this file is placed below the grey box on the left, but above the Import button. Under the name of this Excel file you will find the status Uploaded in small letters.
By clicking the Import button, the sample members (i.e. e-mail addresses and/or mobile numbers) from this file are added to the opt-out list.
This column indicates for each sample member the date on which he/she was added to the opt-out list.
This column indicates the way in which the sample member entered the opt-out list:
- via the Unsubscribe link in the survey invitation (OptOut Link).
- manually using either the Add opt-out entry button (2) or the Import opt-out entries button (4).
If you want to remove a sample member from the opt-out list so that he/she can be invited to participate in surveys again, you must click this icon and the Yes button for confirmation.
You can find more information on the operation in the Opt-Out: How does it work in Survalyzer topic.