Each of your contacts has a marketing subscription status. Only contacts with a Subscribed status receive your campaigns.
The Three Statuses
Not opted: the default. The contact hasn't subscribed or unsubscribed. Not opted contacts don't receive campaigns.
Subscribed: the contact has opted in to your marketing emails.
Unsubscribed: the contact has opted out.
Who Receives Your Campaigns
Only contacts with a Subscribed status receive your campaigns. Not opted and Unsubscribed contacts are excluded, even when they're in the Segment you send to. The review drawer shows how many contacts are excluded before you send. If none of the contacts in your Segment are Subscribed, your campaign has no recipients.
Why Only Subscribed Contacts Receive Campaigns
This rule keeps Tern, advisors, and agencies in line with best practices and guidelines for email compliance.
All advisors' campaigns currently send from one domain that Tern shares. When a recipient marks a campaign as spam, inbox providers count it against that shared domain, which pushes every advisor's email toward spam. Sending only to people who agreed to hear from you keeps complaints low and helps campaigns reach the inbox.
Opting Contacts In
Only mark someone Subscribed if they agreed to receive marketing email from you, or the law where they live otherwise allows it. Follow the steps below based on where you've been tracking subscriptions.
Option 1: You track subscriptions in another tool, like Mailchimp or Flodesk
Export your list from the other tool as a CSV.
Make sure every row has a Last Name, a Primary Email Address, and a Legal First Name or Preferred First Name that match the contact in Tern. Rows that don't match an existing contact become new contacts.
Add a column named Email Marketing Status. Set it to Subscribed for people who opted in and Unsubscribed for people who opted out.
In Tern, go to Contacts, open the Actions menu, and select Import contacts. Under Step 1, select Import Basic Details.
In the Before you import step, tick the confirmation box.
Upload your file, map your status column to Email Marketing Status, and run the import.
Importing unsubscribes keeps you from opting those people in later by mistake. Only include unsubscribes for people you want as contacts in Tern, since unmatched rows become new contacts.
Option 2: Bulk update from the Contacts page
Go to Contacts and select the contacts you want to opt in. To select all 100 contacts visible on the page, select the checkbox at the top of the table.
In the toolbar at the bottom of the page, select Edit marketing subscription.
Select Subscribed, check the box confirming you have permission to email the selected contacts, then select Save. You can also add an optional Permission note recording how you got permission.
Repeat for each page of 100 contacts you need to opt in.
Option 3: Bulk update with an export and import
To update every contact at once, export your contact list, fill in subscription status in a spreadsheet, then import the file back into Tern.
Go to Contacts, open the Actions menu, and select Export all contacts. To export a subset, filter the list first and select Export filtered contacts.
Open the file and delete every column except Tern ID, email address, and names. Tern uses the Tern ID column to update each contact instead of creating a duplicate, so don't edit it.
Add a column with the exact header Email Marketing Status and type Subscribed for each contact you have permission to email. Leave the rest blank.
Go to Contacts, open the Actions menu, and select Import contacts. Under Step 1, select Import Basic Details.
In the Before you import step, tick the confirmation box.
Upload your file, map your new column to Email Marketing Status, and run the import.
Option 4: Collect opt-ins with a form
A form lets people opt themselves in. Use it to grow your list, and to let a contact who unsubscribed opt back in.
Go to Library, open Forms, and open an existing form or select New to create one.
Make sure the form includes Basic Details, so Tern can match the response to the right contact.
From Form Elements, under General Elements, drag Email marketing opt-in onto the form. A form can include it once.
Select Send to email the form, or use Copy Link to share it anywhere, like your website or email signature.
When someone checks the opt-in box and submits the form, their status is set to Subscribed.
How to Set a Contact's Status
Open the contact's profile.
Find the Email marketing subscription card on the right and select Edit.
Choose a status. When subscribing a contact, you can add an optional note explaining the consent.
Save.
To update many contacts at once, follow one of the options under Opting Contacts In.
Unsubscribing Is Permanent
Note: You can't undo an unsubscribe. Once a contact is unsubscribed, you can't resubscribe them yourself, and the Edit button on their marketing card is disabled.
If a contact who unsubscribed wants your emails again, send them a form with the Email marketing opt-in element. When they check the opt-in box and submit the form, their status changes back to Subscribed. See "Option 4: Collect opt-ins with a form" above.
How Recipients Unsubscribe
Every campaign email includes a one-click unsubscribe link, as required for email compliance. When a recipient unsubscribes, their status is set to Unsubscribed and they're excluded from future campaigns.
If a recipient marks your email as spam, they're automatically and permanently unsubscribed.
Contacts That Share an Email Address
If two of your contacts have the same primary email address, they share one marketing status. Changing one updates the others. A contact that takes on a matching email address inherits that address's most recent status.