Autopilot: Email permission FAQ

Below is a collection of common questions we receive regarding Autopilot's email permission settings.


What happens when a contact unsubscribes from an email in a Journey?

Once a contact has unsubscribed, they will continue to move through the Journey, however they will not receive any further emails. One exception, however, is the "on send" path from the Send Email action. Because unsubscribed contacts aren't eligible to receive email, they will not move down this path.


How do I specify email permission when importing contacts?

This question is answered here.


How do unsubscribes affect lists?

Contacts that unsubscribe aren't automatically removed from lists. However, you can set up custom Journeys to do so. Learn more here.


Yes. Learn more here.


Why is a contact that unsubscribed still receiving emails?

This can happen when you have duplicates added via a Salesforce sync. We do not de-duplicate duplicated contacts that come in through the Salesforce sync. Please ensure that the contact is not a duplicate in your system. If not, and they reported that they unsubscribed, please contact support.


Can I create a list of everyone who has unsubscribed?

Yes, that is possible. Please create a smart segment with the following criteria:


Can I customize the standard unsubscribe link?

Yes. Learn more here.


Can I re-subscribe contacts?

Yes, however you can only do so if it complies with our email acceptable use policy, most importantly, that the user has opted in to receive email from you. Two examples where it might be appropriate to re-subscribe a contact are:

  • you had a typo in their email address; and
  • they accidentally unsubscribed, and asked to be re-subscribed.

You can re-subscribe an individual contact by going to their contact record and clicking this checkbox:

If you need to re-subscribe multiple contacts, you can also use the Update Field action and change the "Opted Out of Email" field to "false".

You can also re-subscribe a contact via API by adding the following part to the Update Contact call: 'unsubscribed': false.


Do you automatically unsubscribe contacts that reply to emails with words such as "Unsubscribe" or "Opt out"?

Current this isn't possible, however our Zapier integration opens up possibilities of this nature. For example, you can Unsubscribe contacts in Autopilot when you apply a particular label in Gmail.


How can I keep my unsubscribe rate low?

Check out this article which provides tips on how to minimize your email unsubscribe rate.


What happens when a contact complains?

"Complaints" (i.e. spam reports) are triggered when:

  • a contact clicks the spam button; or
  • puts your email in their spam folder

within their email client such as Yahoo, Outlook or AOL. When a contact complains, they will be automatically unsubscribed and can't be re-subscribed:

Please note that spam reports can only be gathered from ISPs that provide what's called a "feedback loop". Gmail, for example, does not offer a feedback loop. Rather, they provide an anonymous, aggregate report directly to us about concerning senders.


Can I customize Autopilot's unsubscribe page?

No, this is currently not possible. You can voice your support for this feature here.