Introduction

Double opt-in is a common practice with email marketing in which individuals are asked to confirm changes made to their communication preferences and/or the marketing lists they would like to receive communication from. This approach in general is recommended to ensure the audience is interested in the topics but it can also be a legal or company required approach.

Dynamics 365 Marketing has supported double opt-in processes as part of its core features. Double opt-in is available either as global process applicable to all forms (see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/marketing/double-opt-in) or something that is setup at the form level (see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-insights/journeys/form-double-opt-in). However, this feature was not immediately available when Real-Time Marketing (RTM) was released but now that outbound marketing subscription centers are available (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/marketing/real-time-marketing-outbound-subscription), they can be used to enable double opt-in in Real-Time Marketing journeys and communications too.

Setting up double opt-in for Real-Time Marketing

In order to set up double opt-in for RTM, the processes described for outbound marketing just need to be modified slightly. The process will:

In this blog, we will also walk through a test to illustrate the expected outcomes of a configured double opt-in.

As a start, it is necessary to set up a Subscription Confirmation email message in Outbound Marketing. This message is what will be sent to customers when they are added to a subscription list. As noted in the documentation (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/marketing/double-opt-in#create-a-subscription-confirmation-request-message). This message should be of content type “Confirmation request” and have a email type of “Transactional” and must not include a link to the subscription center.

Next, an additional email is required. This message will be sent upon changes in the consent level of contacts. Consent levels are described here (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/marketing/gdpr-use-features#view-and-set-the-consent-level-for-each-contact). 

Once the change confirmation emails are created and in Live state, we will need a Landing Page in Outbound Marketing which will be used as the place to which users will be directed after confirming the change. The page doesn’t need to have any special functionality or configuration.

With these three pieces of content ready, we can enable double opt-in for the Instance. To do this we need to navigate to Settings à Email Marketing à Default Settings and then opening the Default Marketing Settings record. In that record, use the Global level double opt-in tab to see the current settings. Switch this on and specify the subscription confirmation and consent confirmation emails previously created, along with the Thank you page as appropriate.

Now that we have double opt-in configured, we will set up a subscription center to be used by Real Time Marketing. First, we will navigate in Outbound Marketing and, under Internet Marketing, create a Marketing form of type “Subscription Center”.

This form can then be used to create a new Marketing Page of type Subscription center. This will be the one where consumers will be directed to when clicking on “unsubscribe” links in Real-Time Marketing emails.

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Now we use the ability to use the subscription centers in Real-Time Marketing emails and we create a new compliance profile with consent link type of subscription center. For more information see. (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/marketing/real-time-marketing-outbound-subscription).

In the Quick Create form for the compliance settings, fill out details, specifying the subscription center to use.

And that is it! Our organization is now configured to trigger communications which will confirm subscription or consent level changes out of Real-Time Marketing emails.

Setting up form double opt-in

An alternative to global double opt-in is to use form double opt-in. As the name suggests, this process allows for the confirmation of data submitted on a specific form and for each form different confirmation emails can be sent, rather than a single, global confirmation. The feature is described here (Set up form double opt-in in outbound marketing - Dynamics 365 Customer Insights | Microsoft Learn).
 

A key distinction to make between global double opt-in and form opt-in is in the handling of new contact creation. When global double opt-in is enabled, if a landing page form collects data for a new contact it will create the contact without need for confirmation. The double opt-in is applied to consent level changes and changes to the subscription lists. On the other hand, when form double opt-in is in place on the specified landing page form, the contact creation will be held until the confirmation email is received and clicked on by the contact.    
 

Form double opt-in remains unchanged for outbound marketing forms and can continue to be used. Real-time Journeys Forms don’t currently support form double opt-in as a standard feature. 

Testing Global Opt-In Example

To test the configuration we first will create email in Real-Time Marketing and specify the compliance profile to use. This will determine the link to subscription center to use during email send.

This email will then be used in a Journey and distributed to a test account. For the purpose of the test, it is not significant if the journey used is Trigger based or Segment based. As part of the journey, the email will be received in the recipient’s mailbox and then can we click on “Unsubscribe” link which is by default placed at the bottom of the email.

Clicking on this unsubscribe link, will direct the user to the Subscription center page we specified in the Compliance Profile and here, preferences can be updated.

Once preferences are updated, for example, adding subscription to one more list, and email asking for confirmation of change to preferences will be automatically sent to the user.

Finally, clicking on the confirmation button will acknowledge and commit the subscription and direct the ser to the thank you page.

Conclusion