Autoresponder and Confirmed Opt-in Emails
New contacts may receive an Autoresponder Welcome Email, a Confirm Opt-in message, or both, depending on settings in the user's account. A contact can receive an autoresponder campaign only once, even if they are added back to an autoresponder campaign list. The only exception are the anniversary and birthday campaigns.
Autoresponder Welcome Email
The Constant Contact autoresponder feature provides accounts owners the ability to create, schedule and send a series of automated emails. A Welcome email can be sent when a new subscriber is added to an email list. Account owners can turn this feature on or off in the product UI only (autoresponder functionality is not available using the API), learn more.
Learn more about the other Autoresponder features.
When a Welcome Email is Sent
A new contact is sent an Autoresponder welcome email when:
- they are added to a list that has the Autoresponder Welcome Email feature activated
- and
create_source=Contact
If the contact is added with create_source=Account, a welcome message is not sent.
Confirmed Opt-in Email
Confirmed Opt-in (a.k.a. double opt-in) is the most rigorous method of obtaining permission to send email communications. It requires the contact (email address owner) to affirmatively respond to an email confirmation request in order to be added to an email list. If the contact does not respond affirmatively, they will not receive any further email communications from you. The value of the confirm_status property in the email_address subresource describes the following:
If confirm_status is... | Then the contact... | and... |
|---|---|---|
off (confirm opt-in is off on the account) | was not sent a confirm opt-in message | n/a |
pending | was sent a confirm opt-in message | has not yet responded |
confirmed | was sent a confirm opt-in message | has responded in the affirmative |
If Confirmed Opt-in is enabled for the account, any contacts added with create_source=Contact must confirm their subscription. The Confirmed Opt-in setting is available in the product UI. Learn more here.
When Welcome & Confirm Opt-in Messages Are Triggered
| If... | and create_source= | and Confirm Opt-in is... | Is a Welcome Email sent? | Is a Confirm Opt-in Sent? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contact signs up from web site | Contact | On | No | Yes |
| Off | Yes | No | ||
| Account adds contact | Account | On | No | No |
| Off | No | No | ||
| an unsubscribed contact resubscribes | Account or Contact & update_source=Contact | On | No | No |
| Off | No | No | ||
| an existing contact is added back to a list w/Welcome Email on | Account or Contact | On | No | No |
| Off | No | No | ||
| an existing contact subscribes for the 1st time to a list w/Welcome Email on | Account & update_source=Contact | On | Yes | No |
| Off | Yes | No |
Birthday and Anniversary Autoresponder Campaigns
The create_source and update_source properties do not impact birthday and anniversary autoresponder campaigns. Unlike Welcome and Confirm Opt-in messages, subscribers can receive birthday and anniversary autoresponder campaigns annually, according to settings in the user's account. Learn more.