Double opt-in

Double opt-in adds a confirmation step for new subscribers: they sign up, receive a confirmation email, and only become active once they click the link. It keeps list quality high and documents consent, which matters under GDPR.

How it works

1. Someone signs up through a form or is created through the API
2. A confirmation email is sent automatically
3. They click the confirmation link
4. Their status changes from Pending to Active
5. From then on they receive your campaigns and automations

Pending subscribers never receive campaigns or automation emails.

Enable it

• Per form: in the form's settings
• Account-wide: under Settings, GDPR. When enabled here, it also applies to subscribers created through the API.

You also set how many days the confirmation link stays valid (1 to 30 days).

Customize the confirmation email

By default a clean standard confirmation email is sent. To use your own design:

1. Design an email under Templates and place the {{confirm_link}} merge tag where the confirm button or link should go (as the button URL or link URL)
2. Go to Settings, GDPR, Confirmation email design and pick that template
3. Optionally set a custom subject line - it supports {{firstName}} and {{listName}}

If the chosen template does not contain {{confirm_link}}, the system falls back to the default design so subscribers always get a working link. Note that {{confirm_link}} only works here - it is not available in campaigns or automation flows.

Subscribers added through the API

With account-wide double opt-in enabled, POST to the subscriber API creates the subscriber as pending and sends the confirmation automatically. When migrating contacts who already confirmed elsewhere, pass skip_confirmation: true (or an explicit status) to add them directly as active. The API response includes confirmation_required and confirmation_email_sent. Details in the API reference.

When the confirmation does not arrive

• Ask the subscriber to check spam or junk
• Verify the email address was typed correctly
• Resend it: go to the list's subscribers, find the person, resend confirmation

Imported subscribers are not sent confirmation emails - double opt-in applies to new signups, not to CSV imports.