Choosing and updating email preferences

Give your audience the option to choose the kinds of email newsletters they receive from you -- and how often

Instead of sending a variety of emails to everybody each month, let subscribers choose for themselves. Giving your audience more control over the type -- and frequency -- of emails they receive will keep them reading and clicking.

There are two key ways to allow your audience to choose and/or update their email preferences, depending upon how far along you are in your email marketing efforts and/or which method suits your needs better. Here's a quick rundown:

If you're just getting started
If your efforts are already underway

1. If you're just getting started ...

... and you want your audience to choose how often they hear from you:

Head to the main audience page in Emma and create a few distinct audience groups. Perhaps you'll call the groups "Monthly," "Weekly" and "Daily."
Then, click on the name of your signup form (also on the main audience page). On the next screen, click to edit the signup form.
Locate the section that says Add subscribers to... and click the add or remove groups button.
Check the Display boxes next to your group names. These means those groups will appear on your signup form so subscribers can choose which group they'd like to join. Then, click Save.
Now, click Save in the upper right corner of the form.
Next, simply post the signup form on your website or create a link to it within an email campaign.
When your subscribers choose among Monthly, Weekly and Daily, they'll be automatically filtered to the correct group in Emma.

... and you want your audience to choose what types of email campaigns they receive from you:

Just like in the steps above, head to the main audience page and create a few distinct audience groups. Perhaps you'll call them "Company News," "Sales & Special Offers," and "Event Reminders."
Then, edit your signup form to display these groups so subscribers can choose one or more types of newsletters to receive.
When you post your signup form to allow subscribers to choose among the group types, they'll be automatically filtered to the correct group in Emma.

Remember, you can always change group membership on your end later by importing a file.

2. If your efforts are already underway ...

Rather than creating new audience groups, this method involves creating a new member field on an existing signup form.

... and you want your audience to choose how often they hear from you:

Visit the main audience page in Emma and click on the Manage fields button up top. Then, click Create a new field.
Follow the prompts to create a field of your choosing -- a checkbox menu, dropdown menu or radio button menu would work well. Its display name might be "How often would you like to receive emails from us?" and its shortcut name (for your reference only) might be "email frequency." Click Continue.
Now, add as many frequency options as you'd like. For our purposes, we'll stick with "Monthly," "Weekly" and "Daily." Click Preview.
Then, click Save. If you'd like to create another field, repeat the process. Or, click Save & exit.
Next, edit your signup form so that the new field is not hidden. You can choose to make it a required field, if you like.
In your next email campaign, insert this tag: [manage_url]. When you send the campaign, Emma will automatically generate personalized links for your recipients to update their preferences and fill in the new field.
After you've collected responses, use Emma's dynamic search feature to segment folks based on their answer to the question.

... and you want your audience to update other sorts of email preferences:

You can add and create as many member fields as you'd like -- and then apply them to your signup form -- so that your audience can share all sorts of preferences with you. For example, one of Emma's default member fields is choose your email format, which would allow your audience to choose whether they'd like to receive the HTML or plaintext version of your email. You might also create a few other custom member fields, such as tell us which store location is nearest to you or choose your favorite genre of literature. In short, create any field with any number of options for purposes of segmenting your list into groups and targeting them accordingly.

Creating a dynamic search - Search and segment your audience
Customizing your signup form - Editing the new subscriber form

Emma is a member of the Email Sender & Provider Coalition and the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group.