How opt-outs work for emails

For each company instance, there is a list of criteria that identify the invitees who opted out. The Opt-out Records list is usually based on the Email field (e_email), which is the invitee's email address, though it is also common to use the invitee's phone number.

As the first step in the Sampling process, each invitation is evaluated against the Opt-out rules and then against the records in the Opt-out records list. When the invitation meets a rule condition or is found to be in the list, it is:

1. Excluded from the further sampling and no email is sent.

2. The Sampling exclusion reason (a_sampling_result_exclusion_cause) and Sampling exclusion detailed reason (a_sampling_result_exclusion_cause_detail) fields for the record are set with a description of why the email did not pass the opt-out processing.

3. If the record criteria is not already in the list, the relevant field values are added to the list for future evaluations.

Navigate to the Sampling Field Setups screen and, on the MemberOptOutFields section, shuttle over the fields that store an invitee's opt-out request. Note that the connection between a field and opt-outs persists even after shuttling a field away. The logic statement between assigned fields in MemberOptOutFields is OR. This means that when there are multiple fields, a matched value in ANY field excludes the email. Consider the following example:

Opting out and reinstating invitees

Invitees can opt out by themselves by clicking an opt-out link on an Invitation or Reminder email (created with the $OPT_OUT_URL$ variable). By clicking the link, the invitee:

You can manually opt-out an invitee with the Create opt-outs screen. Invitees can also be automatically opted-out in bulk with an import specification (see Bulk loading opt-out records below for details). In either of these scenarios, if an invitee has a pending survey, they may receive reminder emails for that survey.

Usually, invitees are permanently opted-out and can only receive new invitations after they explicitly asked to be reinstated. Invitees can be reinstated manually only by requesting it through Medallia Support; there is no mechanism to automatically opt-in an invitee who has opted out. Companies with specific relationships with their invitee might employ a wave opt-out which applies the restriction for a company-defined period. See Wave-specific opt-outs, below, for details.

Bulk loading opt-out records

To import a large number of opt-outs, use the following Auto Importer processor:

<import-spec name="OptOut All Fields Spec">
    <input-column heading="field" />
    <input-column heading="value" />
    <input-column heading="scope" />
    <output-column-group pluginName="OptOut" recordUpdateMode="CREATE">
        <output-column>
            <input-column heading="field" />
            <target-field fieldId="optout_efield" fieldName="OptOut field" requiredness="REQUIRED" type="ENUMERATED">
                <enumerated-field-parse-options mappingKey="IDENTIFIER" />
            </target-field>
        </output-column>
        <output-column>
            <input-column heading="value" />
            <target-field fieldId="optout_value" fieldName="OptOut value" requiredness="REQUIRED" type="STRING" />
        </output-column>
        <output-column>
            <input-column heading="scope" />
            <target-field fieldId="optout_unitgroup" fieldName="OptOut scope" requiredness="REQUIRED" type="UNIT_GROUP">
                <enumerated-field-parse-options mappingKey="IDENTIFIER" />
            </target-field>
        </output-column>
    </output-column-group>
</import-spec>

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Wave-specific opt-outs

Depending on the industry and applicable country laws, some companies may be able to opt-out invitees for a specific period (a wave), but enable them to again receive invitations in the next wave.

Wave-specific opt-outs work by having a single MemberOptOutField (on the Sampling Field Setups screen), and that field value uniquely identifies the invitee for the length of the wave. When an invitee opts-out, that value is permanently recorded in the Opt-out records list, and all future invitations that include this value are excluded. But, when a new wave starts, no new records will match the list until invitees again opt-out.

For example, consider this scenario:

1. Create an opt-out Event field, such as Opt-out email (e_opt_out_email_txt), whose text value is the concatenation of a "wave identifier" and the invitee's email address, similar to wave2017H2-kirstin@example.com.

2. For the MemberOptOutFields on the Sampling Field Setups screen, assign the opt-out E-field as the only field.

When the invitee clicks an Opt-out link, the Opt-out email value is recorded in the Opt-out Records list, and the field is set to Yes/True (1) for this record. Future invitation emails that include the opt-out field value are excluded. The Opt-out email field is useful for exports and reports to the company, which might use the information for its own opt-out tracking and reporting.

The field value of this Opt-out email can be created by the company and included in the invitation file, or it can be a transformation in the importer specification. In the import spec, the wave identifier might be hard-coded in the transformation (such as 'wave2017H2'+e_email), or it might be included in the feed from the company (such as 'wave_field+'-'+e_email). Either way there needs to be something that uniquely identifies the invitee for the period of the wave.

Stopping Reminder emails

Setting the Survey status (e_status) to DELIVERED_NO_REMINDER or DELIVERED_AND_REMINDED on any record immediately stops all reminders for that record. Note that once a record is set to either if these states, it cannot be reinstated.

Opt-out tips

• Creating an opt-out record stops all future Invitation emails for the invitee; however, it does not stop any pending Reminder emails for the invitee.

• When a invitee clicks the opt-out link on a survey, the Opt-out field (e_optout) in the feedback record is set to 1 to indicate the invitee made the option from the link.

• Respondents opting out of surveys must manually confirm that they want to opt-out of future surveys. The content in the Opt-out confirmation page is automatically translated, however use the following translation variables if you want to change the existing translations:

  • survey.OPT_OUT_CANCEL — You will continue receiving Invitation emails. We apologize for the inconvenience.
  • survey.OPT_OUT_ACCEPT (Button) — Opt out.
  • survey.OPT_OUT_REJECT (Button) — Cancel.
  • survey.OPT_OUT_CONFIRM_DIALOG — Are you sure you want to opt out from our invitation email list? By opting out, you will no longer be invited to give feedback.

• When manually creating an opt-out record from the Create opt-outs screen, no feedback records are altered: the Opt-out field (e_optout) does not change.

• When multiple opt-out rules applied to one Invitation email (that is, they are true), there is one opt-out record for each rule that was true.

• For permanently excluding categories of invitees, such as ones from a specific email domain, or IP addresses, you need to create a Sampling filter that meets specific criteria to evaluate the records. This cannot be done using Opt-out rules.

• Certain devices, browsers, email clients, or operating systems may allow invitees to generate random email aliases (that forward to their primary email address) to keep their personal email address private from an organization. If you are using the Email field to identify invitees who opt-out, and if different email addresses are used for different surveys, it can impact your ability to identify that the surveys are sent for the same invitee.