Double Opt-In is now widely available in Customer Insights Journeys and real-time marketing! Setting it up is straightforward, but the default email might feel a bit impersonal. I want to make the email and the journey a tiny bit more special and personal. So I will show you how to use the subscriber’s name and personalize the message. It makes the confirmation email feel more relevant and engaging and we can build a positive first impression.
Customize the double opt-in email in real-time marketing
When enabling double opt-in in the compliance profile the system automatically creates the email with some standards. I show you how to change them.
Remove the {{OptedInPurposeTopic}} token
A standard double opt-in email is essential for managing user subscriptions effectively. It includes a personalization token, {{OptedInPurposeTopic}}, which dynamically displays the purposes and topics selected by the user on the sign-up form. The email also features a button linking to “Opt-in Confirmation” to finalize the process.
Important: Avoid deleting the {{OptedInPurposeTopic}} token, as the email cannot be published without it. Attempting to manually restore the token won’t work. If it is mistakenly removed, you will need to start over using the double opt-in email template. I learned this the hard way and had to redo all my customizations.
If you prefer not to display the list of opted-in topics, there’s a workaround: set the font size to 0 and the font color to white. This hides the text visually while keeping the token intact. Clever, right?
Attention!
I recently noticed that changing the font size to 0 doesn’t always help. A reader also informed me that it doesn’t work in Gmail (thanks for making me aware).
But I found a new workaround which should do the job.
First, I added the token to a new text section/div and created a class=”hidden-element” to it:
<div class="hidden-element" data-editorblocktype="Text" style="margin: 10px;">
<p> {{OptedInPurposeTopic}}</p>
</div>
Then I created a little CSS. Add this in the <style>-tag of your email:
div .hidden-element {
display: none !important;
}
Add personalization to the double opt-in email in real-time marketing
A standard double opt-in email lacks audience-based personalization. Why? The email recipient could be either a contact or a lead, making it tricky to use fields like “First Name” or “Last Name.” However, there’s another workaround!
In real-time marketing, form submissions are saved in the system even before email confirmation. Different than what we know in outbound, this approach gives you access to the submitted form fields, including specific details like first name. Assuming the first name field is added to the marketing form of course.
For each field on your form you will find one field submission record. When you then open the first name field submission it shows the Name (technical name of the field) and the Value (what the user has entered).
With this knowledge, we can add the firstname as a list to the double opt-in email. Create the list based on the field submissions of the double opt-in trigger.
Then add a list filter to only show the field submission value for the first name field. I change the max amount of items to 1. For the column, I choose the field Field Value. Choose the advanced options below the content field. Then click on the content field and also add a Default value (shown when no data is available). This is important because the first name field might either not be in all marketing fields or not a mandatory field.
The list settings look like this in the end:
In similar way, we can add further information as a dynamic text from the form submission like the form name.
With these options from the trigger, the email directly looks more personal.
Send double opt-in reminder in real-time marketing
Now, after making the double opt-in email more personal we can also adjust the journey.
I would like to add a reminder to everyone who did not confirm after 2 days. In double op-tin journeys we only have the option to use the actions Email, Wait time and Attribute branch.
So when I edit the journey I add a wait time and then the attribute branch. In the branches, I add the condition to check the Status Reason of the form submission.
Confirmation pending means that the user has not yet confirmed the double opt-in email, obviously 😉
Then you can send the double opt-in email again.
Further options for personalizing the journey:
- Additional personalizations: Use dynamic content like names or the form name to make the reminder more personal.
- Different paths: Create separate paths for different user groups based on the form information they submitted.
- Vary timing: Adjust the wait time based on urgency or target audience.
What else would you add to make the double opt-in journey more personal? Share your ideas in the comments! 😊
***Please be aware: The content is accurate at the time of creation. It may be that Microsoft has made changes in the meantime.***
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One Response
Hi Pauline,
very cool article. Thank you! I just have a small improvement, for me both ways does not worked with gmail-accounts, but data-hide=”hide” worked for me. Maybe that could help someone else too.
Thank you again for your great blog!