Differences between a private and a public group

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Differences between a private and a public group

The notion of private or public groups is important when it comes to contacts unsubscribing.

Only contacts who are in a private group will automatically be removed from all of your lists if they choose to unsubscribe. They will be transferred to the unsubscribed contacts section. After clicking on the unsubscribe link, your contacts will be redirected to a confirmation page and they will receive a confirmation email. 

For public groups, the contacts are not withdrawn automatically from all your groups.  A contact in a public group who clicks the unsubscribe link at the bottom of an email will be directed to a form allowing them to choose the group or groups they wish to unsubscribe from.  The contact will also have the choice to completely withdraw their email address from all lists. If he chooses this option, he will be transferred to the unsubscribed contacts and will receive a confirmation email. 

Notes:

  • When contacts click on the unsubscribe link, they will be redirected to a form where they will see all the public groups they belongs to, even the groups who aren't linked to the emails they’ve been receiving. 
  • You have to be very careful when naming your public groups. The public group name will appear in the unsubscribe form as they are in the list of your groups (see Groups menu). So, if you have named a public group "Difficult Clients", your contacts may not appreciate it. It is therefore important that the name is meaningful to your contact.
  • If a contact checks all the public groups in the unsubscribe form, he will automatically be unsubscribed from all your communications.
  • If a contact is part of several groups, including a private group AND a public group, he will go through the steps for the public groups (mentioned above) when unsubscribing. In the unsubscribe form, he will only see the names of the public groups in which he is part, but he won't see the names of the private groups. To unsubscribe from private groups, he will have to choose the option to unsubscribe completely.

How to know if your group is private or public

Go to the "Groups" menu. The group type is written i the "Type" column.

 

How to modify a group from private to public, and vice versa

  1. Go to the "Groups" menu.
  2. Click the "Edit" option from the actions menu at the end of the row you want to edit.
  3. Change "Private group: yes" to "no" to make it public or "Private group: no" to "yes" to make it private.
  4. Save the changes.

How to test unsubscriptions for private or public groups

If you want to see how an unsubscribe works, the best thing to do is to test it yourself. To do this, you can create public or private groups that will be used strictly for testing purposes. You can create these groups by adding your email address only. That way, you can send yourself an email and unsubscribe (note: you have to do a complete mailing, the unsubscription doesn't work in the test mailing option).

Tip: In the unsubscribe confirmation email, there is a link to re-register in the event of an error. By clicking on it, you will be able to subscribe to your account and then, you can continue your testing!

 

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