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Email recipients can control the types of messages they receive from your organization. Flowforth ensures that your emails comply with best practices and respect user preferences.

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How Recipients Manage Their Preferences

At the bottom of every email sent through Flowforth, there are two links:
  • Unsubscribe
  • Update Your Preferences
Clicking unsubscribe will take the recipient to a page to confirm their unsubscribe with a button click to prevent any accidental unsubscribes. Clicking the preferences link will take the recipient to a preferences page where they can:
  • Unsubscribe from all emails, or
  • Choose specific email categories they want to continue receiving
See The Email Preference Center for everything recipients can do on that page.
Some email apps (like Gmail and Apple Mail) show their own Unsubscribe button at the top of the email. That button unsubscribes the recipient from all of your organization’s emails — it does not offer category choices. Recipients who only want to opt out of certain categories should use the Update Your Preferences link in the email footer instead.

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Troubleshooting: A Recipient Isn’t Getting Emails

If someone reaches out saying they aren’t receiving your emails, you can check their subscription status.
  1. Go to the People section.
  2. Search by their name or email address.
  3. Click on their name to open their person page.
From there, you can:
  • Click Resubscribe in the top right to resubscribe them to all emails
  • Go to the Details tab to resubscribe them to specific email categories they unsubscribed from
  • If their status is Cleaned, check the Emails Received tab on their person page to see if there are any bounces. This can help you understand why the address was cleaned and whether the issue can be resolved.
When you resubscribe a Cleaned contact, you’ll have the option to protect this email from being cleaned again. Enable this only when you’re confident the address is valid and wants your emails — once protected, Flowforth won’t automatically clean it if it bounces or reports spam in the future. If the person unsubscribed themselves — from all emails or from a category — Flowforth asks them to confirm before they’re added back. See Resubscribing Someone Who Unsubscribed below.
Subscription status is tied to the email address, not the individual person. Resubscribing or unsubscribing affects everyone in your account who uses that address as their primary or Flowforth-only email. Learn more in Shared Email Addresses.

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Resubscribing Someone Who Unsubscribed

Unsubscribing is the recipient’s choice, so only they can undo it. When you click Resubscribe for someone who unsubscribed from all emails — or Resubscribe next to a category on their Details tab — Flowforth doesn’t add them back right away. Instead:
  1. Click Send Confirmation Request.
  2. We send the person an email from your organization, asking them to confirm. It shows your organization’s name and logo, says why they’re receiving it, and includes your organization’s mailing address. It comes from your organization’s primary email when it’s on a verified domain. Otherwise it comes from a Flowforth address with your organization’s name, and replies go to your primary email if you’ve set one.
  3. They’re resubscribed only when they click Confirm subscription in that email and confirm on the page it opens. If they ignore it, they stay unsubscribed.
While you wait, the button on their person page reads Confirmation Pending, and opening it shows when the request was sent and when it expires.
  • Links expire after 14 days. After that, you can send a new request.
  • You can resend after 3 days. Resending replaces the earlier link, so only the newest one works.
  • Each link works once.
  • There’s a daily limit on how many confirmation requests your organization can send, so this can’t be used to email large numbers of people who opted out.
  • If someone unsubscribed from all emails, send a request to resubscribe them to all emails. You can’t send a category request for them until they’re resubscribed.
The same confirmation is sent when someone who unsubscribed fills out one of your signup forms. Their person page shows that the confirmation came from a signup form.
This applies only to people who unsubscribed themselves. Cleaned, Suppressed, and Blocked in Planning Center contacts are still resubscribed directly from their person page, as described below. CSV imports can’t resubscribe anyone who unsubscribed.

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Unsubscribing Someone on Their Behalf

If someone reaches out asking to be unsubscribed:
  1. Go to the People section and find their profile.
  2. Click on their name to open their person page.
  3. Click the Unsubscribe button in the top right to unsubscribe them from all emails.
You cannot unsubscribe a person from a specific category on their behalf. Only the recipient can manage category-level preferences through the preferences link in the email footer.

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Suppressed Emails

A Suppressed status means the email address has been placed on our email provider’s suppression list. This typically happens because the address previously hard-bounced or received spam complaints. While the suppression is active, no emails can be delivered to this address. Where Flowforth shows why — in the People Feed and in exports — the reason reads Suppressed after a hard bounce, Suppressed after a spam complaint, On the suppression list, or Removed from the suppression list. You can resubscribe a suppressed contact right from their person page, the same way you would a Cleaned contact. Doing so removes the address from our email provider’s suppression list so they can receive your emails again. Just like resubscribing a Cleaned contact, you’ll be offered the option to protect the address from being cleaned again.
Only resubscribe a suppressed contact when you have their explicit permission. Addresses land on the suppression list after hard bounces or spam complaints, so resubscribing without confirming the person wants your emails can hurt your sending reputation.

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Best Practices for Targeting

To avoid unsubscribes or spam complaints:
  • Use targeted lists in Planning Center to ensure people only receive relevant messages.
  • Avoid sending bulk emails to people who didn’t ask for them.
A recipient’s unsubscribe status in Flowforth does not affect their Planning Center account.
If you need help resolving an issue, contact support@flowforth.co.