Vtiger Marketing Campaigns Email Campaigns for Marketing Why Vtiger Moderates Your Email Campaigns Messaging Campaigns in Vtiger CRM Creating Marketing Lists for Campaigns UTM Parameters and Google Analytics Marketing in Vtiger CRM Overview

Introduction

GDPR now requires that you now obtain explicit, unambiguous permission to send marketing email – that basically means getting a double opt-in.

Gone are the days of the default opt-in to email marketing. Back then, you could send marketing emails to almost anyone without their first permission, so long as you provided them with a way to unsubscribe from your email.

GDPR creates a new paradigm in which people are assumed not to want marketing unless they explicitly ask for it. As a result, stricter requirements must be met to prove you have a recipient’s consent, and thus, to send them marketing emails legally. The golden standard for this is obtaining a double opt-in to your email marketing, which Vtiger can now help you accomplish.

Who should create a GDPR compliant email marketing process?

You should seriously consider creating a GDPR compliant email marketing process:

• If your business already sells (or provides for free) products or services to citizens or businesses in the EU.
• If your business plans in the future to do business in the EU.
• If your business could be perceived as doing business in the EU, although you may not consider yourself as doing so.

How GDPR affects Email Marketing?

GDPR requires that you get separate, clear, affirmative, and provable consent to send an EU citizen email marketing. The only way to do that is by obtaining a double opt-in from each of them.

What is a double opt-in?

A double opt-in is a confirmation of a subscriber’s desire to receive your email. It is obtained by sending an email to the subscribed email address explaining that to begin receiving your marketing email, asking them to visit a link to permit you to send them marketing emails. If the recipient visits the link, they are double-opted in and can then legally be sent your marketing email.

Creating a GDPR Compliant Email Marketing Process in Vtiger

To make your email marketing process GDPR compliant, you must do the following:

• Before May 25th, request double opt-in from all contacts
• On May 25th, change the Email Opt-In field value to “None” from “Single opt-in” for all contacts you know are in the EU, or who you are not aware of the location.
• For webforms
  • Add the new email opt-in checkbox

To do the above, we must first learn how Vtiger’s email campaigns work.

How do Email Campaigns work in Vtiger?

When sending an email campaign, autoresponder, or workflow email to a lead or a contact, Vtiger evaluates two things to determine if the contact should receive the email: the value in the contact’s Email Opt-in field and a system setting that tells Vtiger which of those values are acceptable for delivering email.

The opt-in types

Each lead and contact record has a field labeled Email opt-in, in which their opt-in type is stored. Their possible values are:

• None
• Single opt-in (user)
• Single opt-in (webform)
• Double opt-in
• Opted out (user)
• Opted out (contact)

Note: You can set up workflows with loading entry criteria on the email opt-in values.

These states are set in the following ways:

• None - Set by Vtiger for all new contacts
• Single opt-in (user) - Set by your users from the contact record
• Single opt-in (webform) - Set by Vtiger when contacts submit a webform with the email marketing checkbox selected
• Double opt-in - Set by Vtiger when a contact clicks the double opt-in email link
• Opted out (user) - Set by your users from the contact record
• Opted out (contact) - Set by Vtiger when a contact unsubscribes from their email preferences page

You can manually change the Email Opt-in field value between None, Single opt-in (user), or User Opted out at any time.

Setting which opt-in types Vtiger can send emails to

Vtiger will never deliver email to contacts with opt-ins of None, Opted out (user), or Opted out (contact). For the remaining opt-in types, you can tell Vtiger which ones should be emailable. Your options are:

• Double opt-in
• Double opt-in and Single opt-in (user)
• Double opt-in, Single opt-in (user), and Single opt-in (webform)

The default setting in Vtiger is Double opt-in and Single opt-in (user). This is useful because your contacts will all need to double-opt in to receive emails unless you manually opt them in by setting Single opt-in (user). You might do that if you know that a contact resides outside the EU and has already permitted you to send them a marketing email.

If you prefer to err on the side of caution, you should change this setting to Double opt-in only. For GDPR compliance, we recommend never making Single opt-in (webform) an emailable state.

Obtaining a double opt-in from Leads and Contacts

You can send the double opt-in email request to leads and contacts with Email Opt-in values of None, Single opt-in (user), and Single opt-in (webform).

Note: When a customer submits a webform and doesn’t enable the Email opt-in checkbox, the opt-in field value in the CRM is set to None.

Contacts created through a webform who have requested to receive your marketing email will automatically receive the double-opt-in email. To request it from them again or from any of the other states, you have two options: an individual request or a mass request.

But first, you have to configure the double opt-in email delivery settings.

Configuring the double opt-in Email Delivery Setting

To send a double opt-in email from Vtiger, you have to first set up your email delivery settings. Follow the steps below to configure double opt-in:

1. Log in to the CRM.
2. Click on the User Profile in the top-right corner of the screen.
3. Click Settings. The Settings page opens.
4. Go to Configuration > Email Settings.  The Email Settings page opens.
5. Click the Edit button on the right side of the screen.
6. Scroll to the System Notifications to Customers section in the email settings.
7. Change the From email to a company email address.
8. Change the reply-to email to a company email address
9. Click Save.

Sending an individual double opt-in request from the Contact record

1. Log in to the CRM.
2. Click the main Menu > Essentials.
3. Go to Contacts. The Contacts List View opens.
4. Select the Contact record that you want to send the double opt-in request.
5. Scroll to the Email Opt-in field.
6. Click the Request confirmation button.

• You can send a Request confirmation email only once a day(or 24 hours). If you try to send again, it will throw an error message as shown below.
• You can find the sent confirmation mail logged in the Update section.

Sending a Mass double opt-in request to a Marketing List

To obtain consent from multiple Leads or Contacts who wish to receive your marketing emails, follow the steps below:

1. Log in to the CRM.
2. Click the main Menu.
3. Go to Marketing  > Lead & Contact Management.
4. Select Marketing Lists.
5. Hover over the marketing list that you want to send the double opt-in request to.
6. Click on the Request confirmation icon.
7. In the Opt-in Confirmation Email window, change the From name as desired.
8. Change the From email address to a company email address and follow the verification instructions if needed.
9. Select the intended recipients (None, Single opt-in (user), or Single opt-in (webform)).
10. Edit the email template as required.
11. Click the Test button, then check your email inbox to ensure it appears as desired.
12. Click Send to send the double opt-in email to your contact

 

Note:

• To send out an Opt-in Confirmation email to a marketing list, enable the Email Campaigns module.
• The Get count button returns the count based on the Email Settings configured. For example, consider that you have 10 contact records in a marketing list - Requesting Email Confirmation, of which 7 are Single Opt-in, and the other 3 are Double Opt-in, and you have configured the Email Settings to Double Opt-ins only. Now, when you click Get Count in the Opt-in confirmation window, it will show 7 (not 10), depending on the option you selected. 
• When you send an Email Campaign to the 7 contact records (as per the above example), the emails will be sent only to customers who haven’t received a confirmation email in the past 24 hours.

Setting up a webform to request permission for Email Marketing

To request GDPR compliant consent to send the double opt-in email to a Lead or Contact created from a webform, you must add a checkbox to your webforms to seek permission. 

Follow the steps below to send the double opt-in email from a webform:

1. Log in to the CRM.
2. Click the User Profile in the top-right corner of the screen.
3. Click Settings. The Settings page opens.
4. Click on Webforms under Automation.
5. Click on +Add Webform.
6. Enter or select the following information:
   1. Webform Name: Enter a name to identify the webform.
   2. Primary Module: Select the module where records created through this webform will be stored.
   3. Assigned To: Choose the user or group to whom records submitted via the webform will be assigned.
   4. Add the primary email field to the webform.
7. Change the Email Opt-in field name to something descriptive, like Subscribe me to your email newsletter.
8. Save the form.
9. Click the preview button.
10. Copy the code and paste it into your website.

When submitters of the form enable the Subscribe me checkbox, Vtiger sets their Email Opt-in field value to Single opt-in (webform) and automatically sends them the double opt-in email.