Example form: Subscribing with double opt-in

The Double opt-in parameter helps prevent faulty, mistaken or even malicious registration.

OpenEMM will send off a confirmation email to the subscriber after registration. It contains a link which the subscriber must click for confirmation. The system will not save the data in the database unless this link is clicked. Only after successful confirmation will the subscriber receive messages

from the mailing list he or she subscribed to. If the subscriber does not react to the confirmation email, the profile is blocked and deleted from OpenEMM automatically after three months. This process lengthens the usual subscription routine (see previous chapter):

A potential subscriber clicks on the registration form, enters his name and other data, and clicks on Submit which calls up the second form. Until here, the process is the same as for any normal registration.

The second form starts an action which saves the data entered in the recipients database. The registration process uses the Double opt-in option. OpenEMM will therefore write data into the database, but marks them as blocked. To conclude the action, the form will cause an action-based mailing to the new subscriber’s email address.

In this email, the subscriber will be sent a customized link. If clicked, a third form is displayed.

This form starts an action which unblocks the data entered in the recipients database. The unblocking is confirmed within the system.

The process may be extended by an action sending a confirmation mail to the new subscriber.

You therefore need a total of one mailing, three actions and three forms, and this without the optional confirmation e-mail. Just proceed systematically, and the whole process will become easy to keep track of. You should, however, make sure that all elements carry meaningful and

unmistakable names, e.g. starting with Double. You also need to observe the sequence. You need the mailing to be able to define the action, and you need the action to be able to create the second form.

8.1.2.5.1 Create an action-based mailing

Defining an action-based mailing is done in the corresponding section of the navigation bar, just like for any other mailing. Detailed information can be found in chapter "Creating a new mailing". The following section will only explain the differences.

1. Call up the entry dialog for a new mailing and give your project a meaningful name, for instance Double: Confirmation.

2. From the Mailing list drop-down list, select the mailing list to which the subscriber wants to subscribe when he uses the registration form. This is important, because OpenEMM cannot process the confirmation mail correctly if the information is faulty.

3. Specify Action-based mailing as the Mailing type.

4. The remaining fields – Subject, Sender e-mail etc. are used in the same way as for a normal mailing. Click on Save to store your entries.

Fig. 8.12: The action-based mailing for confirming a subscription.

5. Open the Content tab of the new mailing by clicking on it. Create a new text module in both text and HTML format with an explanation that the e-mail is a registration confirmation and that the subscriber should confirm his or her subscription by double-clicking on the link. The link structure corresponds to the usual syntax for calling up a form:

http://rdir.de/form.do?agnCI=88&agnFN=DoubleConfirm&agnUID=##AGNUID##

For agnCI= enter your own company ID. In OpenEMM it is always 1.

6. For agnFN= enter the name of the third form which asks the subscriber to confirm registration.

In our example, the name is DoubleConfirm. This is the exact name the form must be given.

7. To conclude your entries, open the Send mailing tab and click on the Activate mailing link.

If an actionbased mailing is not included in the list while creating a new action, you may have forgotten to click on Activate mailing when creating the mailing.

8.1.2.5.2 Creating new actions

Now that the mailing is ready, you must create three actions for registering and conforming the registration. The registering action follows the same structure as that explained for registering in chapter "Creating a form to enter data". All three actions should have the Only for forms option activated. This will make action management easier once you have a lot of actions to manage.

1. Create a new action named Double opt-in: Subscription (or words to that effect). The name should above all be meaningful. Check the Use double opt-in check box.

Fig. 8.13: This action saves the new subscriber’s data in the database, but marks them as blocked.

2. The second action triggers the action-based mailing. Create a new action named Double opt-in: send email. Select Send actionbased mailing as the Type. Click on Save to store the data in OpenEMM.

3. In the Steps section, select the Double: Confirmation mailing you defined earlier from the drop-down list. Click on Save to conclude your action.

4. The third action is the double opt-in confirmation. Create a new action named Double opt-in:

Confirmation. Select Double opt-in confirmation as the action type. Click on Save to store your entries. This concludes entries for the actions in question.

8.1.2.5.3 Creating new forms

In this chapter, you will create three forms for your double opt-in registration.

1. The first form is exactly identical to that used for normal registration (see chapter "Creating a form to enter data"). In our example, the form is called DoubleSubscribe and calls up the DoubleSave form. In your HTML code, insert the following line:

<input type="hidden" name="agnFN" value="DoubleSave">

2. The second form is also very similar to a normal registration form. In our example, the name of the form is DoubleSave. As a starting action, you will call up the action defined as a double opt-in registration, opt-in our example Double opt-opt-in: Subscribe. The entry opt-in the Success form box tells the new subscriber that an email asking him or her to confirm the subscription will be sent out shortly. The concluding action for the form is the action which triggers the mailing, in our example Double opt-in: send email.

Fig. 8.14: The form saves subscriber data but marks them as blocked. In a concluding action a confirmation email is sent to the new subscriber.

3. All the third form does is to unblock the database entry for the new subscriber’s data. In our example, the name is DoubleConfirm.

Ple ase note : The name must be written exactly as in the link which you inserted into the action-based mailing created earlier. The entry in the Success form box tells the new subscriber that subscription was completed successfully.

Now all elements for registration with double opt-in are ready.

8.1.2.5.4 Calling up the registration form

Calling up the form works like in a normal subscription process. It is done with the following link:

http://company.openemm.org/form.do?agnCI=1&agnFN=DoubleSubscribe

Your company ID is 1. The parameter agnFN= is followed by the name of the form, in our example it is Subscribe.

Fig. 8.15: The form for entering new subscriber data.

To start with, the new subscriber fills in the form with personal data. Clicking on Submit sends the data to the subscriber database of OpenEMM. However, the data is blocked. No mailings will be sent to the new subscriber, even if a subscription to a mailing list was effected. Calling up the details for the new subscriber by clicking that subscriber’s email address in the Recipients section and the Overview sub-menu shows that subscriber’s status as waiting for confirmation.

Fig. 8.16: The new subscriber is blocked in the database until a subscription confirmation is received because the subscriber has double-clicked the confirmation link

in the email.

Data in the OpenEMM database will be unblocked as soon as the new subscriber reacts to the confirmation e-mail and clicks a link. If this does not happen, the blocked entry will be deleted from the OpenEMM database after three months.