Getting Started: Email Blocklist and Unsubscribes
This article provides an overview of the email blocklist functionality and what happens when a donor unsubscribes from the matching gift communication.
Blocklist Management Overview
Frequently Asked Questions
Training Video: Blocklist Management
Blocklist Management Overview
Within your Double the Donation Matching, navigate to "Blocklist Management," which can be found under "Settings." You can use this blocklist to manually indicate donors who should no longer be receiving automated emails or being contacted by phone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How can I add a donor to the blocklist?
A: Navigate to the Blocklist Management tab. Navigate to "Email Blocklist" or "Phone Blocklist" and select "Add Entries" (shown in the image below). If you'd like to add more than one entry, put each entry on a new line separate them with commas, or import a CSV of email/phone records. For an even quicker single donor unsubscribe option, search for the email address in the Donations table, select the hyperlinked email address in the Email column, and select the "Unsubscribe Donor" from the bottom of the popup modal that appears.
Q: Double the Donation automatically blocklists email addresses for six months if the donor is determined to be ineligible for a matching gift. What happens if the donor presses the "unsubscribe" link in their email after Double the Donation blocklisted the address temporarily?
A: The email address will be blocklisted permanently.
Q: Suppose an email address is added to the block list. What happens if that same email address is added to the blocklist again in the future?
A: Double the Donation Matching trims leading and trailing spaces, then lowercase the email address to determine if it's unique. If an email address is already on the blocklist, the timestamp on that blocklist entry will be updated (Date Added column in the image above). The source (Notes column in the image above) will also be updated.
Q: What happens if an email hard bounces or gets marked as Spam?
A: If an email sent from Double the Donation Matching hard bounces or the recipient marks it as Spam, then our system automatically moves that email address to the organization's email blocklist account. Future donation records that flow into the matching module will be marked as "Blocklisted" and will have the B (blocklisted) icon on it. Double the Donation won't send additional matching gift emails to these email addresses.
Q: What does the Notes column represent?
A: The Notes column indicates how an entry was added to the block list. It can take the following values:
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Ineligible donor - blocklisted for X more days: The donor is ineligible (the donor has identified this in the matching gift emails) and therefore their email is blocklisted for X days. Our recommendation is 180 days and the default is saved as this. To learn more about how long donors are added to the blocklist, view this article.
- Ineligible donor: The donor is ineligible and is permanently blocklisted. This typically occurs when donors indicate that they are retired.
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Donor unsubscribed from emails: For email addresses, the donor pressed the "unsubscribe" link in the matching gift email; this donor's email is permanently blocklisted.
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Donor marked as spam: The donor marked the email as spam; this donor's email is permanently blocklisted.
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Email address bounced: The email bounced and was not deliverable; this donor's email is permanently blocklisted.
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Blocklisted by an admin user: When you manually add an email address to the blocklist; this donor is permanently blocklisted.
- Double the Donation user manually unsubscribed donor: A Double the Donation admin manually unsubscribed a donor from the Donations table or the donor was blocklisted in bulk via a CSV import. To learn more about blocklisting donors in bulk, view this article.
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Imported from CRM: For customers that have a direct CRM integration with Double the Donation Matching; they are permanently blocklisted.
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Blocklisted via an API call: The add_phone_blocklist or add_email_blocklist Double the Donation REST endpoints were used; this donor is permanently blocklisted.
Q: Can I delete entries from the blocklist?
A: Yes. Select one or more records in the table (shown in the image above) and press the "Delete" button. If you would like to delete entries from the blocklist in bulk, you can do so by selecting "Bulk Add/Remove" --> "Remove Records from Blocklist."
Q: Can I download all the records in the blocklist?
Yes. Select "Download" from the Email Blocklist or Phone Blocklist, and a CSV file will download in your browser.
Training Video: Blocklist Management