Automated emails and DOI

[RKreide]

Hello Community,

I am not sure if this ist the right board for my subject. Please feel free to let me know which board might be more suitable.

We are situated in Europe (GDPR applies!) and have encountered the following problem: We have created a workflow that sends out an automated thank-you-email after a new contact has sent in a form. However, HubSpot can not send the autoamted email (and all other automated emails later on) due to GDPR restrictions.  Our latest information from HubSpot is, that we need a completed DOI from the contact in order to be able to send him/her automated emails. This is simply unmanagble form my point of view.

I would be interested in how you handle automated emails in your accounts?

Thank you for your help

Robin

[RKreide]

Hi @karstenkoehler,

thank you for your fast and helpful reply. This brings in a new perspective. I will dig deeper into it.

Kind regards

Robin

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @RKreide,

There are workarounds and established solutions for this using HubSpot workflows. It's not perfect but works quite well. (Since it requires workflows, a Marketing Hub Professional subscription is needed.)

In this approach, the system double opt-in is activated but limited to one hidden page in the double opt-in settings. Workflows are then used to send custom double opt-in emails. Since the system double opt-in rules only apply to this one hidden page, contacts created from any other page can technically be sent emails even with their confirmation pending.

Keep in mind that the double opt-in is, as far as I know (this reply does not constitute legal advice), supposed to hold any marketing or follow-up email until the email address is confirmed. Otherwise, what's the point of a double opt-in?

Best regards!

[CWeissteiner]

Hi Karsten,

thank you for the explanation. 

I'm still stuck though. I have DOI enabled (under settings > email > subscriptions) and tried to customize the DOI confirmation email with smart content by enrolling the contact into a specific static list (depending on the optin form he filled out). And the smart content rule in the confirmation email is looking up wether the contact is member of the list or not. 

Unfortunately the conformation email is being sent before my workflow adds the new contact to the specific list. And so the new subscriber only gets the default email instead of the smart content variation of the email.

Is there a way to make sure the contact is enrolled in a static list before the confirmation email is send? Or do I need to disable the default Hubspot DOI if I want to use custom confirmation? 

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @CWeissteiner,

The system double opt-in email will always be faster than any workflow/list. You would have to set up a custom double opt-in process to delay the sending of a custom double opt-in email.

(I would not recommend this as a delayed sense will decrease the opt-in rate. It's better to stay away from anything that requires delays.)

Best regards!

[CWeissteiner]

Thank you for clarifying that. I reread your original answer and understand that I need to use a hidden page for DOI and customize everything after that.