Why can't I re-enroll based on subscription status

[kyleffotf]

We have almost half a million contacts in hubspot after over 10 years of using the platform.

We have contacts who have unsubscribed from hubspot emails several years ago, forgotten they've done so, and complain to us when they don't receive an email they were expecting.

The re-subscribe process in HubSpot is very unintuitive for users, and not reliable at all. The link that appears on a form when someone has opted-out of all email is not sufficient, as it doesn't appear when someone has opted-out of specific subscription types (among many other issues with the link.)

To fix this, I want to send a transactional email to users with the resubscribe link, if they've filled out a form but are opted-out of the relevant subscription type.

There is a great form field called "Data privacy and Consent" where users can check a box to subscribe to that specific subscription type. Unfortunately it's worthless in this situation. Not only does this consent checkbox not update a contact's consent if they've previously unsubscribed, but it can't be referenced in a workflow either. Meaning, I can't send a resubscribe email to contacts who've selected the consent checkbox.

HubSpot support suggested I add the "subscription status" filter to my workflow enrollment. This does not solve the problem because contacts don't update their subscription status if they've previously unsubscribed. HubSpot support then suggested I use a custom property, and filter enrollment using that. A custom subscription status checkbox whose purpose is to set the real subscription status to true. This silly workaround could work.

Now my workflow enrolls based on form submission, with an immediate branch checking if Custom property is true, and Subscription Type status is unsubscribed. In which case, send the resubscription email.

For this to work properly, I'll need a complimentary workflow to set the custom property to false when someone unsubscribes. Otherwise someone will get the email on every form submission even if they don't request it. This new workflow will enroll contacts who opt-out of the subscription type, in which case, clear the custom property.

Except you can't re-enroll contacts based on subscription status. So I might be able to enroll users once, but it could never happen again, making this a hopeless endeavor. Now I need to figure out some other way to cheat the system just implement a feature that hubspot should have as a native feature. I am getting tired of HubSpot's arbitrary restrictions. It's clear from looking at the Ideas Forum that after several years of requests to make resubscription easy, HubSpot will never do it, but instead have their support staff tell clients to submit the idea on the Ideas Forum.

Why can't I re-enroll based on subscription status, and how do I work around this limitation in order to send a resubscription email to contacts who are consenting to receive communication?

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @kyleffotf,

Short answer to a long question: there's a new beta which, I think, solves this for you 👀

https://app.hubspot.com/product-updates/123456789/all?query=Resubscribe&update=13961249

Replace 123456789 with your portal ID and it should take you straight to the beta.

Best regards!

[kyleffotf]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

This does seem to address one of the issues, but I don't see anything about resubscribing via workflow in here.

[karstenkoehler]

@kyleffotf what exactly would the workflow do when the contact can resubscribe simply via form submission?

[kyleffotf]

If I want to change properties, or add/remove people from static lists. Or if I'm importing contacts from another platform where they've given consent.

For example, we have a static list that contacts are manually added to for special communication. We used to do this communication on another platform but we're consolidating it to hubspot. There is legal basis to contact the, only the platform is different. When I import I can be able to sort them into the private list with a workflow, but I will also need to subscribe them to the unique subscription type this list uses. There are too many contacts to do this manually.

[karstenkoehler]

@kyleffotf you can always update the subscription of a contact using this workflow action: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/records/manage-your-subscription-preferences-and-types#update-the-subs...

There is also a simple bulk update method mentioned in the article.

(This will however not override an opt out by a contact and I doubt that HubSpot will ever make that possible. The reasoning is probably that it should not be possible to bypass decisions made by the contact, even if that makes some integration use cases impossible.)

Resubscription is luckily being simplified with the new beta I shared but it's not possible (and likey not going to be possible) to opt unsubscribed contacts back in with a workflow.

Anything currently not possible you can request in the HubSpot Ideas section, if you want to flag it with the product team. These requests are reviewed based on their popularity.

[kyleffotf]

Can you explain why HubSpot will not make it possible? These are legitimate use-cases.

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

@kyleffotf HubSpot apparently made the decision that withdrawn consent cannot be overridden. If that was possible, it would open up the tool for use cases with bad intent, such as spamming opted out contacts. (In that sense, it's mostly a safeguard.) This would in turn fall back as negative reputation on the HubSpot email infrastructure, harming the email sending of all HubSpot customers.

You can still request it in the HubSpot Ideas section, I agree that it's a valid use case, but I would say the probability is unfortunately for you very low.

Dont shoot the messenger - and please consider marking some of my replies as  accepted solutions, now that you have the tools to bulk update and allow for easy resubscription via form.

Hope my replies helped!