Manage subscription centers
A subscription center is a marketing page that known contacts can use to manage their communication preferences and contact details with your organization.
All commercial marketing email messages created within Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys must include a link to a subscription center. The email messages will fail the error check if you try to go live without this link. The two main reasons for requiring a subscription center link in all commercial messages are:
Legal requirements - Many countries and/or regions have laws that require all marketing email messages to include an unsubscribe link.
Deliverability - Spam filters and internet reputation monitors can identify marketing email messages and might remove those messages that don't include an unsubscribe link.
The only way that contacts can access a subscription center is by selecting a link that is sent to them in email. Email links are always personalized for the recipient, which means that Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys always knows which contact has requested the subscription center and therefore populates it with that contact's current details and subscriptions.
All subscription centers include a do not email check box. When a contact selects this option, the do not bulk email flag gets set on their contact record, and Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys will no longer send any commercial marketing email messages to that contact. Optionally, your subscription center can present several additional subscription options, such as a list of available newsletters. By presenting several different mailing lists on your subscription center, you gain an opportunity to learn more about your contacts' specific interests while also giving contacts more options beyond the legally required do not bulk email option.
A good subscription center is vital for any organization doing email marketing. As mentioned previously, the feature is required by law in many jurisdictions, and you must link to it from every commercial marketing email you send. You can run as many subscription centers as you like, for example to support various brands or product families, but you must always have at least one. Each subscription center can offer as many different subscription lists as you like, but each subscription center must provide the option for contacts to opt-out of all marketing emails.
To set up a subscription center, you will need to:
Create subscription lists (optional but recommended) - On a subscription center page, subscription lists present your contacts with options in addition to the required do not email check box. If presented with multiple options (for example, newsletters, events, promotional offers), your contacts might be inclined to opt into or out of specific lists rather than unsubscribe from everything. Subscription lists are static lists.
Create a subscription form - The subscription form captures the details about your contacts such as first name, last name, email, subscription lists, and the do not email check box.
Create a subscription page - The subscription page hosts the form for your contacts to update and manage their subscription preferences.
Identify a subscription center page in content settings - Content settings are sets of standard and required values that are available for use in marketing email messages, including a subscription center link. You will define the content settings on individual customer journeys, which means that all email marketing messages that are sent by that journey will use that set of settings (for example, physical address, subscription center, social links, and so on). After you build your subscription center page that includes your subscription center form, update the necessary content settings record with the appropriate subscription center page.
Include a subscription center link in a marketing email - All commercial email messages must include a link to your subscription center. By default, all emails created within Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys include a section at the bottom of the email with company address and subscription center included. This section can be modified as needed.
Assign content settings in customer journeys - After you create all the subscription center components, you select the content settings within each customer journey. As a result, all emails in that customer journey will receive a link to the subscription center page that is defined in the content settings record that is assigned to that customer journey.
Important
Subscription lists are managed at the contact level. If multiple contacts share the same email address, only the specific contact who opted out will stop receiving communications. Other contacts using the same email address will continue to receive communications. If you require opt-outs to be processed at the email level, you will need to create custom processes.
For more information, see Set up subscription lists and subscription centers.
The default subscription center
A default subscription center is provided with every Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys instance. This default page runs natively on the service fabric for your instance and doesn't require a Dynamics 365 portal or external website. This feature is to ensure that all organizations that are running Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys can provide this essential feature, even if they don't have a Dynamics 365 portal or external website.
You can customize the default subscription center page to meet your business needs.
Important
Never delete the default subscription center page. This is the only page that is published on the service fabric rather than on a portal or external site. No method exists for creating a new page that is published in this way, so if you delete the default subscription center, you'll need to create an alternative on your portal or external site.
For more information, see The default subscription center.
Create a subscription list
To view, edit, or delete a subscription list, go to Outbound marketing > Customer > Subscription lists.
To create a new subscription list, select + New subscription list on the command bar.
A new list is created, preconfigured to function as a subscription list. The Subscription field will be set to True and Type is set to Static. Enter a Name for the list and fill out the other information as needed.
Select Save to create the subscription list. After saving the list, you can use the Members tab to view, edit, or remove members from the list. However, you should typically allow your contacts to manage their own subscriptions by using your subscription center.
For more information, see Create a subscription list and Marketing segments vs. marketing lists.
Create a subscription center form
To view, edit, or delete a subscription center form, go to Outbound marketing > Internet marketing > Marketing forms.
The process of creating a subscription center form is the same basic procedure used to create a marketing form, but be sure to also complete the following tasks:
Make sure that the Form Type is Subscription Center or select a marketing form template where Type is Subscription Center.
On the Designer tab, be sure to include the following information:
Basic contact information such as first name, last name, email, and any other attributes that your contacts might want to update
The Do not email check box (which is required for all subscription forms)
The Submit button (which is required for all forms)
If you want to add subscription lists to the form, on the Toolbox tab, scroll down until you find the Subscription lists heading. Under this heading, you will see any subscription lists that are currently available in your system. To add a subscription list to the form, drag it onto the canvas area.
When you have all necessary elements added to your form, select Check for errors, address any reported issues, and then select Go live.
For more information, see Add a subscription list to a subscription form.
Create a subscription center marketing page
After you have created your subscription center form and published it, you will need to create a subscription center marketing page on which to put the form. This page is what contacts will use to update their contact and subscription preferences.
To view, edit, or delete a subscription center page, go to Outbound marketing > Internet marketing > Marketing pages.
The process of creating a subscription center page is the same basic procedure that is used to create a marketing page, but be sure to complete the following tasks:
Make sure that the Type page is Subscription Center or select a marketing page template where Type is Subscription Center.
Include a Form element that references the appropriate subscription form. Configure the form's Submission behavior with relevant confirmation, error messages, and redirect URL options.
Enter values for all other required fields (Name and Partial URL).
When you have all necessary elements added to your page, select Check for Errors, address any reported issues, and then select Go live.
Note
Subscription centers only work when they "know" who they are talking to. This enables the subscription center to display existing contact information in editable fields (like name and email) and to indicate which of the available subscription lists the viewer already belongs to. The only way most people will be able to open the subscription center is by selecting a link sent to them in a marketing email from a customer journey. Links such as these include an ID that lets the subscription center know which contact has requested the page.
If you open a subscription center by opening its URL directly, an error message will display indicating that the system is not able to verify your contact information. Select Show form anyway to display the subscription page but any information you submit won't register in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys since the system doesn't know which contact record to apply the changes to. Refer to the Test the subscription center topic later in this unit for more information on how to test your subscription center.
For more information, see Create a subscription center marketing page and Create a landing page with a form.
Identify a subscription center in content settings
Content settings hold common values that you can place into an email message as dynamic text by using the assist-edit feature (or by entering the correct code). You must assign one content settings record to each customer journey. Because of this architecture, you can use the same email message in several customer journeys, but the subscription center link (and other content settings) that are included in the message can be different for each journey.
To work with content settings records, go to Outbound marketing > Templates > Content settings.
You can edit any listed record or select + New on the command bar to create a new one. If you need to edit a live content settings record, select Edit on the toolbar after opening the record.
To specify a subscription center in a content settings record:
In the Subscription center field, select the personalization button { }.
Select Static content.
In the Select entity field, select MarketingPage.
In the lookup field, select the appropriate subscription center page.
In the Select relationship field, select No relationship.
In the Select field entry field, select Full_Page_Url.
Select Insert.
After you have finished making your changes, select Save. If you are editing a content settings record that was already live, after you have selected Save, your changes will be automatically published. If you are editing a new content settings record, you will need to Check for errors and then Go live.
For more information, see Identify a subscription center in content settings and Use content settings to set up repositories of standard and required values for email messages.
Include a subscription center link in a marketing email
The body of all commercial email messages must include both a subscription center link and your organization's physical address. These are required by law in many jurisdictions, and Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys won't let you publish any marketing email that doesn't have them. These values are provided by the content settings entity, which enables you to store their values centrally, and change them for each customer journey as needed. Therefore, you'll place these as contextual dynamic values.
To add a subscription center link to an email:
Select a suitable location for the subscription-center link within your email.
Enter some anchor text there (such as "Manage preferences").
Select the anchor text and then select the Link icon in the text toolbar.
Within the Link pop up window, click the Personalization assist edit icon { }.
Select Dynamic content.
In the Select entity field, select ContentSettings.
In the Select relationship field, select No relationship.
In the Select field entry field, select SubscriptionCenter.
Select Insert.
In the Link pop up window, click OK.
For more information, see Include a subscription center link in a marketing email.
Assign content settings in customer journeys
Content settings are defined on each customer journey and apply to all email messages that are sent by that journey. To view, edit, or delete a customer journey, go to Outbound marketing > Marketing execution > Customer journeys.
Select the appropriate journey record or select + New on the command bar to create a new one. When your journey is set up, go to the General tab of the customer journey record. In the Content settings field, choose the content settings record with the appropriate subscription center that will apply to all emails in that journey.
Note
You can't change the content settings after the journey has gone live.
For more information, see Identify the content settings to use in a customer journey.
Test your subscription center
Subscription centers only work when they "know" who they are talking to. This enables the subscription center to display existing contact information in editable fields (like name and email) and to indicate which of the available subscription lists the viewer already belongs to. The only way most people will be able to open the subscription center is by selecting a link sent to them in a marketing email from a customer journey. Links such as these include an ID that lets the subscription center know which contact has requested the page.
If you open a subscription center by opening its URL directly (or by using a link sent in a test message), an error message will display indicating that the system is not able to verify your contact information. If you choose the Show form anyway option, you'll be able to view the subscription page and form, but any information you submit won't register in Dynamics Customer Insights - Journeys since the system doesn't know which contact record to apply the changes to.
To fully test your subscription center, set up a simple customer journey that targets a single contact record with your email address and sends out a simple marketing email with the link to your subscription center. When you receive the message, click the subscription center link from the email and test the features of the subscription page (opt into or out of lists, as well as globally unsubscribe).
Embed a subscription center as a hosted form
You can embed a subscription center form on an external site. Follow the steps for how to Create an embedded form but set the Form type to subscription center. Subscription centers require prefilling, so you must authenticate your external domain, set up the form, and embed the generated form code on your page. For more information, see Enable prefilling on embedded forms.
Once the subscription center form has been to the external webpage, you need to update the content settings record with the URL to the subscription center. You'll get a message notifying you are linking to an external subscription center and you are responsible for complying with all regulations of your country/region.
