Synchronize: Subscribe and Remove

The automated processing of user subscribe/remove requests is email based. This means a user can send a simple message with e.g. Remove to the lists email address or you use a webform, which generates the subscribe/remove message for the user and sends it directly to the list.

We recommend to use a webform for subscribe, which is more user friendly.

MailList Controller receives the subscribe and remove email requests during the list "Synchronization". The program does a synchronize by default every 60 minutes or when you click on "Synchronize".


Important:
Please make sure, that you always include a "Remove" link in your message or tell the user to reply with "Remove". The program will not add such a link automatically – we recommend to use a template for the message, which contains the required item.

e.g.
... reply with "Remove" in the subject to unsubscribe / remove ...
or
Click here to unsubscribe from our newslist


HTML Link Code:

<a href="http://www.your-domain.tld/remove.html"> Click here to unsubscribe from our newslist </a>
A click on the link will open your remove webform in the browser.

<a href="mailto:your-list@your-domain.tld?subject=Remove"> Click here to unsubscribe from our newslist </a>
A click on the link will open the users mailclient.

List Synchronization "Synchronize"

The program receives the subscribe and remove email requests during the list "Synchronization". The program does a synchronize by default every 60 minutes or when you click on "Synchronize".

See also: Single and Double Opt-In Email Newsletter Subscription

Subscribe using a Webform

The best way for a user to subscribe is using a webform. With a webform you can use up to 15 customized fields for additional data, e.g. Name and Address. Please make sure, that your list contains the required fields to collect the input from the webform.


Requirements:

There is a form-mailer or php needed to use a webform. Normally such a formmailer is installed in the /cgi-bin or /scripts directory on your webserver. A formmailer processes data from the form and send the results as an email to a specified email-address. MailList Controller receives the email and retrieves the information from the form. The program can automatically process these messages and subscribe a new user to the list. Most of the time your webserver already has a formmailer installed or supports php, which can be used for the form (Formmailers are also used for contact-forms).

• How to Create a simple Subscribe Webform with php
  
  
• How to Create a Subscribe Webform using formmail.pl
  
  

Sample:

We use a simple list with only 2 fields "Name" and "Email" for this sample.

The webform contains a form with 2 edit fields and a submit-button. The edit field should have the name of the fields, which means "Name" and "Email" in our sample.

Its possible that you have to add so called "hidden fields" for the webfrom settings, e.g. recipient, subject, result page ...

The user enters his name and email and clicks on "Subscribe" or "Submit" and the web-browser sends the form values to the formmailer or php-script, which generates an email and sends it to the lists email address.

e.g.
From: someemail@somedomain.tld
To: your-list@your-domain.tld
Subject: Subscribe
Message-Body:
Email: members-email-address@somedomain.tld
Name: John Smith

The users browser will be directed to some kind of success (HTML) page, e.g. a page with "thank you for joining our newsletter service".


The subject should contain the "Subscribe Keyword" as first word in the subject line of the message. You can change the subscribe and remove keywords in the "List Settings" -> "Incoming Messages Settings".

Remove using a Webform

The form for remove requests can have the same format as the subscribe request, but only the email address is required. All other fields like e.g. Name can be ignored.

The subject of the message should be "Remove" (by default) instead of "Subscribe"

Sample:

The user enters his email only, clicks on "Remove" or "Submit" and the web-browser sends the form values to the formmailer or php-script, which generates an email and sends it to the lists email address.

e.g.

From: someemail@somedomain.tld
To: your-list@your-domain.tld
Subject: Subscribe
Message-Body:
Email: members-email-address@somedomain.tld
Name: John Smith

The users browser will be directed to some kind of success (HTML) page, e.g. a page with "your email address has been removed from our newsletter".

The subject should contain the "Remove Keyword" as first word in the subject line of the message. You can change the subscribe and remove keywords in the "List Settings" -> "Incoming Messages Settings".

Subscribe Message Format

From: members-email-address@somedomain.tld
To: your-list@your-domain.tld
Subject: Subscribe
Message-Body:
Name: John Smith

or

From: someemail@somedomain.tld
To: your-list@your-domain.tld
Subject: Subscribe
Message-Body:
Email= members-email-address@somedomain.tld
Name= John Smith

or

From: someemail@somedomain.tld
To: your-list@your-domain.tld
Subject: Subscribe
Message-Body:
Email: members-email-address@somedomain.tld
Name: John Smith

The program uses the Email from the messagebody - if Email is defined in the messagebody – otherwise it uses the email from the message header from-line. This might be useful since some formmailers always use the same email address as sender.

Please click on "Webform Submissions" in the "List Settings" -> "Incoming Messages Settings" to show the correct format for the selected list. The subject, recipient and fieldnames can be different for each list.

Remove Message Format

From: members-email-address@somedomain.tld
To: your-list@your-domain.tld
Subject: Remove
Message-Body:
...

or

From: someemail@somedomain.tld
To: your-list@your-domain.tld
Subject: Remove
Message-Body:
Email= members-email-address@somedomain.tld

or

From: someemail@somedomain.tld
To: your-list@your-domain.tld
Subject: Remove
Message-Body:
Email: members-email-address@somedomain.tld


The program uses the Email from the messagebody - if Email is defined in the messagebody – otherwise it uses the email from the message header from-line. This might be useful since some formmailers always use the same email address as sender.