Unsubscriptions: How Shoporama Handles Unsubscriptions

Sooner or later, someone will unsubscribe from your newsletter. That’s better than the alternative: a recipient who doesn’t want to hear from you won’t open the email anyway, but might mark it as spam first. And spam reports affect all your other subscribers because they lower your sender’s reputation in the eyes of email providers.

That’s why Shoporama’s newsletter module has a dedicated page that shows exactly who has unsubscribed, when, and which newsletter they received most recently. It’s called “Unsubscriptions” and can be found in the menu under “Newsletter,” under the “Unsubscriptions” section.

Here’s what the page looks like

At the top, an information box explains the principle: “Unsubscribed recipients are retained as a suppression list so they aren’t accidentally re-subscribed or contacted again. If a recipient requests that their personal data be permanently deleted, the entry must be removed manually.” A suppression list is simply a block list: the address remains on the list with a flag indicating “no more newsletters to this person.”

Below the box, you can filter by a time period using the From and To fields and the Filter button. If you’ve set a filter, “Reset” appears next to it. On the far right is the “Total” counter showing the number of unsubscriptions in the selected period, and at the bottom, you can choose to display 25, 50, 100, or 200 rows per page. If there is nothing to display, it will say “No unsubscriptions recorded yet” or “No unsubscriptions in the selected period.”

The seven columns

• Unsubscribed: date and time. The most recent entry appears at the top.
• Email: the email address used to unsubscribe.
• Name: the name, if provided.
• Signed Up: When the person was added to the list. Combined with the unsubscribe date, you can see how long you were in contact.
• Source: where the sign-up came from, typically signup_form (the field in the store), popup (the sign-up form), purchase (checked during a purchase), import, or manual.
• Lists: Which recipient lists the person was on.
• Last campaign received: the last newsletter the person received before unsubscribing, with the time shown below. The name links to the campaign’s statistics.

The last column is the one you’ll learn the most from. If the same campaign is associated with a string of unsubscribes, that’s the email you need to examine closely. Was the subject line misleading? Was there too much sales pitch and not enough content? Or was it sent too soon after the previous one?

The unsubscribe link in the newsletter

You don’t have to remember to include an unsubscribe link yourself. Shoporama automatically adds the “Unsubscribe from newsletter” link at the bottom of all newsletters generated by the module. If you want to mention it in the middle of the text, insert the placeholder [unsubscribe_url] into the content, and it will be replaced by the recipient’s personal unsubscribe address when the newsletter is sent.

The link is personalized and signed. Therefore, the recipient doesn’t need to remember which email address she used to subscribe, and a link from your store cannot be used to unsubscribe from another store. Shoporama tracks clicks in your newsletters, but the unsubscribe link is intentionally excluded from click tracking so that an unsubscribe doesn’t skew your click-through rate.

What the customer experiences

If the recipient clicks the link, the unsubscribe takes effect immediately. No extra confirmation, no login, and no questionnaires along the way. The person lands on a page in your store that confirms the action. The text comes from your theme, so it varies slightly: Montana displays “You have been unsubscribed” and “You will no longer receive newsletters from us,” while Alaska2, California, Washington, and DelawareDK display “You are unsubscribed” and “You will no longer receive newsletters from us.” Everywhere, there’s a link back to the homepage. If your theme doesn’t have its own unsubscribe page, a simple default page appears with the heading “Unsubscribe from newsletter” and the text “You are now unsubscribed from our newsletter.” If the person clicks again, the same confirmation appears, and if the link has been cut off by an email client, it says “Invalid link.”

If someone goes directly to the unsubscribe page without a personalized link, they’ll be asked to enter their email address and click “Unsubscribe.” If the address is found as an active recipient, they’ll be unsubscribed; otherwise, the message “The email address was not found in our system” will appear. This is also how test emails work, since a test email has no actual recipient.

What Happens Behind the Scenes

When the unsubscribe is registered, the recipient’s status is set to “unsubscribed,” and the time is saved. From that moment on, the following applies:

1. The person disappears from the Recipients overview, which only shows active recipients.
2. The person is not included in new campaigns, regardless of whether you select recipient lists, segments, or buyers of specific products. All three methods skip unsubscribed addresses.
3. The record remains with the address, name, source, sign-up date, and unsubscribe time so that the process can be documented.
4. The unsubscribe is counted in the statistics for the last campaign the person received.

The unsubscribe applies only to the newsletter. Order confirmations and other emails regarding a specific transaction are not considered marketing and will continue to be sent. Automatic emails sent after a purchase and regarding product reviews have their own unsubscribe link and their own block list, which are not displayed here; see “Unsubscribe Links in Automatic Emails.”

The Unsubscribe Rate in the Statistics

On each campaign’s statistics page, the “Unsubscribed” field displays a number and a percentage, and the same figure appears in the “Unsubscribed” column on the overall statistics overview. In both places, the number links to “Unsubscriptions.” The rule behind this is simple: an unsubscription is attributed to the last newsletter the person received, and the percentage is the number of unsubscriptions relative to the total number of emails sent in the campaign. Use this figure to compare your own campaigns with one another rather than chasing a specific target. If a single campaign stands out significantly from the others, it’s usually the subject line, frequency, or target audience that’s the problem.

Unsubscribe someone yourself, and the difference between “unsubscribe” and “delete”

If a customer calls and asks to be removed from the list, don’t wait for them to find the link themselves. Go to Newsletter, Recipients, and find the person using the search field, which searches by both address and name. Check the box next to one or more recipients and click Unsubscribe at the bottom, or click on the recipient and use the Unsubscribe button on the Edit Recipient page. Here, the “Details” box also shows the status, source, subscription date, and, if applicable, the consent date and IP address.

Next to it is the “Delete” button, and the difference between the two is important. “Unsubscribe” stops the mailings but keeps the record, and this is the correct choice in almost all cases. "Delete" permanently removes the recipient, including the subscription records, and is used when someone requests the actual deletion of their personal data. Be aware of the side effect: once the address is gone, the block is also removed, and if the address ends up in an import file six months later, the person will be subscribed again without anyone noticing.

Two things that can bring a unsubscribed person back

Importing a file. If you import recipients from a spreadsheet and a previously unsubscribed address is in the file, the person will be reactivated. The system assumes that you only import people you are authorized to contact. Therefore, clean up the file first, and never import an old export over a newer list. The same pitfalls regarding customer data are described in “Import Customers via CSV.”

The person re-subscribes. If a previously unsubscribed customer signs up via the sign-up field, a sign-up form, or the checkbox during a purchase, she will be reactivated. This is her own choice, so it’s as it should be. If you’ve enabled “Require confirmation” (double opt-in) under Newsletter> Setup, a confirmation email is sent first, and the person becomes active only after clicking the link in the email. This gives you additional, time-stamped proof of the sign-up.

The Practical Rules

1. Ask first. You must have an active “yes” before sending marketing emails to a consumer. A pre-checked box or an address from a partner does not count as a “yes.”
2. Make it easy to opt out. The unsubscribe link must remain in the email and must not be hidden in gray text that no one can read.
3. Respect the unsubscribe request immediately. In Shoporama, this happens automatically. If you’re also using another email system, you must ensure that the unsubscribe request takes effect there as well.
4. Don’t take the back door. If you move an unsubscribed address to another list, another system, or a “we miss you” email, it’s still marketing to someone who has said no.
5. Save the documentation. Under “Customers,” “Downloads,” you can download a file containing newsletter subscriptions and consent information; see “Downloads: Download Your Customers and Newsletter Subscriptions as CSV.”

The text here is not legal advice. If you’re unsure about your specific situation, consult an advisor and review the Consumer Ombudsman’s guidelines on the spam ban.

For those with a technical background

The unsubscribe page is located at /newsletter-unsubscribe on the store’s own domain. When accessed via a personalized link, it is called with a recipient ID and a signature, which are validated against the store before the unsubscribe is processed. Without parameters, it displays the form with the email address.

The appearance is controlled by the theme file templates/newsletter/unsubscribe.html, where you can branch the page based on whether the unsubscribe was successful or failed. If the file does not exist, Shoporama falls back to a built-in, standalone page, so the unsubscribe can never fail due to a missing theme. If you build your own newsletter framework within the theme, you’ll receive the unsubscribe address as a variable that you must place at the bottom of the email yourself.

Via Shoporama’s REST API, a recipient can be unsubscribed using a DELETE call on the individual recipient. Note that this unsubscribes the recipient and does not delete them—in other words, it behaves the same as the “Unsubscribe” button. If you need to sync with an external email system, see Mailing List Integration: Connect Shoporama to Your Newsletter Provider.

Frequently Asked Questions

A customer says she has unsubscribed, but she’s still receiving emails. What’s wrong?

Look up the address in Unsubscriptions. If she’s listed as unsubscribed, she won’t receive any more newsletters from Shoporama. In that case, the emails are either order-related emails, the automatic emails sent after a purchase that include their own unsubscribe link, or emails from another email system you also use.

Why can’t I find the person under “Recipients” anymore?

The Recipients overview only shows active recipients, so unsubscribed recipients disappear from the list. They’re still in the system and can be found via the search field on the Recipients page or on the Unsubscriptions page.

Can I undo an unsubscribe on the customer’s behalf?

There is no button to re-subscribe someone, and this is intentional. If the customer wants to be added back to the list, she must sign up herself using the sign-up field in the shop. This will re-register her consent, and you’ll have the proper documentation.

Can I export the unsubscriptions to a spreadsheet?

There is no export button on the Unsubscriptions page, and the export under Recipients only includes active subscribers. If you need the numbers, you can filter by a specific time period and view the total in the top-right corner, or set the display to show up to 200 rows per page and copy the table.

We’re importing a list from our old system. What should I watch out for?

You might reactivate people who have unsubscribed. An import will reactivate a previously unsubscribed address if it’s included in the file. Therefore, run through the import file first and remove any addresses listed under “Unsubscriptions” before importing the file.

Do unsubscribed recipients count toward the price of the newsletter module?

No. The module is billed based on emails sent, and emails are not sent to unsubscribed addresses. The price is listed under “Setup” in the “Newsletter” section and is 1 DKK per 100 emails, excluding VAT, billed monthly in arrears.

We have multiple online stores. Does an unsubscribe apply to all of them?

No. Subscriber lists and unsubscriptions are specific to each individual store, and the unsubscribe link only works in the store from which the email was sent. If a customer needs to be removed from the list in multiple stores, this must be done in each one.

A customer requests that all their data be deleted. Is an unsubscribe enough?

No. Unsubscribing stops future mailings, but the record remains with the address and history. If the customer explicitly requests complete deletion, you must locate the recipient under “Recipients” and use the “Delete” button. Keep in mind that the block will also be removed, so the address may be re-added during a later import.

If an unsubscribe does not work as expected, please email support@shoporama.dk with the email address and the date.