Mailing Lists Guide

 

Fields and Settings:

 

• Action: checkboxes for individual or bulk actions. Select the desired Mailing List, or several, and apply one the "Actions" listed in the drop-down (Copy or Delete)
• Edit: a direct link to the Edit screen
• Name: the name of the mailing list
• Live Subscribers: link and count of active, non-bounced subscribers
• Unsubscribes: link and count of users who unsubscribed
• Trend (30 days): showing net subscriber gain/loss
• Subscription Plan: associated with the mailing list
• Sort Order: sortable ascending
• Live: shows if the mailing list is Live or not
• Hidden: shows if the mailing list is Hidden or not
• Created: the date the mailing list was created
• Created By: the user who created the mailing list
• Analyse: link to mailing list analysis screen
• Sorting: Columns like Name, Subscription Plan, Created, Sort Order, Live, Hidden, Subscribers, Unsubscribes, and Trend are sortable
• Links: Subscriber and Unsubscribe counts link to detailed subscriber management screens

 

 

 

Fields and Options:

 

Buttons:

 

• Go to List
• Copy
• Add
• Edit

 

Main:

 

• Name
• Description
• Message Campaign
• Subscription Plan
• Section
• Multi-Display
• Teaser
• Sort Order
• Unsubscribe Confirmation Message

 

Analysis:

 

• Analyse: (figure and link to the Mailing List Analysis screen)
• Live Subscribers: (figure and link to the Mailing List Subscribers screen)
• Unsubscribes: (figure and link to the Mailing List Subscribers screen)
• Trend (30 days)

 

Permission:

 

• Permission Statement
• Preference

 

Security:

 

• Content Security Right

 

Publication

 

• Live
• Hidden

 

Audit

 

• Created
• Created By
• Last Updated
• Last Updated By

 

Subscriber and Un-Subscriber:

 

• Subscribers
• Un-Subscriber

 

The Add and Edit screens share the same fields as the Detail screen, allowing creation or modification of mailing lists.

 

Fields and Settings:

 

Main

 

• Name: Enter the Name that you wish to call this Mailing List. If this is a hidden Mailing List, please note that users who unsubscribe from it will see the name you provide.
• Description: Enter a description for this Mailing List. This is for internal use.
• Subscription Plan: Select a subscription plan to make a join between the mailing list and the subscription plan. When joined, any user who is added to the mailing list is also added as a subscriber to the subscription plan, and when they are removed, the subscription is removed. Note: Existing mailing list subscribers will not be automatically assigned to this subscription plan.
• Section: Select the Section where you would like this Mailing List to appear.
• Multi Display: Select additional Sections to display this Mailing List within.
• Teaser: The Teaser is a brief introduction or description of this Mailing List
• Sort Order: Sort Order, the order that this Mailing List is displayed in.
• Unsubscribe Confirmation Message: Enter the Confirmation Unsubscribe message that a user will see when they click on the unsubscribe link from an email message. This screen will ask them to confirm their unsubscribe action.

 

Permission:

 

• Permission: Select the permission statement to be displayed when a user selects this mailing list.
• Preference: Select the preference this mailing list is associated to. If a user deselects the associated preference on their profile, they will be automatically unsubscribed from this mailing list.

 

Security:

 

• Content Security Right: Use the drop-down menu to select which user group has access to this Mailing List

 

Publication

 

• Live: Tick this box to publish this Mailing List Live to your Website
• Hidden: Select to hide this Mailing List on the Mailing List listing screen. This is useful if you have automated workflows. Users can still unsubscribe from it by using the One-click unsubscribe link on each message and they will see the name of the Mailing List. Please make sure you enter a meaningful name.

 

Note: if you manually add (subscribe) a user to a Mailing List from the Control Centre, and that mailing list has a Permission and a Preference associated to it, then both of those will not be associated to the subscribed user.

 

Only if a user subscribes to that Mailing List on their My Account page (which is on the front-end) will the Permission and Preference be associated to the user.

 

(Control > CRM > Mailing List Profile)

 

The Mailing List Profile screen serves as the central configuration point for mailing list subscription profiles, managing how users subscribe, confirm, and interact with mailing lists within Affino.

 

Note: you will need to associate the Mailing List Profile to the Mailing List channel, so that certain options (such as Notifications) can be work.

 

Example: if you want to use a custom 'Notification Subject', it will only work if the Mailing List Profile is attached to the Mailing List channel. If you leave that field blank, the name of your instance (i.e. "Company ABC") will be shown.

 

Fields and Settings:

 

Main

 

• Name: Enter Name to the Profile
• Description: Add a description to the profile
• Show Country Selector: Select to include a required Country selector below the email address field on the newsletter signups, whether it's on the main screen or in the design elements
• Country Label: Enter the label for the Country Selector
• Enable Double Confirm: Select to enable Double Confirm
• Double Confirm Email Subject: Add email subject to double confirm
• Double Confirm Email Body: Enter email body Maintain placeholders [_FirstName_], [_LastName_], [_Full_Activation_Link_]
• Activate Your Subscription Heading: Add a heading for Active your subscriptions screen
• Newsletter Image: Select an image for the Activate Newsletter Subscription screen
• Activate Newsletter Body: Enter text for Activate Newsletter Body
• Your Information Label: Enter text for your Information
• These Fields Are Mandatory Label: Enter label for these fields are mandatory
• Email Label: Enter Email label
• Activation Code Label: Enter label for Activation Code
• Submit Button: Select an image for the Submit button
• Submit Label/ Alt: Enter text for Submit label/ alt text
• Activation Code Accepted Header: Enter text for activation code accepted
• Body Text: Enter body of double confirm screen
• Home Button: Select an image for the Home button
• Home Label/ Alt Text: Enter text for Home label/ alt text
• Error Message: Enter error message for activation code and email

 

Notifications

 

• Notification Subject: Enter in the Newsletter Subscription Notification title. This is the title of the email which goes out to users when they update their newsletter subscriptions.
• Subscribe Notification Message: Enter email message which an existing User receives when they subscribe to a mailing list. You can use the following placeholder in this message: [_SiteURL_]
• Unsubscribe Notification Message: Enter email message which an existing User receives when they unsubscribe from a mailing list. You can use the following placeholder in this message: [_SiteURL_]
• Newsletter Subscription Notification: Enter email message which a new User receives when they subscribe to a mailing list. You can use the following placeholders in this message: [_FirstName_], [_LastName_], [_Newsletter_Title_Teaser_], [_Newsletter_Channel_]

 

Text Items:

 

• Country Label (Default: Country)
• Email Label (Default: Email)
• First Name Label (Default: First Name)
• Info Text (Default: You can unsubscribe at any time by un-checking any of the check boxes above, and updating your subscription)
• Last Name Label (Default: Last Name)
• Log In Message (Default: Email already exists. If this is your account, please [_Click_Here_] to login
• Message Unsubscribe (Default: Click [_Link_Start_]here[_Link_End_] to unsubscribe
• My Preferences Link (Default: My Preferences)
• Notification Email - Update Text (Default: You can update your subscriptions by going here)
• Read More button in the message (Default: Read more)
• Unsubscribe From All Link (Default: Unsubscribe from all Newsletters)
• Update Header (Default: Subscription Update)
• Update Notification - Not subscribed (Default: You are not currently subscribed to any mailing lists)
• Update Subscribed Text (Default: You have successfully subscribed to)
• Update Subscriptions Button (Default: Update Subscriptions)
• Update Unsubscribed Text (Default: You have successfully unsubscribed from)

Mailing List Analysis

 

(Control > Marketing > Mailing List Analysis)

 

The Mailing List Analysis screen serves as a detailed analytics and insights tool focused on mailing list performance and subscriber trends. Its primary purpose is to provide administrators and marketers with comprehensive data about their mailing lists, enabling them to monitor growth, engagement, and the impact of messaging campaigns.

 

Mailing List Subscriber Import

 

(Control > Marketing > Mailing List Subscriber Import)

 

The Mailing List Subscriber Import screen serves as a dedicated control interface for importing subscribers into mailing lists using an import engine. Its primary purpose is to facilitate bulk subscription management by allowing administrators to upload subscriber data files (typically in XLSX format) to add, unsubscribe, or remove users from selected mailing lists efficiently.

 

The Mailing List Design Element is a core component in Affino that facilitates mailing list subscriptions on the website (front-end), providing a clean, manageable, and GDPR-compliant interface for users to manage their mailing list preferences.

 

Example: Mailing Lists

 

Key aspects of the Mailing List Design Element include:

 

• Single Mailing List Association: The DE is designed to relate to one mailing list at a time, which previously caused limitations that were addressed by creating this dedicated DE instead of relying on design scripts.
• Layout Options: It supports different presentation layouts, such as vertical or horizontal, allowing flexibility in how the subscription form is displayed on the page.
• User Interaction: For logged-in users, the DE shows their current mailing list subscriptions, enabling them to update their preferences easily. For guests, it provides subscription and unsubscription options with separate buttons to avoid accidental mass unsubscribes.
• Integration with Mailing List Management: The DE works in conjunction with the mailing list channels and subscriber management, ensuring that subscription changes are accurately reflected in the system.
• Security and GDPR Compliance: When users select mailing lists, permission statements can be displayed in modal popups to comply with GDPR requirements, ensuring users are informed and consent to subscriptions.
• Subscription Logic: The DE handles subscription and unsubscription actions carefully, especially for guests, by providing distinct buttons for subscribing and unsubscribing to prevent unintended changes.

Mailing lists gained dedicated Zapier methods so external automation tools can subscribe, unsubscribe, or update list membership without touching the manual import flow.

 

Use Zapier when you want list membership to change in response to events on another platform (a form submission in a third-party tool, a CRM contact tag change, an event-registration import). Use the bulk import described in Mailing List Subscriber Import Guide when you have a one-off CSV-style dataset.

 

The Zapier Mailing List method handles single-contact updates idempotently. If a contact already has the subscription state Zapier requests, the call is a no-op rather than an error.

 

For full setup, supported fields, and the Affino-side configuration, see the Zapier Integration Guide.

Match list names to publication frequency, not just topic. "Weekly Industry Briefing" sets expectation; "Industry Briefing" doesn't.

 

Use double opt-in for any list that drives commercial email. Single opt-in lists have higher complaint rates and risk reputational damage with ESPs.

 

Keep the unsubscription URL prominent in every email. The Affino footer template includes it by default; don't override the template to remove it.

 

For Zapier-synced lists, run a test subscription end-to-end (subscribe in Affino, verify in the ESP, unsubscribe in Affino, verify removal in the ESP). Mismatched sync is the most common live-list issue.

Removing a contact from a mailing list does not unsubscribe them at the ESP unless Zapier is wired correctly. Operators who remove the Affino record but don't sync to the ESP create an inconsistent state.

 

Subscription form fields aren't validated server-side beyond format. Operators relying on a "Company" field to be filled need to mark it required at the form level - the platform won't reject blank submissions otherwise.

 

Removal log records every list change - including imports and bulk operations. The log can grow large and surface unexpected entries; filter by Reason when reviewing.