• Introduction
• Managing Mailing Lists and Newsletters
• Sending Newsletters
• Viewing Statistics
• Using Subscription Forms on Website
• Test Your Knowledge

Using Subscription Forms on Website

Your website visitors can subscribe to your mailing lists or manage their subscription directly from your website.

The Newsletter add-on allows you to easily add this feature to your website.

All your website visitor will have to do is type in his or her name and email address, select mailing lists to subscribe to and click Subscribe.

If your newsletter recipients want to cancel their subscription to one of your mailing lists, they can make use of the Unsubscribe form you can set up on your website.

In the following few sections, you will learn how to:

• Add the Subscribe form to a web page
• Add the Unsubscribe form to a web page
• Add the Unsubscribe link to a newsletter

Adding Subscribe Form to Web Page

You can use an existing page to add the Subscribe form to or create a new one. Alternatively, you can add this form to the template in the Layout perspective to have it on all the pages based on this template.

Only subject-based mailing lists will appear on the form. The user will not be able to subscribe to a data type based list.

To add the Subscribe form to a web page:

1. In the Content perspective, edit a page where you want the subscription form to appear.
2. Insert the Composite.Community.Newsletter.SubjectBased.SubscribeForm function into the page.
3. If necessary, specify the optional parameters:
   1. Select a specific subject-based mailing list in the Subject list. If no list is selected ("<NONE>"), all the list will be displayed.
   2. Uncheck the Include Name Field option if you want your form to display only the 'Email' field. By default the option is checked and, therefore, the 'Name' field is shown on the form in addition.
   3. Select a confirm template in the ConfirmEmailTemplate list to send confirmation emails to subscribers. If no template is selected (”<NONE>”), the subscription will be immediate without confirmation.

   

   ^{Figure 33: Specifying the SubscribeForm parameters}

4. Save and publish the page.

^{Figure 34: The subscription form with a single (default) mailing list}

The Subscribe area on the page shows two fields: Email and Name for the user to enter her or his email address and name. (The Name field is optional.)

If a specific mailing list is not specified and there are more than one subject-based lists, the form will also show all those available for public subscription. The user can select which mailing lists to subscribe to by placing a check mark in a corresponding check box.

^{Figure 35: The subscription form with multiple mailing lists}

Once the user clicks Subscribe, he or she will be added to the selected mailing lists and will receive all the related newsletters.

If the confirmation template is selected, the user will first receive an email to confirm her or his subscription. Without the confirmation, the user will not be added to the mailing list(s).

If you want your new subscribers receive the newsletters you have already sent to the existing subscribers, you may want to consider resending these newsletters to the new subscribers.

Adding Unsubscribe Form to Web Page

Each newsletter has an unsubscribe link.

If users choose to unsubscribe from a newsletter, they can click this link and be redirected to a Web page where they can cancel their subscription using the Unsubscribe form.

You can use an existing page to add the Unsubscribe form to or create a new one.

To add the Unsubscribe form to a web page:

1. In the Content perspective, open to edit a page.
2. Insert the Composite.Community.Newsletter.UnsubscribeForm function into the page.
3. Save and publish the page.

^{Figure 36: The Unsubscribe form}

The Unsubscribe area on the page shows the Email field where an email address is entered.

It also specifies the mailing list the user has chosen to unsubscribe from.

Once the user clicks Unsubscribe, he or she will be removed from the specified mailing list and will receive no related newsletters.

If the user opens the page not from the Unsubscribe link in her or his newsletter (e.g. while browsing the website), the form will specify no mailing list to unsubscribe from. In this case, if the user enters her or his email address and clicks Unsubscribe, she or he will be added to the Never Mail Me list and will receive no newsletters from any mailing lists.

Adding Unsubscribe Link to Newsletter

The default newsletter template you use to create your own newsletters includes the unsubscribe link. The link is auto-generated by the rendering function embedded within the template.

If your newsletter has no unsubscribe link, you can add it in the following way:

1. Select the newsletter you want to add the unsubscribe link to and click Edit Newsletter in the toolbar.
2. In the working area, on the Content tab, insert the Composite.Community.Newsletter.UnsubscribeLink function.
3. Save the newsletter.

Alternatively, you can edit a newsletter template and add the unsubscribe link there. All the newsletters created from this template will include the link.