Tips for ensuring your marketing emails reach your audience.

Whether you're using Squarespace Email Campaigns, Mailchimp, or another email marketing platform, you should only send marketing emails to people who want to receive them.

Adding people to your lists without their permission can annoy them, and they might mark you as spam. It also may violate legal restrictions like CAN-SPAM, CASL, or PECR.

This guide reviews options to ensure that everyone on your mailing list wants to be there.

Send a confirmation email

New subscribers receive an email asking them to confirm their subscription. If they don't confirm, they aren't added to the mailing list. This stops people from being added to lists without their knowledge.

Most form storage options in Squarespace that connect to mailing lists have the confirmation email automatically enabled:

• Squarespace Email Campaigns - Enabled for all forms except checkout subscriptions. To learn more, visit Subscriber verification.
• Mailchimp - Enabled by default. You can disable this.

Tip: All Squarespace Email Campaigns and Mailchimp campaigns include an Unsubscribe link.

Don't buy lists

Never use a mailing list that you purchased or was given to you. Those subscribers haven't said they want to receive your email, and they'll be more likely to mark your emails as spam. Purchased lists also often include fake email addresses. Both being marked as spam and having fake email addresses on your list can cause email filters to flag all your emails as suspicious.

Ask people to subscribe

Rather than adding people to your lists manually, ask them to subscribe. Here are some ideas:

• Create a page on your site with a newsletter block. You can then link to that page in social media posts, personal emails, and more.
• If you have an online store, add a subscribe option at checkout.
• Add a promotional banner to your site inviting visitors to subscribe.
• If you collect emails at an event, send them a follow-up email thanking them for their interest and linking to a place on your site where they can subscribe.
• If you have multiple mailing lists, add a newsletter block for each one, and use the description to explain what they're signing up for.

Don't move subscribers to lists they didn't sign up for

If you move from one email marketing platform to another, it's okay to import your old list, as long as the type of email you'll be sending is the same.

But don't assume that someone who signed up for one type of marketing email wants to receive another type. For example, if someone signed up for blog post updates, don't assume that they also want to receive emails about new products you've added to your store. Instead, reach out and ask them to subscribe to the new mailing list.

Note: This guide is available as a resource, but should not be construed or relied upon in any way as legal advice. Per our Terms of Service, Squarespace doesn't provide advice or recommendations on any laws or requirements applicable to your site or business.