Smarter Email Preferences, and Better Deliverability for the Emails That Matter

Email just got a lot smarter for your customers, and a lot more reliable for the messages that actually matter.

Before this, Mandrill handled all the unsubscribe links and the one-tap "Unsubscribe" buttons that Gmail and Apple Mail show in the inbox, so we didn't have much control over what happened when someone clicked. The big problem was that any one of those clicks, or a single spam flag from a mail provider, could trigger a total blackout and quietly stop all email to that person... including their weekly order reminder, delivery alerts, receipts, and even password resets. Plenty of active customers cut themselves off by accident and never knew why.

Now we handle it ourselves, and email is split into categories so customers pick exactly what they want:

• Account & Security ... password resets, login links, verification. Always on, can't be turned off.
• Order Reminders ... weekly order email, cutoff reminders, pickup notices.
• Delivery Status ... delivery today/tomorrow, complete, and tracking.
• Billing & Receipts ... payment confirmations and failed payment notices.
• Account Activity ... welcome emails, cancellations, referral credits.
• Helpful Suggestions ... personalized order suggestions.
• News & Promotions ... newsletters, promos, blog posts.

The one-tap unsubscribe button now has a unique link for each type of email, so tapping it on a newsletter only drops that one category and never touches their order or delivery emails. The unsubscribe link in your emails opens a preferences page where they check the boxes they want, instead of one nuke-it button. And account security emails can never be switched off, because people need them to get back into their account.

The whole point is to strike a good balance. We follow the modern rules and best practices that Microsoft, Gmail, and the rest now require, which keeps your sending domain in good standing and off the blacklists, while making sure the important stuff still reaches the inbox. Customers end up happier and far less likely to accidentally cut themselves off from their order emails or a password reset.

Your customers can manage all of this anytime under My Account → Email Preferences. Nothing for you to set up, it's already live on your site.