This article explains how volunteer email statuses work within your account, including Unsubscribed and Suppressed emails.
Volunteers can choose to unsubscribe from broadcast communications, while some email addresses may become suppressed due to delivery issues or spam complaints. This guide explains the difference between these statuses and how to identify them.
Unsubscribed Emails
Volunteers can choose to unsubscribe from broadcast communication emails sent through your account. This allows them to opt out of general announcements sent through the broadcast communication tool.
Please note: Unsubscribing from broadcast emails does not remove a volunteer from essential email communications. Volunteers will continue to receive the following transactional emails:
Email templates sent from the volunteer’s profile or report view
Suppressed Emails
An email address may become suppressed for several reasons:
Hard Bounce
The email address no longer exists or contains a typo.
Resolution: Update the email address with the correct spelling or a valid address.
Soft Bounce
A temporary delivery issue where the email address is valid, but the message could not be delivered at that time. Emails may be successfully delivered in future attempts.
Autoresponder
An automatic email response, such as an out-of-office reply.
Transient / Undeliverable, Message Delayed, DNS Error
There were problems connecting to the recipient’s mail server.
Unsubscribe or Address Change
The recipient requested to unsubscribe or indicated that their email address has changed.
Spam Complaint
The recipient intentionally or accidentally marked the email as spam in their email client. Their email provider reported this action, which automatically suppresses future emails.
Removing Email Suppression
In some cases, suppression can be removed.
Before requesting removal:
Confirm the email address is valid
Then contact VolunteerLocal Support with the following information:
Your Organization ID
The volunteer’s email address
How to Identify Unsubscribed or Suppressed Emails
When a volunteer unsubscribes from broadcast emails or their email becomes suppressed, this status will appear in the admin view of their Volunteer Profile.
To view a volunteer's email status:
- Navigate to the Volunteer's Profile from Volunteers > Search or Volunteers > Report
- Click on the Volunteer's name to open the Admin view of their Profile
- Scroll to the Message History on the right side of the profile
Volunteer is Unsubscribed
Volunteer's email is Suppressed
Volunteer's email is Suppressed and Unsubscribed
How to Unsubscribe (volunteer perspective)
Broadcast emails include an Unsubscribe link at the footer of each email message.
- When the volunteer clicks the link in the footer, they will be directed to a confirmation page
- Once confirmed, the volunteer will no longer receive broadcast emails from your account.
How to Resubscribe
Volunteers can resubscribe to broadcast emails in two ways:
Method 1:
Open a previous broadcast email, click the unsubscribe link, and select the option to resubscribe.
Method 2:
Send an email to subscribe@reply.volunteerlocal.com from the email address associated with the VolunteerLocal account.
Did Volunteers Unsubscribe from my Broadcast Email?
You can view the number of email addresses that unsubscribed from a broadcast message by viewing the details of the sent email.
To view:
- Navigate to Communicate > View Sent (Email)
- Adjust the Date Filter, Include Messages across all users (optional)
- Select the Sent Message button
- Scroll to view your Sent Broadcast Messages
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