1 Click Unsubscribe (1CU) is a service you can run on your own web server; it allows the recipients of your mailings to easily unsubscribe from your list with a simple click on a special url they receive in your email.
Prerequisites
In order to use 1CU, you need SendBlaster 3; and you need to be able to upload a PHP script to your website (which must support PHP 4.1 or later, but nowadays nearly all web servers do).
If your website does not support PHP (very unlikely), don’t worry! The script is so lightweighted that it can be hosted even on a basic PHP hosting plan (it doesn’t even need MySql); the best strategy is subscribing a plan just for hosting the script (which can reside on a different server from the one hosting your web site). The advantages are so significant that you will not be disappointed with this small extra effort.
Installing 1-Click-Unsubscribe on your server
- Download the following archive: http://download.sendblaster.com/1cu.zip (current release: 1.1)
- Extract 1cu.php and removal.htm.
- Rename 1cu.php to something different (use just letters and numbers; keep the .php extension); the script does not work if it is not renamed. As an example, rename it to remove.php. You don’t need to open or edit the script.
- (optional) If you need to customize the removal confirmation page, open removal.htm with an HTML editor and edit its content.
- Upload both the renamed script and removal.htm (double check: it’s 2 files) to your website’s root directory, so that they can be reached by any browser (e.g. http://www.mywebsite.com/remove.php). From now on, we will refer to the script’s url as “1CU url”
That’s it!
Before going further and using 1CU for the first time, please test the installation: launch 1CU url (in our example, http://www.mywebsite.com/remove.php) in your browser; if everything is ok the page should read “OK”.
If you see anything different in the page (errors, or a blank page) something is wrong with your installation: make sure you uploaded the file in the proper directory on the server (usually you need to FTP to the main public_html directory), check its url, make sure your web server supports PHP.
Using 1CU in your SendBlaster mailing
Make sure you have upgraded SendBlaster to release 3. Go to “Compose message”, then click on “Insert unsubscription link” button in the editor’s toolbar. A new window will pop up; tick “1 Click Unsubscribe” checkbox, then enter your “1CU url” (the url of the script you uploaded) then click “OK”:
Before sending your mailing, make sure you properly configured “Manage subscriptions” panel in SendBlaster (you need to assign an email address, to be used for subscriptions and cancellations, to each list).
Processing unsubscriptions
You process removal requests as usual. When someone unsubscribes, you will receive an unsubscription message, which you will download from SendBlaster’s “Manage subscriptions” panel.
Troubleshooting
If you don’t receive cancellations, you may be experiencing one of the following issues:
- You are testing the script while previewing the message
The script only works when it is in a message which has been sent out: it does not work in preview mode. For testing purposes, you may want to send a message to a test list containing your email address(es). - Your have not configured the subscription email for the list you are sending to.
Go to “Manage subscriptions”, selec the list you are going to send to, and make sure the email address and pop3 information have been properly set. - Your mailbox is trashing the removal emails
Antispam filters often discard messages coming directly from a web server, if its reputation is not well-established. You should try using a different email address for managing your lists: one which is not behind any antispam filter, because it is critical that no messages are discarded. - Your web server is not properly configured to send out emails
Our script uses PHP’s mail() function to send out cancellation requests. This function works fine as long as the web server’s outgoing mail services (php interpreter, sendmail) have been properly configured by your hosting company. If the web server doesn’t seem to be sending out mails, you should contact your hosting company or server administrator. - Your web server require a specific email address / domain as the sender of outgoing mails
Some servers don’t send out emails unless they belong to the same domain or have a specific sender address. In this case, you need to edit 1cu.php (or its renamed copy) so that it uses a fixed address:
– Open it with Notepad (or any other text editor)
– Search for “test@test.com” address and replace it with your custom sender address (don’t edit anything else)
– Save and use the edited version of the script