Set up double opt-in

Contacts, lists & segmentsUpdated

Ask new signups to confirm by email before they're subscribed. It's a setting on the list, and it needs a verified sending domain.

Double opt-in is a setting on a list. Turn it on, and anyone who joins that list through a signup form (inline form, popup or landing page) or a connected app gets an email asking them to confirm. They’re subscribed once they confirm. Contacts you add yourself, by hand, by import or in bulk, are never asked.

We recommend it for any form the public can reach. Nobody can sign up someone else’s address, and every subscriber has a confirmation on record.

Turn it on

  1. Go to Contacts → Lists and open the list.
  2. Click Edit list.
  3. Under Signup confirmation, tick Double opt-in.
  4. Click Save.

Every form that adds people to that list now asks for confirmation. A form’s settings show Double opt-in is on for this list (or off) under its list. If you want one form to confirm and another not to, point them at different lists.

What you need first

The confirmation email comes from your own address, so you need:

Until both are in place, a form on a double opt-in list can’t go live, and you can’t turn double opt-in on for a list that live forms already add people to. Once they’re in place, you can turn it on at any time. See Why won’t my form go live?.

What happens when someone signs up

  1. They submit your form and see your form’s thank-you message.
  2. They’re added as pending. Pending contacts don’t receive campaigns and don’t count towards your plan.
  3. They get an email, Confirm your subscription to your account name, with a Confirm subscription button.
  4. The button opens a page where they click Confirm subscription once more. This second click stops email security scanners, which open links automatically, from confirming on someone’s behalf.
  5. They’re subscribed. Any tags the form adds are applied, and any automation that starts when someone joins the list begins.

If someone already gets your emails but is new to this list, they confirm for this list only, and keep getting your other emails in the meantime.

The contact’s page shows the full record under Signup consent: when they submitted, when they confirmed, and their IP address. The Confirmed (30d) column on Grow counts confirmations for each form.

If something’s wrong

  • The link has expired. Confirmation links last 7 days. Signing up again sends a new one.
  • Someone signed up but isn’t on your list yet. They’re probably still pending: they haven’t clicked the email, or they clicked it but not the button on the page. See I signed up to test my form, but nothing appeared.
  • A form shows “Live, can’t confirm” on Grow. Your account can’t send confirmation emails, so on a double opt-in list every new signup is turned away. It affects lists without double opt-in too: someone who unsubscribed before and signs up again is turned away. Verify a sending domain and set your Default from email to fix it.

Turning it off

Untick Double opt-in and save. Contacts who are already pending stay pending, and they’re subscribed if they click their link.

Where to go next

Segments, tags and custom fields, on every plan →