Email unsubscribe

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Email Unsubscribe

    Administrators can enhance user experience on the ServiceNow AI Platform by adding unsubscribe links to email notifications, allowing users to stop receiving specific messages. The system includes two types of macros for creating these unsubscribe options: one for email requests and another for accessing notification preferences.

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    Key Features

    • Unsubscribe by Email: Utilizes the macro ${NOTIFUNSUB} to generate an HTML mailto hyperlink that creates a pre-formatted email for users to unsubscribe easily.
    • Unsubscribe by Notification Preferences: Uses the macro ${NOTIFPREFS} to direct users to their notification preferences page once they authenticate.
    • Direct Unsubscribe Option: Users can click an "Unsubscribe" link next to their email address in notification emails, which initiates an unsubscribe request.
    • One-Click Unsubscribe: Supported from Washington Patch 1 onwards, allowing users to unsubscribe with a single action.
    • Handling Multiple Email Addresses: Unsubscribing from the primary email address removes all associated addresses, though secondary unsubscribing is not currently supported.

    Key Outcomes

    By implementing these unsubscribe options, administrators improve user control over notifications, enhance compliance with user preferences, and reduce unnecessary email clutter. Users can easily manage their notification settings, leading to a more personalized and efficient communication experience within the ServiceNow platform.

    Administrators can add unsubscribe links to notifications so that users can stop receiving particular email messages.

    Note:
    The base system notifications include unsubscribe and notification preferences links.
    The system offers two types of macros to create unsubscribe links.
    • An unsubscribe link that creates an email message to the instance.
    • An unsubscribe link that opens the notification preferences for the user on the instance.
    Table 1. Available unsubscribe macros
    Unsubscribe type Macro used Description Available parameters

    Unsubscribe by email

    (Unauthenticated)

    		 ${NOTIF_UNSUB} The system generates an HTML mailto hyperlink. When users select the link, their browser or email client creates a pre-formatted unsubscribe email message to the instance. link_text: Specify the text to display as a link within quotation marks.

    Unsubscribe by notification preferences

    (Authenticated)

    		 ${NOTIF_PREFS} The system generates an instance link directly to the notification preferences for this notification type. link_text: Specify the text to display as a link within quotation marks.
    Administrators can add unsubscribe macros to any notification record type such as:
    • Email layouts
    • Email templates
    • Email notifications

    Unsubscribe by email

    Unsubscribe using list unsubscribe header: Unsubscribe from email notification using list unsubscribe header. You can directly unsubscribe form notification emails by selecting Unsubscribe next to the email address. An unsubscribe request goes through and a pre-formatted email message is automatically sent.
    Note:
    The unsubscribe option or the placement of the button can vary based on the email client being used.
    Important:
    Unsubscribe with one click is supported from Washington Patch 1 onwards.
    Unsubscribe with pre-formatted email message: Unsubscribe by email requires the user email client or browser to create a pre-formatted email message containing these elements.
    • The To field has the email address of the instance.
    • The Subject starts with the string Unsubscribe from.
    • The Body has a JSON string with a name-value pair of Unsubscribe and an array value that contains two more name-value pairs.
      • The notification_id parameter specifies the Sys ID of the notification the user wants to unsubscribe from.
      • The unsub_token parameter specifies an instance ID the system uses to verify that the email came from a ServiceNow instance.
    Note:
    Some email clients and web browsers, such as GMail on Chrome, require extra client configuration to support mailto hyperlinks. Administrators can provide an alternative unsubscribe method for users whose email client or browser does not support mailto links. See RFC6068 for information about the mailto URI scheme.

    The Unsubscribe from Notification inbound action processes the email and unsubscribes the sender from the listed notification. Unsubscribing by email message does not require users to authenticate with the instance first.

    Note:
    For users with multiple email address subscribed, when you unsubscribed from the primary email address it automatically unsubscribes you from all other email addresses. Unsubscribing through secondary email addresses is currently not supported and the request won't be fulfilled.

    Unsubscribe by notification preferences

    Unsubscribe by notification preferences requires the user's browser to navigate to the notification preferences page on the instance. After logging in, the system displays the notification preferences for this particular notification.

    Users can set preferences for this notification such as disabling notifications for a particular device. Users must save their notification preferences for changes to take effect.

    Unsubscribe links

    This email layout adds several unsubscribe links to the bottom of each email notification.

    ${NOTIF_UNSUB} from this notification by email or ${NOTIF_UNSUB+link_text="click
      here"}.
Manage your ${NOTIF_PREFS} or ${NOTIF_PREFS+link_text="click here"}.

    When rendered in an email notification, the unsubscribe links only display the link text.

    Figure 1. Sample email with unsubscribe links
    An email wiith unsubscribe and notification preferences links.

    If a user clicks the Unsubscribe link, the email client creates a message such as this:

    Figure 2. Sample unsubscribe by email message
    An email that shows how the email client works after the unsubscribe link is selected.