Setting up a Subscriber Preferences Center

As your newsletter grows and evolves, so do your readers' preferences. Allowing them to update these preferences helps keep them engaged and reduces the likelihood of unsubscribing.

You can create your Subscriber Preferences Center from the Preferences tab in your Subscriber dashboard. This feature lets you customize options to match your publication’s needs, giving you the flexibility to enhance the reader experience. Here are a few ways you can use subscriber preferences:

• Newsletter Frequency: Give readers the option to receive fewer emails, such as opting for a weekly edition instead of a daily one, which can help prevent them from unsubscribing entirely.
• Multiple Newsletters: Let your audience browse and select the newsletters they wish to receive from your collection.
• Event Updates: Allow subscribers to choose whether they want to receive emails specifically about upcoming events, reducing the chance of uninterested readers unsubscribing.

1. From the left panel Dashboard, go to Audience > Subscribers.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Your Subscribers dashboard will initially open on the Subscribers tab. Click on the Preferences tab instead.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. To start building your subscriber preferences, click on the New Preference button.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. A New Preference form will open on the right. Enter in the details of the preference and then click on Create in the bottom right corner. New preferences and changes will be saved automatically.
   
   
   
   
   
   

• Name (required): This is what the preference will be called in the subscriber profile. It can be a question or a prompt.
  
  
• Description (optional): Provide additional context to your question or prompt in the Name field.
  
  
• Type (required): Select the format of the preference. Choose from:
  • Multiple Choice: Lets readers pick from a list of options. With this selection, be sure to toggle on the Allow multiple responses setting. Then, choose an Options Format: Checkbox, Numerals, or Unstyled.
    
    
    Note: You’ll want to pair this with a List (Multi-Select) custom field if you would like a subscriber to select multiple options.
  • Short Response: Enables users to type their answer into a field.
    
    
  • Dropdown Menu: Creates a list of options that readers can select from using a dropdown menu.
    
    
  • True / False: Allows readers to toggle the preference on or off.
    
    

5. Custom Field: Choose a custom field from the list or click the 'new custom field' link in pink to create a new one.
   
   
6. Preference Center Settings: By default, your Preference Center Settings are set to visible. Toggle it off if you don’t want subscribers to see this option in their preference center.
   
   
7. Save It: Don’t forget to click Create to save your preference.

After creating a new preference, you’ll be redirected back to the Preferences tab, where you can see the new option in a summary view. To add more preferences, simply click the New Preference button and repeat the process as needed to add more preferences. 

Once added, you can click the 3-dots menu next to each preference to choose from Edit, Create Segment, or Delete.    

To rearrange the order of the preferences, click the Configure Preference Center button. This will take you to Design > Website Builder > Settings > Static Pages, where you can adjust the display order under the Subscriber Preferences section.

How many preferences can I add for a subscriber?

You can add as many preferences as needed to customize your subscriber experience. There’s no limit to the number of preferences you can create.

How can I see what the preferences look like for a subscriber?

To see what your subscriber preferences look like from the subscriber's perspective, you will need to subscribe to your own publication. Once subscribed and logged into your publication site, click on your profile in the top right corner and select Manage Subscription from the dropdown menu. Your subscription information will appear, click on Preferences from the left panel menu to open and manage your preferences.

Can my subscribers sign up for all of my publications at once?

Yes, but you will first need to select the publications they can subscribe to in the Website Builder.

To do this, go to Design > Website Builder > Settings > Static Pages, then navigate to the Publications area. Click into the dropdown options and choose which publications you wish to add to the Subscribers Preference Center. Refer to this article for more information about managing static pages on your publication site.









How do I delete a preference?

To delete a preference, go to the Preferences tab in your Subscribers dashboard. Under the Subscriber Management Preferences section, click the 3-dots menu next to the preference you want to remove, then select Delete from the dropdown menu. Lastly, click Confirm in the popup that appears.









If I delete a preference, will it delete the attached custom field?

No, deleting a preference will not delete the custom field that is attached to it.

What if I delete a custom field, will it delete the corresponding preference?

You cannot delete a custom field if it is linked to an existing preference. Even if you delete a preference, the associated custom field will remain in your account.

How do I hide a preference?

To hide a preference, go to the Preferences tab in your Subscribers dashboard. Under the Subscriber Management Preferences section, click the 3-dots menu next to the preference you want to hide, then select Edit from the dropdown menu.







Scroll to the bottom of the page and toggle off Visible then click Update to save your preference. This will remove the option from your subscribers' view, but the linked custom field will remain in the accounts of past subscribers.





 

How can I provide a link to the Preference Center for my subscribers to update their preferences?

There are a few ways to add a link to the Preference Center.

First, by default there is a link to the Preference Center that is included in the footer of your emails. It appears as “Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here.” When a subscriber clicks on “email preferences” they're taken to their Preference Center.

Next, by using your publication URL you can add this to the end of the URL:

/subscribe/{{subscriber_id}}/preferences?jwt_token={{jwt_token}}

Put together, the URL looks like this:

beehiivpublication.com/subscribe/{{subscriber_id}}/preferences?jwt_token={{jwt_token}}

Clicking the URL will take your subscriber directly to their Preference Center.

Lastly, you can also include this merge tag in a post to take a subscriber to their Preference Center:

      {{subscriber_preferences_url}}

Can I disable the password login option for my subscribers?

By default, subscribers can choose to log in to your publication via a password or Magic Link. You can disable the password option by going to to Design > Website Builder > Settings > Security and toggling it off.

How can I create a preference segment?

To create a segment based on a custom field from a preference, click the 3-dots menu next to the preference and select Create Segment. Choose the custom field you want to use for the segment. Once created, you can view and manage the segment by going to Audience > Segments.





 

If a subscriber updates their preference, will it update my segment or automation?

Yes, if a custom field is used in both a preference and a segment or automation, any changes made to that preference will update the segment or automation accordingly. Subscribers will be added to or removed from segments and automations based on their updated preferences.

Tech Note: Segments would be updated as soon as it’s recalculated, so either manually recalculate a segment or the default will update the segment, once every 24 hours. We recommend users manually recalculate the segment before sending to a segment for a preference.

For automations that use a custom field that is also a preference as a condition:

The verification for the custom field happens on the qualifying trigger step, so that if a custom field (preference) gets changed after a subscriber has already entered an automation, it won’t be removed unless the publication has that custom field condition listed in every step of the automation.

If a publication wants to exclude a certain (preference selection) custom field they should add that condition to each step.

Is there a button or merge tag for preferences so I can add it to a post?
Yes, in the post editor, you can add either a button or a merge tag to direct subscribers to their preference center.
To add a button, type /button in the post editor, then scroll down and select Preferences from the button preset options.



For a merge tag that will allow subscribers access to their preference center, you can use:
{{subscriber_preferences_url}}
Pro Tip: As with all merge tags, be sure to use code formatting and if they will be visible on a website, it's best to set a fallback value. For more details on using merge tags, refer to this article.