Choose Opt-in Settings

Each Mailchimp audience comes with an associated signup form, which you can customize and share on your website and other networks. Forms use a single or double opt-in setting that determines what steps are taken before a contact is subscribed to your email or SMS marketing.

In this article, you'll learn how to choose opt-in settings for your audience.

• Opt-in settings only apply to Mailchimp signup forms, so form integrations and API opt-in are unaffected.

About opt-in

Mailchimp audiences are single opt-in by default: Someone fills out and submits your form and they're added to your audience as a subscribed email or SMS contact right away. Double opt-in requires that people confirm their signup via email or SMS. Both methods are easy and secure options for growing your audience, it's just a matter of deciding which method works best for your needs.

Single Opt-In vs. Double Opt-In

• If your primary contact address is in the EU, some of your audiences may be double opt-in. If you prefer to use single opt-in, you can make that change in each audience's settings or on the Opt-In Settings page.
• Double opt-in is required to send abandoned cart text messages.

For a new audience

When you create a new audience in Mailchimp, you'll need to choose the opt-in setting you want to use for its associated signup forms.

To use double opt-in for a new audience, be sure to enable it in the form settings for your email contacts. Check the box next to Enable double opt-in to send the opt-in confirmation email each time someone signs up to your email marketing. Leave the box unchecked to keep your audience single opt-in and add new subscribed email contacts right away.

Create a New Audience

For an existing audience

You can change the opt-in settings for an existing audience at any time for your email contacts.

To change a audience's opt-in settings for email marketing, follow these steps.

1. Click Audience, then click Audience dashboard.
   
2. If you have more than one audience, click the Current audience drop-down and choose the one you want to work with.
3. Click the Manage Audience drop-down and choose Settings.
4. Click Audience name and defaults.
5. Under Form Settings, check or uncheck the box next to Enable double opt-in as needed.
   
6. Click Save Audience and Campaign Defaults.
   

For multiple audiences

If you have multiple audiences to update, you can make changes globally for your email marketing on the Opt-In Settings page. Apply the same opt-in settings to all of your audiences, or use a mix of opt-in methods.

To choose email marketing opt-in settings for multiple audiences, follow these steps.

1. From the Audiences page, click Opt-In Settings.
2. Check the box next to each audience you want to use double opt-in.
   
   The boxes next to audiences you want to be single opt-in should remain unchecked.
3. Click Save.

For SMS

Change the opt-in method for your SMS Marketing program at any time from the SMS settings page.

To change the opt-in settings for your SMS Marketing program, follow these steps.

1. Click SMS, then click Overview.
   
2. Click Settings.
3. In the Opt-in Preference section, click Double opt-in or Single opt-in.
4. When you're ready, click Back to SMS.