Send Marketing Emails to Non-Subscribers

The following is not legal advice and should not be construed as such. Marketing laws may vary from country to country and state to state. You should review all marketing campaigns carefully with your own legal counsel to ensure compliance with any applicable laws.

Overview

By default, marketing emails from Yotpo SMS & Email are sent only to contacts who have explicitly opted in to receive marketing content. However, some merchants may choose to reach a broader audience by including non-subscribers, contacts who’ve interacted with their store but never gave explicit consent to receive marketing emails and have also never unsubscribed.

Note

Explicit consent refers to users who actively opt in to receive marketing messages (e.g., by checking a box or submitting a signup form).

Implicit consent, on the other hand, refers to scenarios where a user’s actions imply agreement (e.g., completing a purchase or creating an account) — but they haven't explicitly agreed to marketing communication.

This article explains how to enable sending marketing emails to non-subscribers. However, enabling this feature comes with significant compliance responsibilities.

Important

It is your sole responsibility as the merchant and owner of the Yotpo account to ensure that sending marketing emails to non-subscribers complies with all applicable laws and regulations based on your contacts’ regions.

What Are Non-Subscribers?

Non-subscribers are email contacts who:

• Placed an order but did not explicitly opt into marketing.

• Abandoned a cart without subscribing.

• Created an account without checking the subscription box.

• Were added through integrations or manual imports without explicit marketing consent.

These contacts have not consented to marketing, and you should treat their inclusion with care and proper legal guidance.

Availability & Limitations

This feature is:

Available for

Email messages within Marketing Flows.

Enabling the Feature

To include non-subscribers in your marketing emails, you must:

1. Save your flow as a draft first before leaving to enable the setting.

2. Enable this setting under Settings > Compliance > Email consent preferences or directly from the link under Email Consent in your flow.

Note

This feature is disabled by default because you, as the merchant, must make the active decision to enable it and send the messages.

Step-by-Step: Enabling for Marketing Flows

New to flows? Learn how to create a flow.

1. While creating a marketing flow, locate the Email Consent field in the Email step settings.

Note

You’ll see the consent status is set to Subscribers.

There is no option to modify this field inside the flow builder; therefore, you need to follow the steps below to enable it.

2. To enable the option to include non-subscribers, save your flow as a draft by clicking on Save in the top right.

3. Then go to Settings > Compliance > Email Consent Preferences or directly click on the link under Email Consent.

4. The option for non-subscribers is set to OFF by default. To enable it, first, carefully read the Legal Warning.

5. Then click on Activate. After activating, click Save at the top right of the screen.

6. Return to your flow by navigating back to Flows.

7. Locate the flow you saved

8. Click Edit to open it.

   If you accessed the Compliance settings from the Email Consent step in your flow and kept the tab open:

9. Return to the flow tab.

10. Click on another step, then go back to the email step to refresh the recipients group. The Email Consent field will now display: Subscribers and Non-Subscribers.

Note

If you have saved your flow you can also refresh the page - both options will work.

Disabling the Setting

You can turn off the option to send marketing emails to non-subscribers at any time. To do that:

1. Go back to Settings > Compliance > Email Consent Preferences.

2. Click Turn off.

3. Click Save. All flows will automatically update and will discontinue sending emails to never subscribed.

Important

Disabling this setting will stop you from sending marketing emails to non-subscribers in any future flows.

If you’ve already scheduled or published a campaign using Subscribers and Non-Subscribers, you must manually update those to Subscribers.

Failing to do so may result in continued non-compliant sending.

Legal and Compliance Warnings

When you activate this feature, you confirm that you understand the legal risks associated with sending marketing content to non-subscribers.

• Laws vary by country, state, or region. Some may allow implied consent, others require explicit opt-in.

• Even in jurisdictions that allow sending with only implied consent, there may be rules about message content, unsubscribe links, and data protection.

• Once a non-subscribed user clicks Unsubscribe, they are marked as Unsubscribed and won’t receive further marketing messages.

Example - In the US, you may be allowed to send under implied consent. In Canada or Germany, this could violate strict anti-spam regulations. For details on what's allowed in different countries, refer to our overview of Country Regulations.

Best Practices

• Consult your legal team before enabling this setting.

• Use segmentation to carefully target non-subscribers, avoiding irrelevant or high-frequency messaging.

• Monitor open rates, unsubscribe rates, and complaint rates for signs of deliverability issues.

Summary