Direct mail e-mail should always, at a minimum, provide a way for the recipient to opt out of future mailings. Where you send direct mail from determines the effects of opt-out links on your mailing lists.

For Direct Mail sent from Business Desk

The unpacked site associated with the Commerce Server Business Desk module includes an ASP page that takes a query string consisting of the e-mail address of the recipient, the campaign item ID, and the campaign name. When a user clicks on the opt-out link on the direct mail message sent from Business Desk, the user will be added to the opt-out list for the particular campaign that the direct mail was sent from. A user on mailing lists for multiple campaigns will continue to receive direct mail from all campaigns except for the campaign that the direct mail was sent from.

In the direct mail e-mail you send, you can include a link to the opt-out ASP page. The code for a link might appear as follows:

Click 

<A HREF="http://mswaldofr/retail/opt-out.asp?rcp_email=mailuser8@passport.com&campitem_id=2&campitem_name=TestMail&MSCSProf">
 here </A> if you do not wish to receive future mailings.

The text the user would see in the e-mail would be "Click here if you do not wish to receive future mailings."

For Direct Mail sent from the command line

Direct mail sent from the command line is not associated with any campaign. Therefore the opt-out ASP page takes a query string containing only the e-mail address of the recipient. When a user clicks on the opt-out link on the direct mail message sent from the command line, the user will be added to the global opt-out list, and subsequently will be removed from all future mailings.

Note

• If direct mail is sent using the Send Test Mail dialog box in Business Desk, and the recipient is on the opt-out list for the site, the recipient will still receive the mail. Opt-out links sent in direct mail messages from the Send Test Mail dialog box in Business Desk do not use the ListManager object to subtract the opt-out lists from the test mail mailing list. Additionally, if a user is not on a campaign opt-out list, and clicks the opt-out link in the test mail, the user will be added to the opt-out list.

For more information about the opt-out link included in the sample direct mail code, see Developing Direct Mail Content. If the direct mail is sent from the command line, and the recipient clicks the opt-out link, the recipient will be added to global opt-out lists, and will no longer receive direct mail. If the direct mail is sent from the Business Desk module, any recipient who clicks the opt-out link will be added to the opt-out list for the campaign. A recipient on multiple campaign mailing lists will continue to receive direct mail from the other campaigns.