Not everyone on your list wants every email you send. Preference Management lets your contacts choose the types of emails they receive, and Alvéya automatically respects that choice going forward.
What Is Preference Management?
Preference Management gives your contacts a say in what they hear from you. Instead of an all-or-nothing unsubscribe, contacts can opt out of specific types of emails, like promotions, while staying subscribed to others, like your newsletter or calendar appointment reminders.
You create the categories that make sense for your business, link them to your email campaigns, and Alvéya takes care of the rest. If a contact opts out of a category, they're automatically left out of future emails in that category, even if they're still on your list.
Why It's Worth Setting Up
Keeps you compliant: every opt-out is honoured automatically at the category level, so you're always sending in line with what each contact has agreed to.
Protects your deliverability: fewer unwanted emails means fewer spam complaints, which keeps your sender reputation healthy over time.
Makes your emails more relevant: contacts only receive what they actually want, which tends to mean better open rates and less list fatigue.
Built around how you work: you decide what categories fit your business — there's no one-size-fits-all setup here.
Keeps your calendar running smoothly: this is especially worth setting up if you use the Calendar feature. Because filtering happens at the category level rather than across all email, a contact who has unsubscribed from your marketing campaigns will still receive their booking confirmations and appointment reminders, as long as those calendar emails aren't tagged to a marketing category. Without Preference Management in place, that separation is harder to guarantee.
Understanding Preference Types
Preference Types are the categories your contacts choose from — things like Newsletters, Promotions, or Event Updates. You can create as many as your email program needs.
⚠️ There are no default categories set up for you. Take a few minutes to think through the types of emails you send and create categories that genuinely reflect them before you start linking campaigns.
You'll manage these under Settings → Preference Management Hub, and you can edit, disable, or delete them at any time. Category names can run up to 100 characters, so keep them short and clear enough that a contact instantly understands what they're opting into.
Linking Preferences to Your Campaigns
Once your categories exist, you link them to individual email campaigns. This tells Alvéya what each email is actually about, so it can filter the send list against what each contact has chosen.
When a contact opts out of a category, they're automatically excluded from every current and future campaign tagged with that category, even if they're still sitting on the static list you're sending to.
How Automatic Filtering Works
Once preferences are in place, Alvéya handles the filtering for you:
Contacts are automatically removed from any campaign that conflicts with a preference they've opted out of.
Category opt-outs are honoured even if the contact is technically still part of the original send list.
💡 This applies to workflow emails too, not just one-off campaigns. If a contact has opted out of a category, they'll be filtered out regardless of how they ended up in the send.
⚠️ This only works for emails that have a Preference Type assigned. If a campaign or workflow email has no category attached, there's nothing for Alvéya to filter against, so it will still go out to everyone, including contacts who've opted out of other categories. Every campaign and workflow email you want protected needs its own Preference Type.
Setting Up Preference Management
Step 1: Create Your Preference Types
Go to Settings → Preference Management Hub.
Click + Create Subscription Type.
Enter a Subscription Name and a short description for the category.
Choose a name your contacts will immediately understand — nothing internal or jargon-heavy.
Save your changes and confirm when prompted.
Repeat for each category you want to offer.
Step 2: Assign Preferences to Your Campaigns
Open the email campaign you want to categorise, then click Send or Schedule.
Use the dropdown to select the Preference Type that matches this campaign.
From here, Alvéya will automatically filter that send based on each contact's saved preferences.
Managing an Individual Contact's Preferences
You can view or manually update a single contact's preferences from their contact record — useful if they've told you their preferences directly, over the phone or in a message.
Go to Contacts and open the contact you want to update.
Open the DND tab and click Subscription Status.
In the Manage Email Subscriptions window, set each Preference Type to Subscribed or Unsubscribed.
⚠️ If a category is marked as Unsubscribed, you'll need to provide a legal basis before resubscribing that contact. This is a compliance safeguard, not a glitch.
💡 Every change you make at the contact level is logged in Conversations, so you always have a record of when and why a preference changed.
Common Questions
How is this different from a global unsubscribe?
A category opt-out only affects the specific topic the contact chose to leave. A global unsubscribe removes them from all marketing emails from your business.
Can contacts manage their own preferences?
Yes. Once Preference Management is switched on, every unsubscribe link includes a Manage your preferences option, so contacts can adjust their own choices without you lifting a finger.
Does this apply to emails sent from automations?
Yes. Automatic filtering applies no matter how a contact was added to the send, including through workflows.
What happens if I archive all my categories?
You'll see a guided message prompting you to create or restore a category, rather than a blank screen.
Can I turn Preference Management off again?
⚠️ No. Once enabled, Preference Management cannot be switched off, as it introduces unsubscribe controls at the account level. Only turn it on once you're ready to commit to it.
Is there a limit to how many categories I can create?
No set limit. Build as many as your email program genuinely needs — category names can run up to 100 characters and can always be edited later.
If I turn this on, do I need to go through every workflow and assign a category?
Yes, for any workflow email you want opt-outs to apply to. Turning on Preference Management does not retroactively protect existing workflows. Each campaign and workflow email needs a Preference Type assigned before opt-outs will filter it. Anything left unassigned will continue sending to everyone on the list, opted out or not.