Tech Forum

I frequently get people who respond to stake mailings that request to be removed from the mailing list. I believe I can simply remove their email address from their membership record to accomplish this task (that's one of the suggestions in the "unsubscribe" instructions at the bottom of each mass email that is sent). However, that seems like hitting the problem with a sledgehammer. If I do that, I've taken the email address information away from a home teacher who may some day use that form of contact to reach this person. Is there a recommended way for handling this type of issue?

bjquinn wrote:I frequently get people who respond to stake mailings that request to be removed from the mailing list.

If you're frequently getting such requests, then you may need to re-exam the frequency and content of the messages. Perhaps they are too frequent, duplicate what other tools do (like the calendar), or cover events that do not pertain to everyone. There's always going to be one or two people who doesn't like it, but your word choice leaves me with the impression that your stake is pushing the boundaries of what members consider acceptable.

But you're right - short of removing their emails completely, I can't think of a way for a member to opt out of mass mailings direct from the leadership. Unless maybe it's setting up a email rule to automatically discard any message from a particular email address.

s/frequently/from time to time/g

I should be more careful about word choice. It's not that often, I'm just looking for suggestions for when it does happen. I see something like this once every month or two (in terms of people who actually reach out to me to make it stop), but for those individuals who are not happy about this, I didn't want to remove one of the only contact methods we had for them in the system if there were any alternative.

Thanks for the advice!

I'm trying to find an answer to this question as well. I am a Stake Executive Secretary, and we send out an email to the stake in advance of Stake Conference, after which a few of the stake members complain about receiving the email. On a Stake level, I couldn't even figure out how to remove the email address. Is that possible, or do I need to refer the issue to a Ward Clerk? On my own profile, I am permitted to change the privacy setting to "Private - Leaders Only." Can that option be selected by a Ward or Stake clerk?

dawgraphic wrote:On my own profile, I am permitted to change the privacy setting to "Private - Leaders Only." Can that option be selected by a Ward or Stake clerk?

Yes. But if it's a leader sending out the email, I don't think that will help at all. And it prevents ward members from seeing the email for other things.

The Send a Message tool in Leader and Clerk Resources allows you to select or exclude specific people from the email.

I have some members who are Do Not Contact. I can remove their email address but then there is NO way to contact them if needs be. Is there a way to Remove them from All Communication? I've found that you can do that yourself with a member login but how do you do that with an individual member or household?

I have run into this issue from ward leaders who have received requests to have their e-mail address removed. Only leaders with membership edit rights can find out what the privacy setting for a member is before sending a mass message through the Send a Message tool. And so the only suggestion I could make was to keep a list of members who requested removal and then uncheck their name from the initial list that comes up before populating the message 'To' field. I also ask them to send in feedback using the feedback link to request a feature to remove members with a 'Privacy - leadership only' setting for their e-mail address. I just sent in this feedback request following a member's request to be removed from the mailing list for a message a ward leader sent out. This lack of an ability to exclude members with a 'Private - leadership only' privacy setting when using the Send a Message feature is a major hindrance to using effective communication while honoring a member's privacy request.

One way to deal with this is to add "NO_MASS_EMAILS_" or something like that to the beginning of the email address. So, for example, if the person's email address is asdfwardmember@gmail.com, you could update it to NO_MASS_EMAILS_asdfwardmember@gmail.com. That way, mass emails will bounce, but a leader looking up the email address can still find it.

sbradshaw wrote:One way to deal with this is to add "NO_MASS_EMAILS_" or something like that to the beginning of the email address. So, for example, if the person's email address is asdfwardmember@gmail.com, you could update it to NO_MASS_EMAILS_asdfwardmember@gmail.com. That way, mass emails will bounce, but a leader looking up the email address can still find it.

That's a good option I had not considered... Thanks for suggesting. If you attempt to use something that is not a valid email format, (like wardmember@gmail-dot-com) the system won't let you save it.