Email unsubscribe management

AI Email offers flexible unsubscribe workflows to fit different email types and organizational needs. Depending on how you configure your unsubscribe process, Piper the AI SDR Agent can manage unsubscribe status through one field or several, control how field values are matched, and even recognize when a lead asks to be removed by replying directly to an email.

Using one field to manage unsubscribes

This setup works well for simpler workflows where all unsubscribe statuses are stored in a single Qualified field that's mapped to Salesforce and/or marketing automation platforms (MAPs).

Steps to set up

1. In Qualified, navigate to Settings → Agent Studio → Email.
   • If you have multiple AI profiles, select the one that will be used in the email campaign before continuing.
2. Select the Qualified field where unsubscribe statuses will be read and written. Qualified updates this field and pushes the change to all connected external fields.
3. Choose the value in the field that indicates an unsubscribe status (for example, Email Unsubscribe → Is true).

Using separate Salesforce fields for different unsubscribe workflows

This setup is suited for advanced workflows where unsubscribes are managed across multiple Salesforce Lead/Contact fields (e.g. different email vendors or campaign types).

At this time, read-only field behavior is only supported for the Salesforce Lead and Contact records. All MAP Contact fields will be updated if they are mapped in the unsubscribe footer.

Steps to set up

1. In Qualified, navigate to Settings → Agent Studio → Email.
   • If you have multiple AI Profiles, make sure to select the one that will be used in the Email Campaign before continuing. 
2. Select the Salesforce Lead field and Contact Field where unsubscribe statuses will be READ-ONLY, and choose the value in the field that indicates an “unsubscribe” status (e.g. “Email Opt Out” → “Is true”)
   • Make sure to leave the Update field when someone unsubscribes from email box UNCHECKED for this field. 
   • If a Lead or Contact has this field set to the “unsubscribe” status, they will not be entered into the Email Campaign(s) using this unsubscribe footer.

3. Next, select the Salesforce Lead field and Contact Field where unsubscribe statuses will be READ and WRITTEN, and choose the value in the field that indicates an “unsubscribe” status (e.g. “Email Opt Out” → “Is true”).
4. Check the box labeled Update field when someone unsubscribes from email under the fields in Step 3 to ensure the status is automatically updated when a Lead or Contact unsubscribes from the Email Campaign. 

Matching unsubscribe field values

For each field you use to track unsubscribe status, you can choose how Qualified matches the field's value against the status you define.

• Equals checks for an exact match against one of the values you enter. This works well for picklist fields with a single canonical value, like opt_out.
• Contains checks whether the field's value includes one of the values you enter. You can enter multiple values under Contains, and a match on any one of them counts as unsubscribed.
• Boolean fields use Is true or Is false instead of Equals or Contains.

Customizing the unsubscribe footer

Piper allows you to create multiple unsubscribe footers to customize the language used in the unsubscribe footer and enable you to apply different requirements based on the type of Email Campaign it will be used for.

Steps to customize

1. Under Settings → Agent Studio → Email, click the + Add unsubscribe footer button to create a new footer.
2. Add the Footer Name, the unsubscribe Fields, and customize the Email footer content ensuring the language clearly communicates the unsubscribe process to recipients.
   • Footer must include the unsubscribe link merge tag. Example: [unsubscribe here]({{unsubscribe_link}})
3. Save the updated footer.

Additional unsubscribe options

Using a custom https unsubscribe link

Instead of the built-in {{unsubscribe_link}} merge tag, your footer can point to your own hosted unsubscribe page or preference center.

• The footer must still contain a markdown-formatted link: [link text](target_url).
• The target can be {{unsubscribe_link}} or a valid https:// URL. You can include more than one link in a footer, for example a privacy policy link alongside your unsubscribe link.
• A bare https:// URL without markdown syntax is rejected, and http:// links aren't accepted.
• When you use your own hosted link, Qualified renders it exactly as configured. Your page is responsible for handling the actual unsubscribe request. Qualified doesn't manage that process for custom links.

If you are using a custom https unsubscribe link and this feature is later disabled for your organization, Qualified emails will revert to sending with the default unsubscribe footer.

Reply-to-unsubscribe detection

When available for your organization, your AI SDR agent can also recognize when a lead replies to a campaign email asking to be removed, for example "unsubscribe me" or "stop contacting me." This works automatically, with no per-campaign or per-rep setup required.

When your AI SDR agent detects a direct opt-out request in a reply, it exits the lead from the campaign with the reason Unsubscribed and runs the same process as a standard unsubscribe: updating the connected Salesforce field and refreshing the lead's data.

Not every reply counts as an opt-out. General disinterest ("not interested"), budget concerns, mentions of an existing vendor, and requests like "cancel my trial" are handled as regular replies. They don't trigger the unsubscribe process.

If your footer uses a custom https unsubscribe link instead of the built-in unsubscribe link, reply-to-unsubscribe detection won't apply to those campaigns. Talk to your QSA if you rely on reply-based opt-outs before enabling a custom link.