newsletter opt out instead of opt in

hiya

i dont know if this is in the right place, apologies in advance if its wrong.

At the moment when customers/potential customers create accounts, they have to physically opt into getting the newsletter .. is there any way to change that so that its already ticked and they have to opt out instead .. the reason i ask is that a few account holders are asking why they havnt got newsletters and its because they missed that part when signing up .. they assumed that it was standard to get the newsletter.

Many thanks in advance
Erica xx

Add ./includes/templates/template_default/templates/tpl_modules_create_account.php to your template, and edit line 177 (which does the zen_draw_checkbox). Change the third parameter to true (from $newsletter).

Scott

Hiya Scott, and thank you for the reply ..
I have copied over that file, but i cannot see which part to change :blush:
Below is lines 177 and 178 .. please can you just tell me where the 3rd parameter is :blush: :blush:
Many Thanks
Erica xx

<?php echo zen_draw_checkbox_field('newsletter', '1', $newsletter, 'id="newsletter-checkbox"') . '<label class="checkboxLabel" for="newsletter-checkbox">' . ENTRY_NEWSLETTER . '</label>' . (zen_not_null(ENTRY_NEWSLETTER_TEXT) ? '<span class="alert">' . ENTRY_NEWSLETTER_TEXT . '</span>': ''); ?>
<br class="clearBoth" />

swguy:

Add ./includes/templates/template_default/templates/tpl_modules_create_account.php to your template, and edit line 177 (which does the zen_draw_checkbox). Change the third parameter to true (from $newsletter).

Scott

Instead of

<?php echo zen_draw_checkbox_field('newsletter', '1', $newsletter, 'id="newsletter-checkbox"') .... 

do

<?php echo zen_draw_checkbox_field('newsletter', '1', true, 'id="newsletter-checkbox"') .... 

See how $newsletter is the third parameter (counting from 1) to zen_draw_checkbox_field.
This is what you change to the value true.

Good luck,
Scott

got it .. thank you so much :) .. what i was trying to do was add true near to that so it looked like $newsletter 'true' .. can you tell i am not a coder :blush: lol
Anyway, it worked a treat, thank you again
Erica xx

swguy:

Instead of

Alternatively, in your admin panel:

configuration->customer details->Show Newsletter Checkbox

HTH,
Audra

This just controls whether it's shown or not.

Scott

Actually it's possible to change it from the admin panel like Audra mentioned. There are 3 checkboxes:

Show Newsletter Checkbox
0= off
1= Display Unchecked
2= Display Checked

Number 2 works perfectly fine.

Trond

Erica,

Yes it is possible to do what you want but if you are in the United States, you could be in violation of anti-spam laws in several states.

scottb:

Erica,

Yes it is possible to do what you want but if you are in the United States, you could be in violation of anti-spam laws in several states.

Is there a list of states somewhere that outlines where all this applies? I've had difficulty finding out if this applies in Illinois.

scottb:

Erica,

Yes it is possible to do what you want but if you are in the United States, you could be in violation of anti-spam laws in several states.

Really, even if there is the option to uncheck the box?

EyefulTower:

Really, even if there is the option to uncheck the box?
Yup, seem so. I'd love to have the list too, or at least the official name of this law.

Each state law has a different name, of course. A directory of state laws is provided in https://www.spamlaws.com. Another good source for such things is findlaw.com.

I would be astounded to see a successful prosecution for unsolicited commercial email based on the fact that the boxes were pre-checked. This sounds like an urban legend to me.

Having said that, and notwithstanding the fact that many businesses do this, the current thinking seems to be that this practice is impolite and will generate complaints that time time and energy to deal with. A better practice is to specifically request consent by requiring a checkbox. You can always re-enforce the availability of your marketing material by adding links to your invoices and (here's the kicker) actually providing marketing material with value, not just product pitches. If you tell people every newsletter has a 10% off coupon, they're going to sign up. If you automatically sign them up and all you do is pitch your wares, they're going to complain.

The gold standard of newsletter sign-ups is double-opt in, which removes any question as to whether or not the recipient actually wants the mailings. The newsletter provider I use (MailChimp.com) works this way. They maintain a significant archive of best practices which the curious reader may find helpful:

http://www.mailchimp.com/resources/

Hope this helps,
Scott