> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.kajabi.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Manage Email marketing categories
> Give contacts the choice to opt out of specific email types instead of unsubscribing from everything.
**Email marketing categories** let you organize Email Broadcasts and Sequences into five distinct types. Instead of a single all-or-nothing unsubscribe, contacts can opt out of the email types they don't want while staying subscribed to the ones they do.
When you create an Email Broadcast or Sequence, you select one of the following categories. Only contacts subscribed to that category receive the email.
| Category | What it includes |
| -------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| General Marketing | Sales, discounts, promotions, and general updates on products you may be interested in |
| Product Information | Announcements and updates about products you have access to |
| Event Information | Announcements and reminders about events, webinars, and live sessions. Event emails are always assigned to this category automatically |
| Responsive Marketing | Follow-up emails based on actions you've taken (e.g., signing up for a free resource or expressing interest in a product) |
| Notifications | Reminders, check-ins, and other updates |
**Warning:** **Warning:** Enabling email marketing categories is **permanent**. This ensures that each contact’s individual category preferences are always respected going forward. Once enabled, it **cannot** be turned off. \
\
All existing contacts subscribed to marketing emails will be automatically subscribed to all five categories.
Any existing scheduled Email Broadcasts and Sequences will be assigned to the **General Marketing** category. Automation emails are always assigned to the **General Marketing** category. Event emails are always assigned to the **Event Information category**.
Once an email has been sent, its category **cannot** be changed.
## Enable Email marketing categories
**Note:** If you created your account after this feature launched, **Email marketing categories** are already active — no action is needed.
Before enabling Email marketing categories, click **Assign categories to your existing emails** to re-categorize unsent Email Broadcasts, as well as currently running or unsent Email Sequences.
If you have multiple sites, you can switch between sites and apply your selections across all of them at once.
Any existing unsent emails left unchanged will default to **General Marketing.**
To enable Email marketing categories:
1. From the Dashboard, navigate to **Settings** > **Marketing settings**.
2. Locate the **Email marketing categories** section.
3. Review the description and click the **toggle** to enable.
## **Assign a category to an email**
### **Email Broadcasts**
1. From the Dashboard, navigate to Marketing > **Email Campaigns.**
2. Click **+ New Email Campaign** to create a new Email Broadcast or open an existing one.
3. On the **Select recipients** screen, locate the **What type of email marketing is this?** section.
4. Select a category from the list.
5. The subscriber count will update to reflect only contacts subscribed to that category.
**Note:** Once an Email Broadcast has been sent, its category is locked and cannot be changed.
### **Email Sequences**
1. From the Dashboard, navigate to **Marketing** > **Email Campaigns.**
2. Click **+ New Email Campaign** to create a new email sequence or open an existing one.
3. On the email sequence home page, locate the **What type of email marketing is this?** section. This section also appears on the **Subscribers** tab.
Select a category. **General Marketing** is selected by default.
**Note:** The category can only be set before any email in the Sequence has been sent. After the first send, the category is locked.
## **How contacts manage their preferences**
### **Email footer link**
Marketing emails will contain either an **Unsubscribe** or a **Manage your email preferences** link in email footers depending on the editor used. When a contact clicks it, they see a preference page where they can:
* Toggle individual categories on or off
* See which category the email they clicked from belongs to
* Unsubscribe from the individual Email Sequence
* Unsubscribe from all marketing emails at once using the master toggle
If a member returns to an email where they previously unsubscribed and clicks on the same link, they will be able to modify their preferences again.
**Note: Unsubscribe** appears in emails that use the Visual Editor. Marketing emails that use the Classic Editor have a link that says **Manage your email preferences**.
### Member settings
The **Member settings** page, where contacts manage notification preferences, also includes the marketing email category toggles, giving contacts another way to manage their subscriptions.
**Note:** The notification preferences page is automatically translated to match the language your site is configured to use.
## **Contact profile and Marketing status changes**
### Marketing status
With **Email marketing categories** enabled, a contact's marketing status can display as:
| Status | Meaning |
| --------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| Subscribed | Subscribed to all five categories |
| Partially subscribed | Subscribed to some categories but not all |
| Not subscribed | Unsubscribed from all five categories individually |
| Manually unsubscribed | Unsubscribed by an Admin |
| Unsubscribed | Contact unsubscribed themselves |
| Never subscribed | Contact has never been subscribed |
### Contact profile detail
On a contact's profile, the **Info** section now shows each of the five categories with their individual subscription status and the date they initially subscribed to marketing updates.
## **Filter and segment by category**
### **Contact segments**
The **Email Marketing Subscribed** segment includes both fully and partially subscribed contacts.
### **Contact filters**
Filter by **Marketing Category Status** to see the contacts within a given category. The options per category are:
* **Subscribed:** Contacts currently subscribed or not subscribed to that category
* **Opted out**: Contacts who opted out of that category within the selected time frame
* **Can be subscribed:** Contacts who are eligible to be subscribed to that category
## **Bulk actions for category unsubscribes**
1. From the Dashboard, navigate to **Contacts**.
2. Select the contacts you want to update.
3. Open the **Bulk Actions** menu and locate the **Marketing Consents** section.
Select **Unsubscribe from \[category name]** for the desired category.
### **Upload contacts with category preferences**
When uploading contacts via CSV, the upload flow includes subscription options for each of the five categories in addition to the overall marketing email subscription.
If the **Subscribe to marketing emails** checkbox is unchecked, all five category checkboxes are automatically unchecked and disabled.
### **Add a single contact with category preferences**
When adding a single contact from the **Contacts** page, you can set their subscription status for each of the five categories individually.
## **FAQs**
### **Can I turn off Email marketing categories after enabling them?**
No. Enabling Email marketing categories is a one-way change. Reverting would require collapsing individual category preferences back into a single setting, which could result in contacts being unsubscribed from emails they still want to receive.
### **What happens to my existing contacts when I enable this feature?**
All contacts currently subscribed to marketing emails are automatically subscribed to all five categories. All contacts unsubscribed to marketing emails are automatically unsubscribed to all five categories. Their experience doesn't change until they choose to manage their preferences.
### **What happens to my existing scheduled emails?**
All existing scheduled Email Broadcasts, Email Sequences are assigned to the General Marketing category. Automations emails will also be sent via the General Marketing category, and Event emails will always be sent via the Event Information category.
### **Can I change the category after an email has been sent?**
No. Once any email within an Email Broadcast, Email Sequence, or Event action has been sent, the category is locked and cannot be changed.
### **Do contacts choose categories when they subscribe?**
No. When a contact subscribes, they are automatically opted in to all five categories. Category-level preferences are managed through the preference page only.
### **Does this affect Newsletters?**
No. Newsletters have their own separate subscription management and are not part of email marketing categories.
### **Does this affect transactional emails?**
No. Transactional emails, such as receipts and app notifications, are not marketing emails and are not affected by this feature.
### **How does the "Manage Your Email Preferences" link work?**
The link replaces the previous **Unsubscribe** link in email footers. It opens a preference page where contacts can toggle individual categories on or off, or unsubscribe from all marketing emails at once.