BETA: This feature is currently in a Closed Beta and is being tested by a select group of Kajabi users. If you have questions or concerns about this feature please don't hesitate in reaching out to support@kajabi.com
Email marketing categories let you organize your Email Broadcast or Sequence 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 will 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 will always be a part of “Event Information” 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: Enabling email marketing categories is permanent. This ensures your contacts' 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. All Automation emails will always be assigned to the General Marketing category. All Event emails will always be assigned to the Event Information category.
Once an email has been sent, its category cannot be changed.
Enable Email marketing categories
To enable Email marketing categories:
Navigate to Settings > Marketing settings.
Locate the Email marketing categories section.
Review the description and click the toggle to enable.
Assign a category to an email
Email Broadcasts
Navigate to the Email Campaigns tab under Marketing.
Click + New Email Campaign to create a new Email Broadcast or open an existing one.
On the Select recipients screen, locate the What type of email marketing is this? section.
Select a category from the list.
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
Navigate to the Email Campaigns tab under Marketing.
Click + New Email Campaign to create a new email sequence or open an existing one.
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 will appear in emails that use the Visual Editor. Marketing emails that use the Classic Editor will 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
Navigate to Contacts.
Select the contacts you want to update.
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.