Communication categories: label, description and per-contact preference

Categories sort your marketing email by topic so a contact can choose what to keep receiving instead of opting out of everything. You set the label and the description of each category, pick the category when you build the campaign, and the contact turns each one on or off in the preference center.

People who get one promotion too many end up unsubscribing from everything, including the content they actually wanted. Categories fix that: instead of a single opt-out button, the contact switches off only the kind of email that bothers them and stays on your list for the rest.

Define what each category means

Open Settings and go to Communication categories. The CRM ships with four categories ready to use, News, Promotions, Newsletter and Events, created the first time you open the screen and marked with the Default badge.

1. Edit the Label, which is the name the contact sees.
2. Write the Description, up to 300 characters, explaining what that kind of email covers. This is the text the contact reads in the preference center.
3. Use the Active checkbox to show or hide the category. An unchecked category gets the Hidden badge.
4. Create your own categories if the four defaults are not enough for your business.

• The four default categories cannot be deleted, only hidden. That keeps a preference a contact already recorded from losing its meaning.
• Categories you create yourself can be deleted.
• Editing categories is a job for whoever administers the organization; everyone else sees the screen read only.

Pick the category in the campaign

In the campaign wizard, on the Launch step, open the Email options (sender and category) block and choose the Communication category. The field is optional and offers No category. The hint on the screen reminds you that the choice respects the recipient communication preferences.

• Email steps in campaigns and in sequences check the category before sending: anyone who switched that category off is skipped.
• Transactional and service email, such as a proposal, an invoice or an account access message, never belongs to a category and always goes out.
• The quick send on the Email tab respects the global unsubscribe. For filtering by category, use a campaign or a sequence with the category filled in.

Where the preference lives

• On the contact or lead record, the Communication preferences panel shows one switch per category. It only appears on records that have an email address.
• The contact adjusts it themselves in the preference center, reached through a signed link in the footer of your emails. No password and no sign-up, and the link is valid only for that email address in that organization.
• The full unsubscribe is still a separate page: there the contact opts out of all marketing at once, whatever the category.

Common questions

• If I hide a category, do I lose the preferences already recorded? No. The choices are kept and apply again if you reactivate the category.
• Does a contact who unsubscribed from everything start receiving again if I create a new category? No. A full unsubscribe outranks every category.
• Why did a contact miss the campaign even though they were on the list? Most likely they switched off the category the campaign uses, or they are on the full unsubscribe list.
• Can I change the description text later? Yes, any time. The preference center shows the new text immediately.

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