If you are using a subscribe form on your website, or anywhere else, make sure that the form uses double opt in. Double opt in means that after your visitor initially enters their email address to subscribe to your list, they will then be sent a "confirmation" email. This email contains a special link for them to click that will then verify that this visitor did indeed sign up to your mailing list and that their email address is correct.
This is very important because many people can accidentally enter an incorrect email address, or even the email address of someone else on purpose. When that person receives a newsletter they did not subscribe to, they will assume they have been spammed, and your newsletter will be reported as spam.
Although not specifically required by New Zealand law, double opt in is an effective measure for ensuring compliance with the consent requirements of the New Zealand Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act. For more information on consent please see: How to ensure you are not sending spam
It is also common for subscription and contact forms to receive automated spam submissions from bots, these submissions will often use email addresses scraped from other websites. These scraped addresses wont be expecting to receive emails from you and worse some of them could be spam traps or honey pots. Using double opt in is effective at screening out these automated submissions thus keeping your list clean. Learn more about The dangers of spam traps and honey pots
As a further precaution against spam bots we strongly recommend adding a captcha to your form such as Google's "I am not a robot" checkbox. This is an extra layer of protection but is not a substitute for double opt in.
All subscription forms generated by BoltMail enfore double opt in by default and Google's "I am not a robot" checkbox. Double opt in is required on all public subscribe forms under our terms of service. The only reason for disabling double opt in would be if your form is hosted on a staff only system and is used for entering subscribers that you have already confirmed through other means. If you need to host a subscribe form with double opt in disabled please open a support ticket and request an exemption from this requirement.
To add our subscription form to your website please see this help topic: How to add a subscribe or unsubscribe form to your website
If you are using a list purchased from a third party, or an old list that you haven't sent marketing emails to before, it is essential that you re-confirm all the subscribers. See Reconfirming your subscribers
