# Who your marketing emails go to
> Choose who a broadcast goes to - all subscribers, members, recent or lapsed customers - and grow your mailing list with checkout opt-in, soft opt-in, a sign-up form or an import.
Who can do this: admins only.
A broadcast sends only to your **subscribers** - customers on the marketing list at your venue. To write one, see [Email marketing](/docs/email-marketing).
## Who receives your broadcasts
Choose a group under **Recipients** when you send. Each shows a live count.
| Group | Who's in it |
| --- | --- |
| All subscribers | Everyone on your list |
| Known-good only | Addresses you've delivered to before |
| Current members | Subscribers with a current membership |
| No bookings on record | No booking recorded in Session |
| Booked recently | Been to a session in the last 90 days |
| Lapsed | Been before, but not in the last 90 days |
- **Known-good only** is the safest first send for an imported list.
- **Current members** means an active [membership](/docs/membership), or a cancelled one still in its paid period, but not a paused one. Members aren't added to your list automatically, so the count shows the gap, like "36 of your 73 members can be emailed".
- **No bookings on record**, **Booked recently** and **Lapsed** add up to All subscribers. A future booking doesn't count until the session runs.
**No bookings on record** doesn't mean they've never been: a list imported without booking history puts long-standing customers here. See [importing your data](/docs/import).
**See who this goes to**, beside the count, opens your [Customers directory](/docs/customers-directory) filtered to match. It isn't available for Booked recently or Lapsed.
## Growing your subscriber list
**At checkout.** An unticked box - "Email me occasional updates" - adds bookers to your list, unless **Marketing emails** is set to **Don't ask** under [Settings → Policies](/go/admin/settings/policies). Roughly one booker in seven ticks it.
**Asking again.** A customer who declined sees the tick box again after at least 3 more bookings and 60 days since they were last asked. Anyone who opted in and later left, unsubscribed, marked you as spam or was imported as opted out is never asked again.
**Your sign-up form.** For people who aren't booking, open **Sign-up form** on the [Marketing page](/go/admin/email/marketing) - top right, or beside **Import your list** while you have fewer than 20 subscribers - to get a link, a printable QR code, or a snippet for your own website (see [embed on your website](/docs/embed)). The button only appears while checkout asks about marketing. Sign-ups join only once they click the confirmation email, which lasts 48 hours. Customers can also opt in or out from their [account page](/docs/customer-profile).
**Import an existing list** from Mailchimp, Acuity, Appointedd, Periode or a spreadsheet - see [importing your data](/docs/import).
## Soft opt-in
With soft opt-in, checkout shows one line instead of the tick box - "We'll email you occasionally about sessions and offers. Tick here if you'd rather not:" - followed by a box. Anyone who doesn't tick it joins your list. It shows at checkout and on gift voucher purchases, not the waiting list.
### When you can use it
UK law (PECR Reg 22(3)) allows it only when all four hold:
1. You got their address while they were buying from you - a booking counts, a newsletter sign-up or bought list doesn't.
2. You only email them about your own sessions and offers.
3. They can refuse easily, at checkout and in every email - Session provides both.
4. You're the one sending it.
Your venue is the data controller, so this choice - and any complaint that follows - is yours, not Session's. These are UK rules; elsewhere they differ. If you aren't sure, take your own advice or keep the tick box.
### Turn on soft opt-in
Open [Settings → Policies](/go/admin/settings/policies) and, under "Checkout details", open **Marketing emails**. Choose **Join unless they refuse**, confirm the conditions, then choose **Save changes**.
Start a booking and check the notice replaces the tick box.
It adds only people who book from now on, never past customers, an imported list or anyone who has refused. Someone who refused may later be [asked again](#growing-your-subscriber-list), always with the tick box. If you switch back to **Tick a box to join**, people already added stay on your list.
In your [Customers directory](/docs/customers-directory), a filled green dot means opted in and a hollow ring means added by the notice. The **On list, not asked** filter and the export's **Marketing list** column show the same.
## Common questions
1. **Someone signed up on my link but isn't on the list - why?** They haven't confirmed yet. Ask them to check spam, or send the link again if 48 hours have passed.
2. **Why does the subscriber list show a different number from the recipient count?** Subscribers who bounced or marked you as spam stay on the list, badged, but aren't sent to.
3. **Why can't I see some recipient options?** Options only show when they'd pick out some, but not all, of your subscribers. For example, Lapsed needs someone 90 days without a visit.
4. **A customer says they never agreed to emails. What do I do?** Their customer record shows the exact notice they saw. Choose **Remove from marketing list** there and nothing adds them again.
5. **Will soft opt-in hurt my deliverability?** It can. People who didn't actively ask are likelier to mark you as spam, and Session pauses marketing automatically if complaints climb.