Introduction
This feature automatically directs a constituent with an existing Neon account to the constituent version of a form upon clicking a link you send in an email. This saves them the time of logging in or re-entering personal information on your public forms. It also helps prevent duplicate accounts from occurring in your system.
In order for this feature to be enabled in the Email Builder, it must first be enabled at the global level. As detailed below, once the feature is enabled at the global level, you can decide to automatically enable this feature for all new emails in the Email Builder (so a user does not need to enable the feature on an email-by-email basis), or you may decide to not automatically enable this feature for all new emails so users may decide to enable this feature on an email-by-email basis in the Email Builder.
Features and Limitations
- Constituents do not need to have set up a login name and password for their account in order for this feature to work.
- Link Authentication does NOT give the recipient full access to the Constituent Login Portal; they can only fill out the form to which you have linked in the email campaign. A constituent would still need to log in using their account login name and password in order to view/modify their Neon account information and navigate to other sections of the login portal.
- This feature is only supported when sending emails directly from Neon.
Enable the Global Link Authentication
To allow users to enable the Email Link Authentication feature when building an email in the Email Builder, the global Email Link Authentication setting must be turned on. Once enabled at the global level, you may also decide to automatically turn on this feature for all new emails created in the Email Builder. To turn on the global Email Link Authentication feature and then turn on the feature for all new emails created in the Email Builder (if desired):
1) Select the Settings cog in the upper right corner and then select Global Settings on the drop down menu.
2) Select Email Link Authentication under the Account Duplicate Management heading.
On the Email Link Authentication page:
3) Switch the Enable Email Link Authentication toggle to Blue. This option turns on the feature at the global level and allows the feature to be turned on in the Email Builder on an email-by-email basis.
4) If desired, switch the Enable by Default for new emails toggle to Blue if you desire to automatically turn on this option for all new emails in the Email Builder. This option removes the need to turn on the feature on an email-by-email basis since it automatically turns the feature on for all emails.
When all applicable selections have been made:
5) Select Save.
Enable the Email Link Authentication Feature on an Email-by-Email Basis in the Email Builder
If, per the above section, you chose not to automatically turn on this feature for all new emails in the Email Builder (specifically, you did not select the Enable by Default for new emails toggle in the image above), you can enable this feature on an email-by-email basis in the Email Builder. To turn on this feature for an individual email, in the Email Builder:
1) Select Edit Email Link Authentication.
2) Turn the toggle next to Email Link Authentication to the "on" position and select Save in the section.
Forward Emails with Link Authentication Enabled (NOT recommended)
Caution: Because authenticated email links are unique to the constituent who originally received the email, anyone who clicks on those links will be recognized as the original recipient. Therefore, emails that contain these links should not be forwarded to anyone.
When this feature is enabled, we highly recommend that you do the following:
- Disable 'Display "Share" Link' from any email theme that you use for emails containing authentication links;
- Add a message to any emails containing these links so that recipients know the risks of forwarding the email.