How do I confirm pending customer emails?

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

Issue: Store owners are seeing many customers with “Pending” email subscription status and want to understand what this means and how to address it.

Explanation: The “Pending” status occurs when double opt-in is enabled for email marketing. Customers must click a confirmation link in their email to complete subscription. If they don’t confirm, the status remains pending indefinitely.

Key Points:

  • Store owners cannot manually confirm these subscriptions
  • Third-party email services (Klaviyo, Mailchimp) may also trigger pending status due to double opt-in requirements
  • Disabling double opt-in prevents future pending subscriptions

Bulk Contact Challenge: Multiple users report having hundreds of pending customers and want to send reminder emails, but Shopify filters prevent bulk emailing to unconfirmed subscribers due to CAN-SPAM Act and EU Privacy regulations.

Recommended Solutions:

  • Use exit-intent popups and incentives to encourage new sign-ups
  • Run ad campaigns to attract subscribers
  • Individual manual emails are possible but impractical at scale

Unresolved: No bulk solution exists for converting pending subscribers or sending mass reminders. Some users report confirmation emails going to spam, suggesting potential deliverability issues with certain sender addresses (e.g., [email removed]

Summarized with AI on November 3. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
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Hey, @craigmitchellar .

Thank you for following up and sharing your store URL!

I’ve taken a look at your store (craigmitchellart.com) and I think your store looks amazing! I really like the use of various sections on your homepage. However, I think there could be an opportunity to use sections, such as the Image with text overlay, to share some brand history or vision with your new customers.

That being said, have you considered using something like Shopify Inbox to interact with customers live on your store? Also, as a way to incentivize customers to return or to purchase gifts in the future, have you considered offering a loyalty program?