What is SafeOpt and how does it work for email marketing?
Matthew Whittaker
Co-founder & CTO, Suped
Published 7 Aug 2025
Updated 18 Aug 2025
8 min read
As businesses increasingly rely on digital channels to connect with customers, new technologies emerge to enhance reach and engagement. One such platform that has gained attention in the email marketing space is SafeOpt. It's designed to help brands re-engage website visitors who haven't converted, by sending them targeted offers and messages.
My goal is to explain what SafeOpt is, how it functions for email marketing, and the implications it has for both brands and consumers. We'll explore its mechanics, its purported benefits, and the important considerations around deliverability and user privacy.
How SafeOpt works
SafeOpt operates as a retargeting service. When a brand partners with SafeOpt (formerly AddShoppers), they integrate a tracking pixel onto their website. This pixel allows SafeOpt to identify website visitors, even if those visitors haven't explicitly provided their email address to that specific brand. The core of SafeOpt’s model relies on its extensive network of over 175 million shoppers, which they claim enables them to recognize users across different participating websites.
When a recognized user visits a brand's site but doesn't complete a purchase or sign-up, SafeOpt can then send them an email on behalf of the brand. These emails typically contain personalized offers, discounts, or reminders about items left in a cart or recently browsed products. The emails are sent from a via SafeOpt.com domain, rather than the brand's primary domain.
This mechanism essentially creates a bridge between anonymous website visitors and targeted email communication. It allows brands to reach individuals who might have otherwise been lost shoppers, offering them incentives to return and complete a desired action, such as a purchase. The platform's pitch is to convert these high-intent, but uncaptured, visitors into buyers.
Traditional email marketing
Opt-in requirement: Requires explicit consent from the user to add them to a mailing list before sending emails.
Data collection: Primarily relies on direct sign-ups, lead forms, or purchase data from the brand's own site.
Sender reputation: Emails are sent directly from the brand's domain, making their deliverability tied directly to their own sender reputation.
SafeOpt's approach
Implicit recognition: Identifies users across a network of sites, allowing email outreach without direct consent to the specific brand.
Networked data: Leverages a shared pool of shopper data to identify and retarget visitors.
Sender domain: Emails are sent from a SafeOpt domain, potentially allowing brands to bypass their own sender reputation issues.
The implementation on a website typically involves adding a small JavaScript snippet, often referred to as a tracking pixel. This code then communicates with SafeOpt’s servers, enabling the recognition of visitors and the activation of retargeting campaigns based on their browsing behavior.
Example SafeOpt Tracking Pixel (Hypothetical)javascript
<script> (function() { var s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.async = true; s.src = '//cdn.safeopt.com/pixel.js'; var x = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; x.parentNode.insertBefore(s, x); })(); </script>
Benefits for brands and consumers
For brands, the primary benefit of SafeOpt is the ability to recover potentially lost revenue. By reaching out to website visitors who didn't convert, they can offer timely incentives that nudge these individuals towards completing a purchase. This can lead to increased conversion rates and overall sales, effectively maximizing the value of existing website traffic.
SafeOpt also claims to enhance existing marketing efforts without replacing them, providing an additional layer of customer engagement. The personalized nature of the offers, based on browsing history, can make the emails feel relevant to the recipient, which may contribute to higher engagement rates. This approach aims to turn passive browsers into active customers by leveraging data collected across their network.
From a consumer perspective, SafeOpt positions itself as a service that delivers verified offers, helping shoppers save time and money. Users sign up for SafeOpt directly and receive discounts from participating brands as they shop online. This can be appealing to consumers looking for deals without actively searching for coupon codes or promotions themselves.
Key advantages
Revenue recovery: Re-engages non-converting website visitors to drive sales.
Targeted engagement: Delivers personalized offers based on browsing behavior.
Consumer savings: Provides verified discounts to shoppers in its network.
Deliverability and ethical considerations
A key question that often arises with services like SafeOpt is how they manage to deliver emails effectively without falling into spam folders, especially when the recipient hasn't directly opted into that specific brand's list. One theory is that the highly targeted nature of the emails, coupled with potentially attractive offers, leads to higher engagement rates from the recipients. Inbox providers often interpret high engagement (opens, clicks, replies) as a signal of legitimate and desired email, helping bypass spam filters.
However, relying on a third-party domain for sending emails (i.e., safeopt.com) carries its own risks. If SafeOpt's overall sending practices decline, or if enough recipients mark their emails as spam, their domains could end up on a general email blocklist (or blacklist). This could then negatively impact all the brands using their service, leading to widespread deliverability issues. Understanding how to manage and monitor for these issues is critical for email marketers who are considering this approach. For example, knowing how to determine if marketing emails are going to spam is always important, regardless of the sending platform.
Privacy is another significant concern. While SafeOpt emphasizes privacy-first marketing, the concept of receiving emails from a brand you didn't directly sign up for, simply because you visited their site and are part of SafeOpt's network, can feel intrusive to some users. This raises questions about consumer consent and data sharing practices. It's a fine line between helpful retargeting and potentially unwelcome communication.
Potential deliverability and privacy pitfalls
Shared sender reputation: Performance issues with one brand can affect deliverability for all.
Blacklist risk: Increased likelihood of being listed on a public blocklist or blacklist if user complaints are high. If you find your emails blocked, it is important to know what steps can be taken to resolve issues.
Privacy perception: May be perceived as invasive by some users who did not directly consent.
While SafeOpt attempts to provide a privacy-conscious browsing experience, the model itself relies on sharing user interaction data across a network of brands. This contrasts with traditional email marketing, where consent is explicitly given to a single brand. Marketers should carefully consider how such a service aligns with their own brand values and their customers' expectations regarding privacy. Understanding what EMPS is and how it relates to opt-out lists can provide additional context here.
There's also the risk of spam traps. If SafeOpt's network includes or generates addresses that act as spam traps, emails sent through the platform could be flagged, leading to a poorer sender reputation for the SafeOpt domains, and subsequently impacting all participating brands. Proper management of spam traps is essential for maintaining email deliverability.
Integrating SafeOpt with your existing marketing strategy
For brands considering SafeOpt, it's crucial to view it as a complementary tool rather than a standalone email marketing solution. It can be particularly effective for re-engaging browse abandoners or cart abandoners, adding another layer to your customer recovery strategy. Ensure that the offers sent through SafeOpt are genuinely attractive and relevant to the recipient's recent browsing history to maximize engagement and minimize complaints.
Continuous monitoring of email deliverability metrics is vital, even when using a third-party service. Pay close attention to engagement rates, open rates, and click-through rates for campaigns sent via SafeOpt. If these metrics start to decline, or if you notice an increase in spam complaints, it could indicate broader issues with the platform's sending reputation or user perception. This emphasizes the importance of understanding the factors that impact deliverability.
Aspect
Traditional strategy
SafeOpt integration
Audience capture
Direct sign-ups, lead magnet opt-ins.
Website visitor tracking and network matching.
Email content
Newsletters, promotions, abandoned cart emails (for known users).
Personalized offers, discounts for uncaptured visitors.
Deliverability management
Direct control over domain reputation and authentication.
Relies on SafeOpt's aggregated sender reputation, requiring close monitoring.
Legal/Ethical
Clear consent for email communications.
Needs clear communication regarding data sharing for compliance and transparency.
Finally, ensure that your broader email marketing strategy remains strong. Services like SafeOpt should complement, not replace, your efforts to build an engaged, directly opted-in email list. Focus on delivering value, segmenting your audience effectively, and maintaining strong sender reputation metrics across all your sending channels. Improving your email click through rate for your core campaigns is just as important.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Clearly communicate data sharing practices if using third-party retargeting services to maintain consumer trust and avoid a perception of being creepy.
Focus on high-quality, personalized offers through SafeOpt to ensure recipient engagement and reduce spam complaints, as engagement is key to deliverability.
Regularly monitor SafeOpt campaign performance, including open rates, click-through rates, and spam complaint rates, to detect any dips in deliverability.
Integrate SafeOpt as a complementary tool to your core email marketing efforts, rather than a replacement, to diversify your lead nurturing strategy.
Common pitfalls
Over-relying on SafeOpt for all retargeting could make your brand vulnerable if SafeOpt's shared sender reputation suffers.
Ignoring the 'via safeopt.com' sender domain in emails can lead to brand confusion or perceptions of impropriety among recipients.
Failing to disclose data sharing practices to customers may result in privacy concerns and negative sentiment towards your brand.
Neglecting your primary, directly opted-in email lists in favor of third-party retargeting can weaken your long-term customer relationships.
Expert tips
Always prioritize building your own directly opted-in email list through clear consent mechanisms; it's the most reliable foundation for email marketing.
Analyze whether the incremental revenue from SafeOpt justifies any potential brand reputation or privacy concerns it might introduce.
Consider A/B testing messages sent via SafeOpt against other retargeting methods to understand what resonates best with your audience.
Diversify your retargeting channels beyond email to include other methods that respect user privacy and consent preferences.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says they received an email from a brand they purchased from, but it came via SafeOpt, which felt strange and made them question if it was a tactic for brands with poor inbox placement to bypass their own reputation.
2023-11-08 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says that SafeOpt has existed for years and operates by installing tracking pixels on partner sites, allowing them to recognize visitors across their network and send targeted emails, even if a direct opt-in didn't occur. It raises questions about how they manage to avoid spam folders.
2023-11-08 - Email Geeks
Understanding SafeOpt's place in your strategy
SafeOpt offers an intriguing approach to email marketing by allowing brands to re-engage website visitors who might otherwise be lost. Its ability to identify users across a network and deliver personalized offers without a direct opt-in can be a powerful tool for revenue recovery and increasing conversions.
However, it also brings important considerations regarding deliverability, shared sender reputation, and consumer privacy. Brands must weigh the potential benefits against these factors, ensuring transparency with their customers and maintaining robust email marketing practices across all channels to foster trust and ensure long-term success.
