For information about editing campaign and template footers at the parent level of tiered accounts, please refer to this article.
Footer requirements
While it is possible to edit certain elements of the footer, you are still required to adhere to the CAN-SPAM Act regarding email marketing, in addition to our Permission & Privacy Policy. Specifically, there are two items that we require in your campaign in order for you to send:
- A physical postal address
- A clear opt-out link (which we provide through the [% unsubscribe %] tag and the TrueRemove® service)
These items must be clearly visible and cannot be obscured using styling, i.e. white text on a white background. For more information about CAN-SPAM compliance, please refer to this guide from the FTC.
Default footer basics
When you create a campaign in your email marketing account, the default footer is automatically added to the very bottom of your mailing. There are specific times when you may have a different footer or a modified footer, but in most cases, you will see the default footer.
Our default footer is made up of several elements: Manage preferences, Opt out, Sign up, View email, sender address, recipient information, and in legacy* campaigns only, social sharing.
Manage preferences
The Manage your preferences link will bring contacts to your Subscription Center, where they can update their information, adjust their subscriptions, or opt out entirely. If your account pre-dates the subscriptions feature and you have not yet set up the Subscription Center, then the Manage your preferences link will direct contacts to your manage preferences form.
Opt out
The Opt out link will also bring contacts to your Subscription Center. They can choose to update their information, adjust their subscriptions, or click on the Unsubscribe from all button to opt out of mailings entirely.
If your account pre-dates the subscriptions feature and you have not yet set up the Subscription Center, then the Opt out link will direct contacts to a confirmation page. Upon confirming, they will be opted out of your audience.
Sign up
The Sign up link brings contacts to the signup form that you selected when sending the mailing. The purpose of this link is to provide an easy way for someone to sign up for your mailings if they have received the email as a forward or saw a link to the webview of the mailing on social media.
We do not recommend that anyone forward mailings, as this can cause the mailing to break and render incorrectly. Additionally, because the footer links are personalized to the original recipient, accidental opt-outs can occur as a result of forwards.
View email
The View this email online link brings contacts to a webview version of the campaign. The webview link is the best way to share a campaign, since it prevents accidental opt-outs. This link can be copied, pasted into an email, and sent to a friend or it can be pasted into a social media post.
Sender address
The anti-spam legislation for most countries requires organizations that send marketing emails to include a valid, physical postal address. Even though there are different anti-spam laws for different countries, the inclusion of an address is also necessary to comply with our Permission & Privacy Policy.
Anti-spam laws exist to prevent people from sending unsolicited, fraudulent, or deceptive emails. That means, as a legitimate email marketer, you must be transparent about your company or organization and the purpose of your email messages. A valid postal address is one way to show recipients that the email is coming from a legitimate source, which is why it is generally required by law to include it.
For home-based businesses, it’s understandable if you don’t want to share your home address with subscribers. However, you must still supply an address, even if you use a PO box; it just needs to be verifiable as a location where you can receive postal mail.
Recipient information
The recipient information section of the footer identifies which email address a particular mailing was sent to. This element can help prevent accidental opt-outs by notifying recipients of forwards that the original email was sent to someone else, so the forward recipient is not signed up for this mailing list.
Additionally, this element is also very useful for troubleshooting purposes, as it helps identify exactly who this mailing was sent to, regardless of where it ended up. One common use for it is when a contact believes that they received the same email twice; by looking at the footer we can see who those two emails were sent to, and in most cases it ends up that the contact has two separate email addresses in the audience and didn’t realize.
Social sharing
The social sharing element of the footer is exclusive to the legacy* editor and cannot be accessed in the new drag and drop editor. For more information about the legacy* social share feature, please refer to this article. For more information about how to use the Social block in the new drag and drop editor, please refer to this article.
Editing footer elements
By default, the footer is locked in all campaigns. This means that it cannot be edited, except in certain cases.
Elements that cannot be edited
The language and links for the Manage preferences, Opt out, and View email elements cannot be removed or changed. The language of the Sign up element cannot be removed or changed, but you can change which form is used when you send or schedule the mailing. The recipient information also cannot be removed or changed.
Elements that can be edited
The primary element that can be edited in the footer is the Sender address element. While it’s not possible to edit the text directly or remove this element, you can change the information that appears here through your account settings. To update this information, follow these steps:
- Navigate to the appropriate subaccount, if applicable.
- Click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of your screen and choose Account from the dropdown menu. The account Parent and Managers should scroll down to Subaccount settings and then choose Account from the dropdown menu.
- On the next screen, click on the Sender info tab.
- Make the desired changes to the address and associated fields.
- Click on the Save button.
- Now, when you create a campaign, it will automatically pull the new address into the footer.
If you are working in a legacy* campaign, there are some changes that you can make to the social sharing element. For more information about the legacy* social share feature, please refer to this article.
Custom footer options
If you have an HQ, Teams, or Corporate account, you can create templates and campaigns with modified footers in the Brand Manager. For more information, please refer to this article. Templates and campaigns created in the Brand Manager are still subject to the requirements described in the Footer requirements section above.
* In April 2022, our legacy editor was replaced with a new drag and drop editor. Accounts that existed prior to this change still have access to the legacy editor through their previously saved templates and campaigns, however new, from-scratch campaigns can only be created in the new drag and drop editor. Accounts that were created after this change only have access to the new drag and drop editor. Please refer to our new editor FAQ article for more information.