Unsubscribe Settings

Every marketing email you send needs a clear, working way for subscribers to opt out. This is not optional – it is a legal requirement, a deliverability necessity, and a fundamental part of building trust with your audience. Broadcast gives you multiple layers of unsubscribe configuration so you can stay compliant while keeping control over the experience.

Why Unsubscribe Matters

Multiple laws around the world mandate that commercial emails include an unsubscribe mechanism:

  • CAN-SPAM (United States) – requires a visible unsubscribe link in every commercial email. You must honor opt-out requests within 10 business days.
  • GDPR (European Union) – subscribers must be able to withdraw consent as easily as they gave it. A clear unsubscribe link satisfies this requirement.
  • CASL (Canada) – requires an unsubscribe mechanism in every commercial electronic message.
  • Privacy Act (Australia) – commercial messages must include a functional unsubscribe facility.

Violating these regulations can result in significant fines and damage to your business reputation.

Deliverability Impact

Beyond legal compliance, unsubscribe functionality directly affects whether your emails reach the inbox:

  • Gmail and Yahoo requirements – as of 2024, both Gmail and Yahoo require bulk senders to include a one-click unsubscribe mechanism via the List-Unsubscribe and List-Unsubscribe-Post headers. Emails without these headers are more likely to land in spam.
  • Spam complaints – when subscribers cannot find an unsubscribe link, they hit the “Report Spam” button instead. Spam complaints are far more damaging to your reputation than unsubscribes.
  • List hygiene – making it easy to unsubscribe keeps your list full of engaged subscribers. A clean list means better open rates, better click rates, and better inbox placement overall.

Unsubscribe Confirmation Page

Broadcast includes an optional confirmation step when subscribers click an unsubscribe link.

To configure this, go to Settings > General Settings and look for the Unsubscribe Confirmation toggle.

  • Enabled – subscribers see a confirmation page asking them to verify they want to unsubscribe. They must click a button to complete the process.
  • Disabled – clicking the unsubscribe link immediately removes the subscriber with no extra step.

Why Use Confirmation?

Confirmation pages protect against accidental unsubscribes caused by email security scanners. Many corporate email systems and security tools automatically follow links in emails to check for malware. Without a confirmation step, these automated clicks can unsubscribe people who never intended to opt out.

If you notice subscribers reporting that they were unsubscribed without taking action, enabling the confirmation page typically resolves the issue.

The email footer is where most subscribers expect to find the unsubscribe link. Broadcast lets you customize this footer to match your brand while ensuring compliance.

Navigate to Settings > Sender Details for your broadcast channel to access footer settings:

  • Enable / Disable Footer – toggle whether a footer is automatically appended to your emails. Keeping this enabled is strongly recommended for compliance.
  • HTML Editor – customize the footer content using a rich HTML editor. You can style the footer to match your brand, add your company name, and include additional links.
  • Live Preview – see exactly how your footer will appear as you edit it. Changes are reflected in the preview immediately.

Use the Insert Unsubscribe Link button in the footer editor to place the unsubscribe URL. This inserts the {{ unsubscribe_url }} Liquid variable, which Broadcast replaces with a subscriber-specific unsubscribe link at send time.

You can also type the variable manually anywhere in your footer HTML:

<a href="{{ unsubscribe_url }}">Unsubscribe from these emails</a>

Each subscriber gets a unique, tokenized link so Broadcast knows exactly who is unsubscribing. The link does not require the subscriber to log in or take any extra steps beyond clicking.

Physical Address for CAN-SPAM

CAN-SPAM requires your commercial emails to include a valid physical postal address. Include this in your footer alongside the unsubscribe link:

<p>Our Company, Inc. | 123 Main Street, Suite 100, City, ST 12345</p>
<p><a href="{{ unsubscribe_url }}">Unsubscribe</a></p>

This can be a street address, a PO Box, or a registered commercial mail receiving agency address.

Server-Specific Unsubscribe Settings

Beyond the global footer, each email server in Broadcast has its own unsubscribe settings. This per-server granularity lets you tailor unsubscribe behavior for different providers and use cases.

To access these settings, go to Settings > Email Servers, select an email server, and look for the unsubscribe options.

Include Unsubscribe Header

When enabled, Broadcast adds the List-Unsubscribe and List-Unsubscribe-Post headers to every email sent through this server. These headers enable the one-click unsubscribe button that appears in Gmail, Yahoo, Apple Mail, and other email clients.

List-Unsubscribe: <https://yourdomain.com/unsubscribe/TOKEN>
List-Unsubscribe-Post: List-Unsubscribe=One-Click

This should be enabled for all servers that send marketing emails. Gmail and Yahoo now require these headers for bulk senders, and having them significantly reduces the chance of your emails being flagged as spam.

Controls whether the unsubscribe link is included in the email footer for messages sent through this server. This works in conjunction with the footer configuration in Sender Details.

Some email providers inject their own unsubscribe mechanism and expect you to use their specific variable rather than a custom URL. The custom unsubscribe link field lets you specify a provider-specific placeholder.

For example, Postmark uses its own unsubscribe system for broadcast message streams. Instead of Broadcast’s standard {{ unsubscribe_url }}, you would enter:

{{{ pm:unsubscribe }}}

When this field is set, Broadcast uses the custom variable in place of its default unsubscribe link for emails sent through that server. This ensures proper integration with providers that manage their own suppression lists.

Some ESPs automatically add their own unsubscribe links to emails, independent of any links you include in your content. This is common with providers like Postmark (for broadcast streams) and SendGrid (for certain account types).

When your provider handles unsubscribes through its own links, the important thing is to set up webhooks so that those unsubscribe events sync back to Broadcast. Without webhook integration, a subscriber might unsubscribe through the provider’s link but remain active in your Broadcast subscriber list – leading to continued sends and potential spam complaints.

See the ESP Integrations guide for detailed webhook setup instructions for each provider.

Disabling Unsubscribe for Transactional Servers

Not every email needs an unsubscribe link. Transactional emails – password resets, order confirmations, account notifications, and similar messages – are sent in response to a user action and are generally exempt from CAN-SPAM’s unsubscribe requirements.

If you have an email server dedicated to transactional messages:

  1. Go to Settings > Email Servers and select the transactional server
  2. Disable Include Unsubscribe Header
  3. Disable Include Unsubscribe Link

This keeps your transactional emails clean and avoids confusing recipients with an unsubscribe option on messages they explicitly triggered. Just make sure this server is only used for genuinely transactional messages – using it to send marketing content without an unsubscribe link would violate email regulations.

Best Practices

  • Always include an unsubscribe link in marketing emails. It is non-negotiable for legal compliance and deliverability.
  • Enable the List-Unsubscribe header on every marketing email server. Gmail and Yahoo require it, and other mailbox providers use it to offer one-click unsubscribe.
  • Make the link easy to find – do not hide it in tiny text or bury it in a wall of footer content. Frustrated subscribers who cannot find your unsubscribe link will hit “Report Spam” instead, which is far worse for your reputation.
  • Enable confirmation pages if you see unexpected unsubscribes – email security scanners clicking links is a common cause.
  • Set up ESP webhooks so provider-side unsubscribes sync back to Broadcast. A subscriber should only need to unsubscribe once, regardless of which link they use.
  • Keep transactional servers separate and disable unsubscribe features on them. This keeps transactional emails focused and avoids compliance confusion.
  • Include a physical address in your footer to comply with CAN-SPAM requirements.
  • Test your unsubscribe flow regularly – send yourself a test email, click the unsubscribe link, and verify the experience works smoothly from start to finish.

Need help with other email server settings? See the Email Servers Overview for a complete guide to connecting and configuring your providers.