Unsubscribe Settings
Having an unsubscribe option in your emails is a legal requirement in many jurisdictions (CAN-SPAM, GDPR) and is required by most email service providers for deliverability.
Broadcast provides flexible unsubscribe settings at both the channel and email server levels.
Unsubscribe Page
When a subscriber clicks an unsubscribe link, they land on a page hosted by your Broadcast instance. Navigate to Settings > Unsubscribe Page to set its language, its wording, legal links, and what happens after someone unsubscribes. The editor fills the window: settings on the left, and on the right a preview that updates as you type, before you save. Switch the preview between pages with the tabs above it, or open a page’s section to jump to it, and use Mobile to see the page at phone width. Click Save in the top bar to publish your changes.
Note
Requires Broadcast 2.36.0 or later. Earlier versions show the page in English only, and the confirmation setting is under Settings > General Settings.
Languages
Choose the channel’s Default language in the top bar. Subscribers see the pages in this language, and it also sets the language of the channel’s default email footer. If you already edited the email footer, changing the language leaves your footer as it is.
To offer more languages, use + Add language above the page text. Each language gets a tab. Remove a language with the × on its tab: subscribers stop seeing it, but its text is kept in case you add it back.
Broadcast ships these languages, so a channel that adds one gets complete pages without writing any text:
English, Deutsch, Français, Español, Italiano, Português (Brasil), Nederlands, Polski, Svenska, Dansk, Norsk (bokmål), Suomi and 日本語.
The same languages cover the double opt-in confirmation page and the default email footer.
Turn on Match the subscriber’s browser language to show the page in the language the subscriber’s browser prefers, when it is one of the channel’s languages. Other browsers see the default language.
Appearance
Turn on Match the channel brand kit to give the unsubscribe pages your logo, colours, font, corner radius and social links from Settings > Brand Kit. It is the same switch as the one on the Brand Kit page, so you only set it once.
You can also give the unsubscribe pages their own colours: page background, card background, text, secondary text, links and buttons. Each colour you leave blank follows the brand kit when it is on, or Broadcast’s standard look when it is off, and the field shows which colour that is. A colour you set always takes priority over the kit.
- Unsubscribe button: red by default, so leaving is clearly marked, or your accent colour.
- Show logo and Show social links: these come from the brand kit, so they show only when the page matches it. Switch them off to keep the kit’s colours without the logo or profiles.
The double opt-in confirmation page uses the brand kit too, including its backgrounds, colours and radius, when the kit is switched on for it in Settings > Brand Kit.
Require confirmation
By default, clicking an unsubscribe link unsubscribes the subscriber immediately. Some email security tools open every link in an email to scan it, which can unsubscribe people who never clicked.
Turn on Require confirmation to show a confirmation page first. The subscriber clicks Yes, unsubscribe to finish, or Stay subscribed to keep receiving emails.
The one-click Unsubscribe button that Gmail and Yahoo show at the top of an email always unsubscribes straight away, with or without confirmation. It is the subscriber’s explicit request, and scanners do not use it.
Page text
Each page has its own heading, message and button labels:
| Page | When subscribers see it |
|---|---|
| Confirm page | First, when confirmation is required |
| Unsubscribed page | After unsubscribing, unless you redirect |
| Stay subscribed page | After choosing Stay subscribed |
| Resubscribed page | After clicking Resubscribe |
Pick a language tab to edit that language’s text; save once for every language. A blank field uses the built-in text for that language, which the field shows as its placeholder. In any language other than the default, each field shows the default language’s text underneath, so you can translate from it. Each tab shows how many fields you have customised in it, and the preview follows the language you are editing.
Text is plain, and line breaks are kept. You can use these variables:
| Variable | Replaced with |
|---|---|
{{ channel_name }} |
The channel’s name |
{{ email }} |
The subscriber’s email address |
{{ first_name }} |
The subscriber’s first name, or nothing if it is not known |
The built-in text already names the channel and the email address, so a subscriber on several lists can see which one they left.
If a link is broken or incomplete, Broadcast cannot tell which channel it came from, so that page always shows the built-in text, in the browser’s language when Broadcast ships it.
Legal links
Add a Privacy policy URL and a Legal notice (Impressum) URL to show those links at the bottom of every unsubscribe page. Leave them blank to show nothing.
After unsubscribing
By default, subscribers see the unsubscribed page, with a button to resubscribe. To send them to a page on your own site instead, enter a Redirect URL starting with https://. Broadcast records the unsubscribe first, then redirects.
Email Footer
The email footer is added to the bottom of every broadcast and sequence email. It typically contains your unsubscribe link and physical address (required for CAN-SPAM/GDPR compliance).
Navigate to Settings > Sender Details to configure your email footer.
The footer editor provides: - Enable footer toggle: Turn the footer on or off - HTML Source: Edit the footer HTML directly - Insert Unsubscribe Link: Button to insert the unsubscribe URL variable - Live Preview: See how your footer will appear
Using the Unsubscribe URL
To include an unsubscribe link in your footer, use the {{ unsubscribe_url }} variable:
<a href="{{ unsubscribe_url }}">Unsubscribe from our emails</a>
Broadcast automatically generates a unique, secure unsubscribe URL for each subscriber. The URL is cryptographically signed to prevent tampering.
Server-Specific Unsubscribe Settings
Each email server can have its own unsubscribe settings. Navigate to Settings > Email Servers and select an email server to configure:
Include Unsubscribe Header
When enabled (default), Broadcast adds RFC-standard email headers:
- List-Unsubscribe: Contains the unsubscribe URL
- List-Unsubscribe-Post: Enables one-click unsubscribe
These headers are required by Gmail and Yahoo for bulk senders. Disabling them may affect deliverability.
Include Unsubscribe Link
When enabled (default), the channel’s email footer is included in emails sent through this server. Disable only for servers dedicated to transactional emails where unsubscribe links aren’t appropriate.
Custom Unsubscribe Link
Some email providers (like Postmark) have their own unsubscribe link format. If you don’t use their format, they may inject duplicate links into your emails.
To use a provider-specific format:
- Enable Customize unsubscribe link for the email server
- Enter your custom HTML in the text area
Example for Postmark:
<a href="{{{ pm:unsubscribe }}}">Unsubscribe from our emails</a>
Postmark will recognize this format and use it instead of appending its own link.
Email Provider Injected Links
Some email providers automatically inject their own unsubscribe links. When this happens:
- The provider’s unsubscribe page is used instead of Broadcast’s
- Broadcast won’t automatically know when someone unsubscribes through the provider’s page
Solution: Set up webhooks for your email provider so Broadcast receives unsubscribe notifications. See the Email Metrics guide for webhook configuration.
Disabling Unsubscribe Features
You can disable unsubscribe links and headers for specific email servers. This is useful for servers that only send transactional emails (password resets, order confirmations, etc.).
Navigate to Settings > Email Servers, select the server, and in the Custom Unsubscribe Settings section:
- Uncheck Include unsubscribe link to remove the footer
- Uncheck Include unsubscribe header to remove the email headers
Warning: Disabling these features for marketing emails may violate email regulations and negatively impact deliverability. Only disable for servers dedicated to transactional emails.
Confirmation Emails (Double Opt-In)
By default, double opt-in confirmation emails include the unsubscribe link and footer just like other emails. However, this can be confusing: the subscriber hasn’t confirmed yet, so an “unsubscribe” link doesn’t make much sense.
You can suppress the unsubscribe link in confirmation emails in two ways:
Opt-In Form Setting
Navigate to your opt-in form’s Automation settings and uncheck Include unsubscribe link in confirmation email. This affects all confirmation emails sent through that form.
API Setting
When creating a subscriber with double opt-in via the Subscribers API, pass include_unsubscribe_link: false inside the double_opt_in object:
{ "subscriber": { "email": "user@example.com" }, "double_opt_in": { "include_unsubscribe_link": false } }
When suppressed, the following are all removed from the confirmation email:
- The email footer (unsubscribe link)
- The List-Unsubscribe and List-Unsubscribe-Post headers
- The {{ unsubscribe_url }} Liquid variable (renders as empty)
The API value takes precedence over the opt-in form setting. If neither is set, the unsubscribe link is included by default for backward compatibility.
Best Practices
- Always include an unsubscribe link in marketing emails (broadcasts and sequences)
- Require unsubscribe confirmation if you experience accidental unsubscribes from link scanners
- Keep unsubscribe headers enabled for better deliverability with Gmail and Yahoo
- Include your physical address in the email footer for CAN-SPAM/GDPR compliance
- Set up webhooks to sync unsubscribes from email providers back to Broadcast
