Email footer generator: a CAN-SPAM footer in HTML and plain text
In short: Builds a footer from your business name, postal address, an unsubscribe URL or your platform's merge tag (Mailchimp, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, SendGrid), an optional preferences link, reason line, contact address and ad notice, as table-based HTML and plain text, then runs it through the CAN-SPAM checks. Limit: It isn't legal advice, and it covers CAN-SPAM and CASL basics only.
Enter your business name, postal address and unsubscribe link (or pick your platform's merge tag) and the generator writes an email footer as table-based HTML with inline styles and as plain text. It then runs the footer through the CAN-SPAM checks for an opt-out, a postal address and a contact method, so you see what is still missing.
Price: this tool is free. Checking a whole email list is from $9/mo, and the first 100 checks are free with Google, no card. See pricing
What the footer should say
Built in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere. Not legal advice.
Sample result
A footer with the business name, postal address, unsubscribe and preferences links, in HTML and plain text.
- Footer
- Ready
- Unsubscribe
- *|UNSUB|*
- Format
- HTML + text
What this means for you
Paste it at the bottom of your template; the CAN-SPAM checks for opt-out, address and contact pass.
- Postal address and business name
- Unsubscribe URL or merge tag
- Optional ad notice and contact
- Checked against CAN-SPAM
- CAN-SPAM
- Footer
- Unsubscribe
By SimpleVerifier Team · Last updated · Runs in your browser; nothing you paste is sent to us
Also in: Português (Brasil) · Español
How do I check the list the email goes to?
- Add the footer to your template.
- Upload your send list at /verify. Every address gets a live mailbox check, and valid, risky and invalid download as separate files. The first 100 email checks are free with a Google sign-in, no card.
- Send only to the valid file.
How do I write a CAN-SPAM compliant email footer?
- Enter the business name and the postal address you use for mail.
- Pick your sending platform's unsubscribe merge tag, or paste your own unsubscribe URL.
- Add the optional lines: preferences link, why the reader gets the email, a contact address, and the ad notice for promotional mail without opt-in.
- Copy the HTML into your template's footer and the plain text into the text version.
Example
- You enter
- Business
Northwind Traders, a two-line address on Market Street, Springfield, IL 62701, the Mailchimp*|UNSUB|*tag,*|UPDATE_PROFILE|*as the preferences link, a signed-up-at reason line andhello@northwind.exampleas the contact. - You get
- A one-table HTML footer with role="presentation", 14px #555555 text and underlined links, and a plain-text version. The CAN-SPAM checks pass on all three: the unsubscribe link, the postal address and a contact method.
- Limits
- Runs in your browser as you type; nothing is sent anywhere.
What does CAN-SPAM require in an email footer?
The FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide asks every commercial email for a valid physical postal address (a street address, a P.O. box registered with the USPS, or a registered private mailbox) and a clear, conspicuous way to opt out of future email that keeps working for at least 30 days after the send. Commercial email must also be identified as an advertisement unless the recipient gave prior affirmative consent, which is what the ad-notice option adds.
Canada's anti-spam law, CASL, additionally asks for the sender's name and one of a phone number, email address or web address, as the CRTC explains. Add the contact line if you mail anyone in Canada.
Which unsubscribe merge tag should I use?
The one your sending platform documents, so each reader gets a personal link: *|UNSUB|* in Mailchimp, {{ unsubscribe_link }} in HubSpot, %UNSUBSCRIBELINK% in ActiveCampaign, <%asm_group_unsubscribe_raw_url%> for SendGrid unsubscribe groups sent through the Email API, and {{{unsubscribe}}} in SendGrid Marketing Campaigns (SendGrid says never to use the ASM tags there). Other platforms use their own tag; choose "my own unsubscribe URL" and paste it. The footer link is the visible opt-out; Gmail and Yahoo also require a one-click List-Unsubscribe header for bulk marketing mail, which the List-Unsubscribe header generator writes.
A reply-to-opt-out footer is offered for one-to-one cold email. CAN-SPAM accepts a return email address as the opt-out if every request is honoured within 10 business days, but it is not enough for bulk marketing mail to Gmail and Yahoo.
How is the footer built?
As one table with role="presentation", paragraphs with inline styles (14px Arial, your text colour, underlined links) and no images, so it survives Gmail, Outlook and plain-text views, and passes the email accessibility checker. Everything you type is escaped; merge tags are written exactly as your platform expects them.
Who uses this tool, and for what?
- Small businesses
- Get a footer with the address and opt-out the law asks for without hand-writing HTML.
- Cold emailers
- Add a short plain-text footer with a postal address and a reply opt-out to each sequence step.
- Email developers
- Drop a table-based footer with the right merge tag into a template for Mailchimp or HubSpot.
- Agencies
- Build the same compliant footer for each client's platform in a minute.
What can’t this tool tell you?
- It isn't legal advice, and it covers CAN-SPAM and CASL basics only.
- Merge tags are listed as each platform documents them; check yours if a link comes out blank.
- The one-click List-Unsubscribe header is set in your sending tool, not in the footer.
- It can't tell whether the addresses you send to exist.
Common questions
- Is a P.O. box enough for CAN-SPAM?
- Yes, if it is registered with the US Postal Service. A private mailbox registered with a commercial mail receiving agency also counts.
- Do I need to say the email is an advertisement?
- CAN-SPAM requires commercial email to be identified as an ad unless the recipient gave prior affirmative consent. Newsletters to subscribers who opted in usually don't need the notice; promotional mail to people who didn't opt in does.
- Do I need a footer in cold emails?
- Commercial cold email to US recipients is covered by CAN-SPAM, so it needs a postal address and an opt-out. Many cold emailers use a short plain-text footer with a reply-based opt-out.
- Is this legal advice?
- No. It builds a footer with the elements the FTC and CRTC list; check your own obligations, especially outside the US and Canada.
Sources
A tidy list can still be full of dead addresses.
Extracting, deduplicating and syntax checks all work on the text of an address. None of them can tell whether the mailbox exists. Only the server that hosts it can answer that, through an SMTP check, and that is what the paid product does.
- Upload the cleaned file as it is: CSVs up to 100,000 rows
- A real SMTP mailbox check on every row, with catch-all detection
- Small list? Starter at $9/mo covers 2,500 emails a month, cancel anytime
Plans from $9 a month, cancel anytime, no contract. Sign in with Google and your first 100 email checks are free, no card. The free tools stay free either way.