Campaign Monitor is an Australian email marketing platform serving mid-market agencies and design-forward brands with strong template creation tools and multi-client management. The unsubscribe mechanism uses the <unsubscribe> pseudo-tag in HTML templates, which Campaign Monitor replaces at send time with a personalized opt-out URL. Preference center support lets subscribers manage per-list subscriptions instead of full opt-out. RFC 8058 one-click compliance is automatic for marketing sends once the sending domain is authenticated. Campaign Monitor is now part of Marigold along with Emma, Selligent, and Vuture.
Campaign Monitor unsubscribe link
| Tag syntax | <unsubscribe>Unsubscribe</unsubscribe> |
| Placement | Auto-embedded in every campaign footer |
| Scope | Per-list opt-out with cross-list preference center |
| Config path | Account settings > Client settings > Unsubscribe settings |
| RFC 8058 one-click | Yes, automatic once sending domain is authenticated |
How to add the unsubscribe tag in Campaign Monitor
Place the merge tag exactly as shown below in the email template. Campaign Monitor replaces it at send time with a signed URL scoped to the recipient and campaign.
<unsubscribe>Unsubscribe</unsubscribe>For custom HTML templates, wrap the tag in an anchor to render a proper hyperlink in the delivered email:
<a href="<unsubscribe>Unsubscribe</unsubscribe>">Unsubscribe from this list</a>Auto-embedded in every campaign footer
Yes, automatic once sending domain is authenticated The recipient's mailbox provider (Gmail, Yahoo) uses the List-Unsubscribe-Post header to expose the native one-click button on the message. Requires domain authentication with DKIM and DMARC.
The <unsubscribe> tag is HTML-tag-shaped, not a merge field. If your HTML template escapes angle brackets (some code editors do), the tag becomes literal text in the delivered email. Paste the tag directly in the source HTML and disable auto-escape in the template editor.
Testing your Campaign Monitor unsubscribe link
- Send a test message to a controlled Gmail address you own via the Campaign Monitor campaign preview action
- Click the footer unsubscribe link and confirm the opt-out on the landing page
- Check the subscriber or contact record: the status should be Unsubscribed within seconds
- Verify the RFC 8058 headers in Gmail: open the message, click three dots, then Show original. Look for
List-UnsubscribeandList-Unsubscribe-Post: List-Unsubscribe=One-Click
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See the pillar guide with the compliance landscape, the RFC 8058 deep dive, and the unsubscribe tag for every ESP: How to add an unsubscribe link: the complete 2026 guide →
How Campaign Monitor handles unsubscribes
Campaign Monitor uses the <unsubscribe>…</unsubscribe> personalization tag to mark the anchor text and link destination that should be replaced with a subscriber-specific unsubscribe URL at send time. Any HTML template imported to Campaign Monitor must contain this tag exactly once, or the send is rejected. The platform then generates a signed URL for each recipient, routing clicks to a Campaign Monitor-hosted preference page where the subscriber confirms the opt-out.
Custom preference centers and list scoping
Campaign Monitor supports two opt-out models: list-scoped (unsubscribe only from the current campaign list) and account-scoped (unsubscribe from every list in the account). The default is list-scoped, appropriate for senders operating multiple independent audiences. Account-scoped is preferred when the account represents a single brand and honoring one unsubscribe across all lists reduces complaint rates. Both models integrate with a custom preference center, hosted either on Campaign Monitor infrastructure or on the sender own domain via the Preference Center feature.
One-click headers and modern deliverability
Campaign Monitor implements RFC 8058 one-click unsubscribe automatically on all sending domains that have completed the DKIM and SPF authentication process in the Deliverability settings. The List-Unsubscribe and List-Unsubscribe-Post headers are added to every message. This is required for bulk sending to Gmail and Yahoo since February 2024. Senders that skip domain authentication lose access to one-click headers and see measurable deliverability degradation.
Testing the unsubscribe flow
The most reliable test is to send a preview to a personal inbox on Gmail or Outlook.com, then inspect raw headers for List-Unsubscribe entries. Clicking the visible unsubscribe link should land on a Campaign Monitor-hosted page confirming removal within seconds. If the link 404s or the confirmation page shows an error, the underlying template is missing or malformed <unsubscribe> tags. Campaign Monitor also provides a per-campaign complaints and unsubscribes report accessible from the campaign summary.
About the Author
Alaa · LinkedIn
Email infrastructure specialist with 8+ years of hands-on experience in SMTP, deliverability, and email verification. I’ve configured and troubleshot mail systems across Postfix, Exchange, and cloud relays, managed IP reputation and warmup campaigns, and built verification pipelines processing millions of addresses. My work spans DNS authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, BIMI), bounce handling, blocklist monitoring, and compliance frameworks including CAN-SPAM and GDPR. I write every article on SMTPedia to give email professionals, developers, and marketers the accurate, RFC-grounded reference they need.
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