Understand the Update Profile link within an email footer

See how the Update Profile link works, view it from your contacts' perspective, and learn how to keep it updated with your branding

Important: We're in the process of rolling out updates of the Update Profile Form to our customers. If your account settings don't look the same, please follow the steps in this article instead.

Keeping your contact list up to date isn't easy. Eventually, the information you have on file for some contacts will become outdated. The Update Profile Form gives your contacts the chance to update their information and list preferences themselves through your email footer.

• How does the Update Profile Form work?
• What do my contacts see when they click the "Update Profile" link?
• How do I enable the "Update Profile" footer link
• How do I customize the Update Profile Email
• How do I customize the Update Profile Form

How does the Update Profile Form work?

By default, an "Update Profile" link is enabled in the footer of all your emails. When a contact clicks the link, they're first asked to confirm they want to update their information, then sent an Update Profile Email with a unique link to a personalized Update Profile Form. This form lets them:

• Fill in or update the contact details they want you to have, such as first and last name, company, and birthday.
• Add themselves to email lists that fit their interests.
• Remove themselves from lists that no longer interest them, without unsubscribing from all of your emails.

Once a contact submits the Update Profile Form, their contact record within your account is updated to reflect their responses.

Did you know? The Update Profile link is something your contacts discover on their own, but you can also make them more aware of it. Consider sending them a dedicated email with instructions to click the link in your footer. For example: "Help us keep your information up to date! Click the "Update Profile" link in the footer of this email to update your contact details and to let us know what content you're interested in receiving." Alternatively, you can make the Update Profile Link the main call-to-action in your email by inserting a text link, button, or clickable image, and then pasting the [[updateLink]] variable tag into the Link URL field.

What do my contacts see when they click the "Update Profile" link?

1. A contact clicks the “Update Profile” link in the footer of your email.
   
   
   
   
2. The contact is taken to a page to confirm they want to update their contact information, and must click the Submit button to proceed. When the button is clicked, they're presented with a confirmation page reminding them to check their email.
   
   
   
   
3. The contact then receives an email with a button to access the Update Profile Form, and must click the button to proceed.
   Note: We send an Update Profile Email instead of linking directly to the Update Profile Form in the footer to prevent anyone who isn't your contact from updating and submitting the form. For example, if your contact forwards your email and the recipient of the forward clicks the "Update Profile" link in the footer, the Update Profile Email is sent to the email address you have on file for the original contact, and the forwarded contact can't make any changes.
   
   
   
   
4. Once they click the link in the email, they’re taken to the Update Profile Form, where they can update their contact information and select the specific mailing lists they want to be part of if the feature is enabled. If a contact doesn't select a list they're currently on, they're removed from that list. After they submit the form, they see a "Thank you" message confirming their contact profile has been updated.
   
   
   
   

How do I enable the "Update Profile" footer link?

The "Update Profile" link in the email footer is automatically enabled for your account, so you don't need to take any further action. However, you can disable it at any time through the footer settings found in your account settings.

How do I customize the Update Profile Email?

The content of the Update Profile Email is standard, but you can make additional edits to add your logo and brand colors, and to adjust the email copy, subject line, and preheader.

1. From your account settings, click the Advanced settings tab.
2. In the Subscriber emails & pages section, click the Manage button.
   
   
   
   
3. Next to the Update Subscriber Profile option, click "Edit."
   
   
   
   
4. In the email editor, use the Build, Images, and Design tabs to add branding and content to your email.
   Important: You can click the "Update Your Profile" button to use the button controls to change the color, add a border, or add text styles, etc, but the button link can't be edited, and the button can't be deleted.
5. (Optional) Click the "Email settings" option to change the subject line and add a preheader.
6. Click the Continue button.
   
   
   
   
7. Review your Campaign Info.
8. Click the Activate button.
   
   
   
   

How do I customize the Update Profile Form?

The Update Profile Form can be customized from within your account settings. You can add your logo, choose a theme, select the contact information you want to collect, and select the lists that you want your contacts to self-select into or out of. The logo, theme, and list affiliations you choose for your Update Profile Form are also applied to your Unsubscribe Form. This lets contacts who click the "Unsubscribe" link choose to unsubscribe from all your lists or from a particular list instead.

Follow these steps to customize the Subscriber Form:

• Customize the Subscriber form used with the Unsubscribe and Update Profile links within an email footer

Important: The Update Profile Form isn't automatically updated when you make changes to list or contact fields in your sign-up form. If you do make changes to your sign-up form, be sure to make the same changes to your Update Profile Form to keep them consistent.

Questions?