Commercial unsubscribe
Learn how to manage commercial email unsubscribe functionality in Knock.
Knock provides built-in support for commercial email unsubscribe functionality, allowing recipients to opt out of promotional or commercial messages with a single click.
How commercial unsubscribe works#
When you mark a workflow or broadcast as commercial, Knock automatically handles the necessary unsubscribe functionality:
- Adds required unsubscribe headers to all emails sent through that workflow or broadcast.
- Provides an unsubscribe URL variable that can be included in your email templates.
- Manages recipient opt-outs during preference set evaluation.
Configuring commercial workflows#
To enable commercial unsubscribe functionality for a workflow or broadcast:
- Navigate to the workflow or broadcast.
- For a workflow, click "Manage workflow." For a broadcast, click "Edit details."
- Toggle "Commercial."
- Save your changes.
- For a workflow, commit your changes.
Once enabled, Knock will automatically include the necessary unsubscribe headers in all emails sent through that workflow.
Adding unsubscribe links to emails#
Using footer links#
When configuring an email layout using the visual editor, you can toggle the "Include commercial unsubscribe link" input to include the unsubscribe link.

Using the code editor#
You can add an unsubscribe link to your email layouts or templates using the built-in variable:
You can conditionally include the link by checking if the variable is present:
Configuring the confirmation page#
When a user unsubscribes by clicking the unsubscribe link, Knock displays a confirmation page showing they have been successfully unsubscribed from commercial messages. You can customize this page by navigating to Developers > Preferences, then clicking the Unsubscribe tab.
Preference evaluation rules#
When a recipient clicks the unsubscribe link, their default
preference set will be updated, marking commercial_unsubscribe
as true
. They will be opted-out of commercial messages, and they will continue to receive transactional messages based on their other preferences.
This recipient-level preference will take precedence over other environment or tenant preferences. Learn more about preference merging.
Learn more#
To learn more about managing recipient preferences and building preference centers with Knock, visit our preferences overview.