Email Campaign Brief Template (Consent, Unsubscribe, CAN-SPAM)

Objective, message plan, audience groups with consent or legal basis, sender identity, content checks, unsubscribe and RFC 8058 headers, deliverability, results

Tiếp thịChuẩnCAN-SPAM (16 CFR 316); ePrivacy Art. 13; UK PECR reg. 22; RFC 8058email campaign briefCập nhật 29 thg 10, 2026

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Cách dùng: Use it when planning a marketing email or short sequence. Fill the audience groups and their legal basis first, and drop any group without evidence. The main pitfall is mailing an imported event or partner list as if everyone had opted in.

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Email Campaign Brief: [Campaign name]

A brief for one marketing email or a short sequence: objective, audience and list source, the consent or legal basis for each recipient group, sender identity, message plan, unsubscribe and suppression, deliverability checks, measurement and approvals. Based on common email marketing practice, with legal checks that cite US (CAN-SPAM Act), EU (ePrivacy Directive Article 13) and UK (PECR regulation 22) rules and the RFC 8058 one-click unsubscribe standard as dated examples. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example. This is a documentation format, not legal advice: check the current official text and ask a qualified professional.

Document control

Field	Value
Document ID	[EML-YYYY-NN]
Campaign	[Campaign name]
Campaign code (UTM)	[Example: 2026q4-ap-automation-launch]
Type	[One-off / Sequence of N / Triggered]
Send window	YYYY-MM-DD to YYYY-MM-DD
Version	[0.1]
Status	[Draft / Approved / Sent / Closed]
Owner	[@lifecycle-owner]
Reviewers	[@brand], [@privacy-or-legal]
Last updated	YYYY-MM-DD

Approvals

Role	Name	Decision	Date
Campaign owner	[@owner]	[Approved]	YYYY-MM-DD
Privacy or legal reviewer (section 3 and 6)	[@privacy]	[Approved / Changes]	YYYY-MM-DD
Final send approval (after seed test)	[@owner]	[Go / No go]	YYYY-MM-DD

Revision history

Version	Date	Author	Change
0.1	YYYY-MM-DD	[@owner]	First draft
[0.2] (Example)	YYYY-MM-DD	[@owner]	Removed group AUD-03, no consent record

1. Objective and success measures

Goal ID	Objective	KPI	Target	Guardrail
EG-01 (Example)	Book demos from trial users who stalled	Demo requests from campaign links	40	Unsubscribe rate under 0.5% per send
[EG-02]	[objective]	[KPI]	[target]	[guardrail]

Example forecast: 20,000 sendable contacts x 2.5% click rate = 500 clicks; 500 x 8% demo conversion = 40 demo requests.

2. Message plan

Email ID	Send day	Job	Subject line	Preheader	Call to action	Owner
EM-01 (Example)	Day 0	Show the feature they missed	Approve invoices from your inbox	Two clicks, no login	Watch the 2-minute demo	[@copy]
EM-02 (Example)	Day 4	Proof	How a 40-person finance team closed a day faster	A customer story	Read the story	[@copy]
EM-03 (Example)	Day 9	Ask	Want us to set it up with you?	20 minutes with a specialist	Book a demo	[@copy]
[EM-04]	[day]	[job]	[subject]	[preheader]	[CTA]	[@owner]

Exit rule: [Example: anyone who books a demo, unsubscribes or replies leaves the sequence immediately].

3. Audience, list source and legal basis

Group ID	Description	Collected via	Countries	Basis claimed	Evidence held	Include?
AUD-01 (Example)	Trial users who ticked the marketing opt-in	Sign-up form	EU, UK, US	Consent	Timestamp, form version, wording	Yes
AUD-02 (Example)	Paying customers, similar product	Purchase	UK	Existing customer exception, opt-out offered at collection	Order record, opt-out shown at checkout	Yes, with legal check
AUD-03 (Example)	Badge scans from a trade show	Event partner	EU	None recorded	No opt-in evidence	No
AUD-04 (Example)	US business contacts from webinar registration	Webinar form	US	Commercial email with opt-out (CAN-SPAM)	Registration record	Yes
[AUD-05]	[description]	[source]	[countries]	[basis]	[evidence]	[Yes / No]

Questions to answer with the reviewer (rules as of October 2026):

EU: Directive 2002/58/EC Article 13(1) generally requires prior consent for marketing email to individuals; Article 13(2) allows a narrow existing-customer exception for similar products when an opt-out was offered at collection and in every message. National laws implement these rules and differ, including for business addresses. Which countries are in each group?
UK: PECR regulation 22 sets similar rules, and the ICO guidance explains the "soft opt-in" for existing customers. The ICO says its PECR guidance is under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. Have you checked the current ICO page?
US: the CAN-SPAM Act (15 U.S.C. 7701 and following; FTC rule 16 CFR Part 316) is opt-out based, but every commercial message must meet the identity, address and opt-out rules in sections 4 and 6.
All: is the list personal data under GDPR or UK GDPR, with a privacy notice at collection and a processing agreement with the email service provider (legal-lite/dpa)?

Example audience size: 24,000 contacts in scope, minus 1,150 earlier unsubscribes, 480 hard bounces and 2,370 contacts in AUD-03 = 20,000 sendable.

4. Sender identity

Field	Value
From name	[Example: Mira at Larkspan]
From address	[Example: mira@news.larkspan.example]
Reply-to	[Example: a monitored inbox, not no-reply]
Sending domain and subdomain	[Example: news.larkspan.example, aligned with DKIM]
Legal entity name in footer	[Legal sender name]
Valid physical postal address	[street address, registered PO box or registered private mailbox]
Advertisement identification	[Example: not needed for AUD-01 with prior consent; check for other groups under CAN-SPAM]

5. Content and accessibility checks

Subject line and preheader honestly describe the content.
Every claim (time saved, customer results) has a documented source; customer names used with written permission.
Single-column layout readable at 320 pixels wide.
Every image has alt text, and the email makes sense with images off.
Text contrast meets WCAG 2.2 SC 1.4.3 (contrast minimum).
Link text says where it goes, not "click here".
Plain-text version generated and proofread.
Links tagged with the UTM convention; no personal data in URLs.

6. Unsubscribe and suppression

Requirement	Rule or source (as of October 2026)	How we meet it
Opt-out in every message	CAN-SPAM; ePrivacy Art. 13; PECR reg. 22	[Example: footer link plus header]
Opt-out honoured within 10 business days, link working at least 30 days after sending	CAN-SPAM (FTC compliance guide)	[Example: suppression in under 24 hours]
One-click unsubscribe headers	RFC 8058 (January 2017): `List-Unsubscribe` with an HTTPS URI and `List-Unsubscribe-Post: List-Unsubscribe=One-Click`, both covered by DKIM	[Example: set by the email service provider; verified in raw headers]
Visible unsubscribe link in the body	Google email sender guidelines for senders of 5,000 or more messages a day, enforced from 2024-02-01	[Example: footer link]
Suppression list applied to every send	Practice	[Example: global suppression synced hourly]

Header pair (Example):

List-Unsubscribe: <https://larkspan.example/u/opaque-token>
List-Unsubscribe-Post: List-Unsubscribe=One-Click

7. Deliverability and send checks

SPF, DKIM and DMARC pass; From domain aligned with SPF or DKIM.
Spam complaint rate in the provider's postmaster tool below 0.1% (Google's stated target; its requirement is below 0.3%). Example: on 20,000 sends, 0.1% is 20 complaints and 0.3% is 60.
New sending domain or IP warmed up gradually.
Send time set in the recipient's time zone where possible.
Seed test reviewed in desktop and mobile clients; links and tracking work.

8. Measurement and results

Metric	Definition	Target	Actual
Delivered rate (Example)	Delivered / sent	98%	[N%]
Click rate (Example)	Unique clickers / delivered	2.5%	[N%]
Demo requests (Example)	Demo forms with campaign UTM	40	[N]
Unsubscribe rate (Example)	Unsubscribes / delivered, per email	Under 0.5%	[N%]
Spam complaint rate (Example)	Complaints / delivered	Under 0.1%	[N%]
[metric]	[definition]	[target]	[actual]

Lessons and decisions: [what to repeat, change or drop].

9. References and related templates

Checked 2026-10-30:

FTC, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business
Directive 2002/58/EC (ePrivacy Directive), Article 13: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32002L0058
ICO, Electronic mail marketing (PECR): https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/guide-to-pecr/electronic-and-telephone-marketing/electronic-mail-marketing/
CAP Code section 2, Recognition of marketing communications: https://www.asa.org.uk/type/non_broadcast/code_section/02.html
RFC 8058, Signaling One-Click Functionality for List Email Headers: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8058
Google, Email sender guidelines: https://support.google.com/a/answer/81126
Related templates: writing/newsletter, marketing/campaign-brief, marketing/marketing-measurement-plan, marketing/landing-page, legal-lite/privacy-policy, legal-lite/dpa, compliance/gdpr-ropa.

Standard and licence note

Based on public law, regulator guidance and open standards cited as dated examples: the US CAN-SPAM Act and FTC guidance, EU Directive 2002/58/EC Article 13, UK PECR regulation 22 and ICO guidance, the UK CAP Code section 2, IETF RFC 8058 and Google's email sender guidelines. The text is original and paraphrases those sources. Rules and provider requirements change: check the current official version before each campaign. This is not legal advice. Template licence: MIT.

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