Reviewing my own inbox, I see plenty of transactional emails from big senders that don't have one-click unsubscribe headers. I would argue that it's misleading to put a one-click unsubscribe header on a transactional email since clicking it won't actually stop you getting transactional email. Best to keep the link in the footer that we have now which allows us to add context about what you're unsubscribing from.

Email team is in process of figuring out what we want to do here. I'll update when more info comes in.

Per Danny: We have just received confirmation that we can remove the unsubscribe for the receipt email in the US. Chuck Roslof in legal is checking with the privacy team if we can do the same in the EU and will let us know by 1/31/24.

Latest per Danny: We have to include unsub links in all emails to EU donors, but we can take them out of US transactional emails.

sigh - that's probably the worst of all worlds from a tech POV - do we HAVE To take them out of the US transactional emails? Is it OK to be consistent on all?

(copied from T223330)
@AKanji-WMF, @XenoRyet , @DBu-WMF Can you help us determine the current requirements for an unsubscribe page? The patch in review uses a link with a contact ID and a checksum like those for the email prefs pages, then has the donor fill in their email and click to confirm the unsubscribe.

Since @DBu-WMF has confirmed we can take off the unsubscribe link in the footer of the transactional emails for the US, this will be used for whatever remaining markets we need to include it in the transactional emails.

• What should we have on the link? The contact ID / checksum combo will prevent people from unsubscribing other contact's emails - but do we need to allow people to unsubscribe arbitrary email addresses even if they don't match the contact?
• Should the email address be pre-populated? Someone from the email team a few years ago said we could leave it blank, but requirements may have changed.
• Should we require the click to confirm?

Cross-posting from an email to fr-tech

• Danny confirmed with legal that we don't need 1-click unsubscribe on transactional messages in the US; but do need a link to an unsubscribe mechanism in the EU

• Our aspiration is to have eventually have a one-stop shop for all supporters to manage their email preferences (including the ability to unsubscribe). We'd want this consistent across all types of emails we send (bar ad-hoc).

• Danny and I have spoken about having a consistent "manage your communications/unsubscribe" link that would link to the donorprefernces.wikimedia.org page - we'd like to eventually have this be consistent across all emails sent out. This should be a footer in all transactional emails we send .

• This unsubscribe page is what has been mocked up in this task - which looks good [thank you!] however, as Danny and I have spoken with other stakeholders about the broader needs around communications preferences, we've determined that a more consistent user experience (which would also be in line with requirements) is to direct supporters who click the "manage your communications/unsubscribe" to instead link to the email preferences page (example here). Over time this page will offer more options for supporters to manage communications preferences beyond unsubscribing. Please let us know if there's a specific reason we're not seeing to go forward with the basic unsubscribe page that's been mocked up.

To respond to some of the questions in this comment:

What should we have on the link? The contact ID / checksum combo will prevent people from unsubscribing other contact's emails - but do we need to allow people to unsubscribe arbitrary email addresses even if they don't match the contact?  THESE SHOULD MATCH THE CONTACT AND BE PREPOPULATED - IS THERE ANY REASON WE'RE SUGGESTING LEAVING IT BLANK?
Should the email address be pre-populated? Someone from the email team a few years ago said we could leave it blank, but requirements may have changed.
Should we require the click to confirm? DO YOU MEAN SHOULD THE WORKFLOW BE: CLICK UNSUBSCRIBE->LAND ON PAGE->TOGGLE UNSUBSCRIBE-> PUSH SAVE PREFERENCES? IF SO, THEN YES, LET'S REQUIRE THE CLICK TO CONFIRM

• We believe that offering all supporters a link to the "manage communications preferences" page in the footer of all transactional emails complies with legals requirements to offer this in the EU, and goes beyond what Google requires for transactional emails. We may consider adding copy to qualify that even if a supporter unsubscribes, they may continue to receive certain transactional emails from us.