Your email messages must meet minimum validation requirements before you can send them, ensuring they are both deliverable and compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act. Act-On has built-in validation features that display whether each requirement is met.

To review your email validation:

In the new Email Composer, in the upper right corner, click Review & Send.
For emails created in the legacy email composer, click the Review tab & on the left, open Validate Message.

A validation summary appears. Validation requirements include:

Sender details (also known as From Address)
Subject
Recipients
Content
Anti-spam requirements
- Sender Name and Address
- HTML and Text Opt-Out Links
Deliverability concerns
- Test Message Has (Not) Been Sent (Recommendation only)
No Category Selected (Recommendation only, when using the Subscription Management feature)

Validate in the New Email Composer

Example in the new Email Composer - this message is not ready to send:

		Requirement not met and must be resolved.
		Requirement met and the message can be sent.
		Recommended but not required.

In the Review email screen of the new Email Composer, there is a summary of critical errors & warnings at the top & a preview of the email content on the right. You can also:

Go Back to editing (top left).
Preview your email (top right). See Preview Mode.
Test email (top right). See Send a Test Email Message.
Run spam check (bottom). Scan your email for hundreds of possible spam issues before you hit send.
Check personalization (bottom). Check for errors in your personalized content to make sure everything works as you’d expect.

Validate Legacy Emails

Example for emails created in the legacy email composer - this message is not ready to send:

		Requirement not met and must be resolved.
		Requirement met and the message can be sent.
		Recommended but not required.

How to Resolve Missing Requirements

Sender Details

In the Review email screen of the new Email Composer, click Edit sender.
For legacy emails, in the Address tab, select a From Address in the Sender drop-down:

Additional Sender errors:

"Personalized From can only be the sender for lists with Contact Owner Email and Name."

You must edit the list and identify the Contact Owner Name and Contact Owner Email fields.
More information: Personalized From Addresses.

"Salesforce Owner can only be the sender for Salesforce lists."

First, make sure your Contact list is imported from Salesforce. Then, check to make sure you are properly set up using the guide here: Send personalized emails on behalf of your team via Salesforce ownership.

Reply-to

See Use a Reply-To Address in your Emails.

Subject

In the Review email screen of the new Email Composer, click Edit subject.
For legacy emails, in the Address tab, enter your email's Subject Line:

Here are some of our recommended best practices: Tips for Email Subject Lines.

Recipients

In the Review email screen of the new Email Composer, click Edit recipients.
For legacy emails, in the Address tab, choose a list/segment and/or specific contacts from the options:

Make sure to review suppressions here as well.

The list or segment must have an Email Address field mapped. Learn more.

Content

The message body must have content. Additional content checks include:

Dynamic Content

A blank Else condition can cause the message to show no content to some contacts.
More information: Creating Dynamic Content in Email Messages

RSS Blocks

An RSS Block is required when using RSS-to-Email.
More information: RSS to Email

Signature Validation

If the signature in the email is not account-wide, other users may not be able to see it. This warning will show when an email message uses a personal signature. These are intended for personal use only (eg 1-to-1 emails such as with Act-On Anywhere). To address the warning, you can update the message to use an Account signature if needed.
More information: Using Email Signatures

Anti-Spam Requirements

The message content must include an opt-out link, company name, and physical mailing address.

Sender Name & Address in both HTML and Plain Text (CAN-SPAM)

There are two common errors with address validation, each with a different solution.

Address is Undefined

This indicates the account setup is incomplete and the default account address has not been configured yet. See Setting Profile and Account Information.

Cannot Identify Address

Your company's address is set up on the account but not present in the message.

Review your message footer and ensure it contains the address personalization:
```
{{Account.BIZ_ADDRESS}}
```
Next, update the plain text version of your message footer to include this as well.
More instructions here: Editing the Text Version of an Email Message.
Navigate back to Review to re-validate.

More information: Error message: Cannot identify your address in your message.

Opt-Out Links in both HTML and Plain Text (CAN-SPAM)

Act-On's Opt-Out link is required in all outbound messages unless you are using Transactional Email. If you choose to suppress the Footer in an email message, you need to ensure CAN-SPAM Act compliance by including your company name, a physical mailing address, and a clearly marked opt-out link somewhere within the body of your message. The Act-On system will not send an email message if it detects non-compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act.

You may see this error if:

Your Custom Footer is missing the Opt-Out link
The Plain Text version of your message does not include the Opt-Out link
Your email has no Footer and the Opt-Out link is not present elsewhere in the message
You have recently changed your Custom Marketing Domain (this can change your Opt-Out link)
You are attempting to use an Opt-Out link copied from a Sent Message (Opt-Out links are variable and change for each message and recipient, so this is not recommended!)

To correct this:

Update your Email Footer following these instructions: How to Add an Opt-Out Link
Next, update the Plain Text version of your Email Footer to include this as well. More instructions here: Editing the Plain Text Version of an Email Message
To insert your opt-out link outside of the footer, insert it as a personalization field. Learn more.

How to Validate an Email for Sending