Customizing Emails and Landing Pages

We offer a variety of built-in phishing emails and landing pages within the console, but you also have the option to create and manage your own phishing emails and landing pages. Read the article below or watch our Customization of Phishing Templates and Landing Pages video to learn more.

Jump to:
Managing Email Templates
Creating and Editing Email Templates
Managing Landing Pages
Creating and Editing Landing Pages

Managing Email Templates

In this section, we will go over how to manage your email templates and use our provided system templates. Log in to your KnowBe4 console and go to the Phishing tab then click on the Email Templates tab. This tab is split into three sections: My Templates, System Templates, and Community Templates.

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My Templates

The My Templates section contains all the templates that you have created or edited, any custom categories you’ve added, and the option to create a new template.

1. Drafts is the category where newly created templates are saved by default. However, You cannot select this category when creating a phishing test campaign. To use a custom template within a phishing campaign, you’ll need to move the template to another category.
2. + Add New Category allows you to create a new category. Click this button then, in the field that displays, type the new category name and click Save.
3. Category Options appear when you hover over a category name. Use these options to:
   • Edit the category name.
   • Delete the category.
     • Templates within a deleted category will be moved back to the Drafts category.
   • Hide the category to remove it from the list. A hidden category cannot be used within your phishing test campaigns. For more details on hiding template categories, click here.
4. Selecting Template(s) opens a header at the top of this section where you have the option to move, share, export, and delete templates.
   • Share allows you to submit the selected template(s) so that it can be shared with the community. All templates are moderated before they are added to Community Templates.
   • Export allows you to download the selected template(s) as a .ET file
   • Delete permanently deletes the selected template(s).
   • Move to category drop-down allows you to move the selected templates to a different category. Select the category and click Move.
5. Template Name opens the template in the What You See is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor.
6. Action options for each template include:
   • Preview Template opens a popup window that shows will look like when it reaches your user’s inbox.
   • Hide/Show Template the template to remove it from view and disable the use of this template within your phishing test campaigns. For more details on hiding templates, click here.
7. Search for a specific template by searching for keywords within the template title. You can also sort templates by clicking the table headers.
8. +Create Phishing Template opens the New Phishing Email Template window.

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System Templates

The System Templates section contains professionally created templates for you to use in your phishing campaigns. You can also edit these templates to customize them for your organization.

1. System Categories are organized by type and by language. Select a category to see a list of the email templates within that category
2. Hide the category to remove it from view and disable the use of this category within your phishing test campaigns. For more details on hiding template categories, click here.
3. Selecting Template(s) opens a header at the top of this section where you can add the selected templates to one of your custom categories. Select the category and click Add.
4. Template Name opens the template in our template editor.
   • When editing a system template, a copy of the template is made and the original system template will remain unchanged.
   • Once saved, the edited template will be added to your Drafts category under My Templates. The original will remain in the System Templates section.
5. Sort the templates by clicking on the column headers. See the following list for examples:
   • Sort by difficulty rating to decide how difficult the phishing tests will be for your users to detect.
   • Sort by the date templates to find the newest templates within a category.
6. Action options for each template include:
   • Preview Template will open a popup window that shows how the template will appear to your users.
   • Hide/Show Template can be clicked to remove the template from view and disables the use of this template within your phishing test campaigns. For more details on hiding templates, click here.
7. Search for a specific template by searching for keywords within the template title. You can also sort templates by clicking the table headers.

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Categories labeled Not-PST (Phishing Security Test)

There are two types of system templates that are not intended to be used as phishing emails. Instead, the emails in the Security Hints & Tips and Scam of the Week categories help you reinforce best practices and general security knowledge.

Security Hints and Tips emails support overall security awareness by covering one broad topic a month.

Scam of the Week emails educate users on specific real-world scams and explain how to stay safe from cybercriminals. This template is updated weekly with the latest scam your users should be on the lookout for.

We recommend using recurring monthly and weekly phishing campaigns for these categories. The emails can be sent as a KnowBe4 email or can be rebranded and sent from an official in-house email.

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Community Templates

The Community Templates section contains user-submitted templates that were reviewed by KnowBe4 and verified for quality. These emails will not appear in your campaign’s drop-down by default.

To use a community-created template, click the checkbox next to one or more email templates and use the Add to Category drop-down at the top-right to select which categories you'd like the template added to. Use the Add button next to the drop-down menu to copy the selected templates into the selected categories under the My Templates tab.

Submitting a Template to the Community:

We actively encourage our customers to create their own templates for the most effective phishing tests. If you create an email template that you think would be useful to other organizations, click the checkbox to the left of your template and click the Share button to share your template with the community. Once shared, it will automatically be submitted for approval.

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Creating and Editing Email Templates

In the My Templates area, you are given the option to create your own email templates from scratch. Click the + Create Phishing Template button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. This launches the WYSIWYG editor.

1. Language (optional): From this drop-down menu, you can select which language this template was written in. Templates with a language selected will be available for use in localized phishing campaigns.
   • When copying a system or community template, this drop-down will automatically populate with the language for that template. 
2. Template Name (optional): You can give your template a name to help you identify it. This field is not visible when users receive the phishing email.
3. Sender's Email Address: Use this field to change the address the email will appear to be coming from. You can use any email address you’d like.
4. Sender's Name (optional): You can enter a Sender’s Name which will appear on the phishing email. This name will be displayed next to the sender’s email address in the email.
5. Reply-To Email Address (optional): You can add an email address that you would like the user to reply to when they click “Reply”. This email address will be overwritten by our system-generated email address so we can capture replies if you have our Reply-To feature turned on. When a user clicks reply, they will see the system-generated email address in the “To” field.
6. Reply-To Name (optional): Enter text here to add a reply-to name. This name will only be used if you use our Reply-To feature. When a user replies to this email, the “To” field will automatically populate with the name you entered in this field.
7. Subject: This is the email’s subject line that the recipient will see in their inbox. This field will also be used as the title of the template if you do not enter a template name.
8. Attachment Filename (optional): If you use an attachment, use this field to enter a name for the attachment. An example template would prompt the user to open the file, i.e. “Payroll Q4” or “Revised layoff list”. You do not need to include the file extension in the file name. You cannot use placeholders in attachment filenames.
9. Attachment Type (optional): If you would like to add one of our attachments to your custom phishing email, specify the type of attachment you want to use. See our Creating and Managing Phishing Campaigns article for more information on Attachment Tests.
   
   Note: When resizing images, some versions of Outlook will require adding additional tags to the source code of the image. In order for it to display properly in the email, see this article for more information.

10. Source: Click this button to switch to a Source code view of your template. If you are familiar with HTML, you can use this view to create your template instead of the WYSIWYG editor.
11. Image: This button allows you to add an image to your phishing template. You must use externally hosted images, meaning you must insert a publicly available URL into the URL field after clicking the button. Use the height and width fields to resize the image.
12. Placeholder: The Placeholder options will automatically populate the template with your user and organization information or random values, depending on which placeholder you select. For the user information placeholders, such as First and Last Name and Manager Name, you must have added that information about the user to the console. That information can be added with a CSV import or with Active Directory Integration. For more information on placeholders, see our How To Use Placeholders article.
13. Phish Link: Our Phish Link button allows you to add a phishing link in the body of the email. The Phish Link button is already added in our system templates, but when customizing or creating templates, you will need to do the following:
    • Type the text you wish to make into a phishing link, then highlight the text and click the Phish Link button to turn it into a phishing link. If you create an HTML link in a phishing template, our system will automatically change the links to phishing links for security purposes.
14. Red Flag: Platinum and Diamond customers can use our Red Flag (Social Engineering Indicators) button to add a hint to the user who clicks a link on this phishing email as to why the user should have been alerted this email was potentially dangerous. For more details on how to add red flags, and recommended practices, click here to view our SEI Product Manual.
15. Body: ln the body of your phishing template, add any text that you'd like. There are simple text formatting options you can use to customize the appearance of your template. You can easily add tables, lines, and more by using the buttons available in the WYSIWYG.
16. Landing Page: This is the page your users will be redirected to if they click on your phishing link. You can choose from our system landing pages or your own custom landing pages. You can also set a default landing page under your Account Settings which will be used across all phishing campaigns automatically.
    Note: If you select a landing page when creating a phishing campaign, it will override the template-specific landing page you've chosen in the WYSIWYG editor and your default landing page.
17. Choose a Landing Domain: The landing domain is the web address the user will see on the landing page. The domains you can pick from are all KnowBe4-owned domains. Changing the landing domain can be helpful if you are also using one of our “phishing for sensitive information” landing pages. We have domains that can appear legitimate and make the user feel more comfortable about entering their username, password, or any other information the page is requesting. You can also set a default landing domain under your Account Settings which will be used across all phishing campaigns automatically.
    
    Note: We do not keep or track what your users enter on data-entry style pages.
18. Difficulty Rating: You can assign a difficulty rating to your custom phishing email templates. The difficulty rating will indicate how difficult that particular phishing email will be for your users to identify.

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Managing Landing Pages

Landing pages are the pages your users see after they click on a phishing link in an email. From the Landing Pages tab, you can create your own custom landing pages and view our system landing pages.

Landing Pages Area

My Landing Pages:
Once you create your own custom landing pages, this area will show a list of your landing pages. You can edit them by clicking on the title or preview them by clicking the "eyeball" icon. To delete a landing page, select the checkbox next to the title and click the trash can icon.

Categories:
This area lets you create and manage your own landing page categories.

System Landing Pages:
This area contains the built-in landing pages KnowBe4 has created for your use. You can select a category to see a list of its landing pages.

To preview the landing page, click the "eyeball" icon.

You can sort the landing pages by the date they were last updated. Sorting this way allows you to find the newest Landing Pages.

You cannot share landing pages outside of the console using the preview URL or the URL within the text box. To share a landing page, you must set up a test phishing campaign with the user you'd like to share the landing page with. Alternatively, you can take a screenshot of the landing page you would like to share.

Click on the name of any landing page to open it in the WYSIWYG editor and edit it to your needs. If you save a landing page, it will create a copy under the “My Landing Pages” area. You will need to categorize it for it to show as an option when creating phishing campaigns.

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Creating and Editing Landing Pages

In the My Landing Pages area, you have the option to create your own landing pages from scratch. Click the +New Landing Page button in the upper-right corner of the screen to open the landing page editor. You can place whatever content you wish here; however, any images you use must be hosted externally. Do not drag and drop images onto the editor.

If you want to create a landing page that tries to get the user to enter sensitive information, it is recommended you read our Working With Data Entry Landing Pages article for more information.

WYSIWYG Landing Page Editor Interface

1. Title: Give your landing page a title. This title will show in the My Landing Pages interface as well as in the Landing Page drop-down menu when creating a phishing campaign.
2. Source: Click this button to switch to the source code view of the landing page. If you're familiar with HTML, you can use this view to create the landing page.
3. Image: Click here to add an image to your landing page. You must use externally hosted images, meaning you must insert a publicly available URL into the URL field. You can also resize your image using the height and width fields.
4. Placeholder: The placeholder options automatically populate the landing page with your user and organization information. For the user information placeholders, such as First and Last Name or Manager Name, you must have added that user information to the console. This could be with a CSV import or with Active Directory Integration. For more information, see our How To Use Placeholders article.
5. SEI Placeholders: The SEI feature is available to Platinum and Diamond subscription levels. It allows you to use the landing page as a point-of-failure training exercise, showing your user exactly what Social Engineering Indicators, or red flags, they overlooked when they clicked on a simulated phishing email. This placeholder is embedded into the landing page and points out the details that should have alerted the user that the landing page wasn't a legitimate site. See our Social Engineering Indicators article for more information.
6. Body: Add any text that you'd like. You can also add tables, lines, and more by using the buttons available in the WYSIWYG.

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