What Is a Mailto Link and How to Create One

A mailto link is an HTML hyperlink that opens the visitor's default email client with a pre-filled compose window when clicked. Instead of displaying an email address as plain text — which requires the user to copy it, open their email app, paste it, and type their message — a mailto link turns the entire process into a single click. Used correctly, they make it significantly easier for customers and leads to contact you.

Create your mailto link instantly with our free Mailto Link Generator tool. You can also pair mailto links with our Signature Generator for professional email footers, and with our UTM Link Generator for tracking which pages generate the most contact requests.

A mailto link uses the mailto: URI scheme followed by an email address. When a user clicks it, the operating system passes the address to the default email application — Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, or whatever the user has configured. The email client opens a new compose window with the To field already filled in.

The basic format in HTML: <a href="mailto:contact@example.com">Send us an email</a>

Mailto links support additional pre-filled fields using URL query parameters: subject: pre-fills the email subject line body: pre-fills the email body text cc: adds carbon copy recipients bcc: adds blind carbon copy recipients

A more complete example: <a href="mailto:contact@example.com?subject=Website%20Enquiry&body=Hello%2C%20I%20would%20like%20to%20know%20more%20about...">Contact Us</a>

Notice the URL encoding — spaces become %20, commas become %2C. Our Mailto Link Generator handles all encoding automatically so you never need to remember these codes. For understanding URL encoding in general, see our URL Encoder tool.

A pre-filled subject line is arguably the most valuable parameter. When someone contacts you from your pricing page, the subject could be "Pricing Enquiry." From your support page: "Support Request." From a specific product page: the product name. This context tells you immediately where the enquiry came from and what it is about, before you even open the email.

Keep subject lines specific and useful. "Website Contact" tells you nothing. "Pricing Enquiry — Enterprise Plan" gives you immediate context. Avoid making the subject too long as some email clients truncate it in the preview.

A pre-filled body is useful for structured enquiries. For example, a job application link might pre-fill: "Position applying for: [role] Name: Experience: Why you are interested:"

This prompts the sender to provide the information you actually need. Without guidance, many people send vague messages like "I'm interested in working with you" without any details. A pre-filled template dramatically improves the quality of responses you receive.

You can include multiple email addresses in the To, CC, and BCC fields, separated by commas: mailto:sales@example.com,support@example.com?cc=manager@example.com Use this sparingly — most contact links should go to one address. Use BCC rather than CC when including additional recipients who do not need to be visible to the sender.

This is a genuine debate in web design. Mailto links and contact forms each have clear advantages and drawbacks.

Advantages of mailto links: instant, no server required, no form spam, works without JavaScript, users stay in their familiar email environment, replies appear in their sent mail automatically, and the conversation thread is preserved in their email client.

Disadvantages of mailto links: requires the user to have an email client configured (not always the case in corporate environments or on shared computers), exposes your email address to spam scrapers unless obfuscated, and provides no confirmation to the user that their message was sent.

Advantages of contact forms: no email address exposure, controlled fields ensure you receive all required information, built-in spam protection (CAPTCHA), confirmation message to the user, messages can go to a CRM or ticketing system directly.

Disadvantages of contact forms: require server-side processing or a third-party service, can have technical failures, add friction to the contact process, and require maintenance.

For most small business websites, a mailto link on a Contact page alongside a phone number is sufficient. For high-volume enquiries or when lead capture and CRM integration matters, a contact form is better. Many sites use both — a quick mailto link for simple queries and a form for detailed requests. Check that your site SSL is valid so that contact forms work securely with our SSL Lookup tool.

Spam bots crawl web pages looking for email addresses. A plain mailto link with your email address in the href attribute is easily found by these bots. Several obfuscation techniques can reduce spam while keeping the link functional:

CSS direction reversal: display the email address reversed using CSS direction and unicode-bidi properties. Screen readers and browsers display it correctly, but simple scrapers read it backwards. JavaScript construction: build the email address dynamically in JavaScript rather than including it in the HTML source. Bots that do not execute JavaScript cannot read it. HTML entity encoding: encode each character of the email as its HTML numeric entity. The browser decodes and renders it correctly, but many scrapers do not. Contact form instead of mailto: eliminates the exposure entirely.

For most personal and small business sites, the spam increase from a visible mailto link is manageable with a good spam filter. For high-profile addresses that attract significant spam, obfuscation or a contact form is worth the extra effort. Check your email authentication setup with our WHOIS Lookup tool to ensure your domain is correctly configured to reduce spam.