What has to be in the Impressum? The guide for marketing teams

Marketing campaigns shouldn’t fail because of legal details. An incomplete Impressum is an avoidable risk that can block landing page launches and trigger costly legal warnings. CMOs and marketing leads therefore need a clear, actionable process to guarantee legal certainty and stay focused on what matters: growth. The goal is a centrally managed, always up-to-date Impressum that speeds up content updates rather than slowing them down.

TL;DR: Secure your Impressum in 5 minutes

• Minimize risk: A complete Impressum protects against warning letters of up to €3,000 and prevents campaign stoppages.
• Build trust: Transparency through correct details strengthens your brand’s credibility and improves conversion rate.
• Speed up processes: A central template in the CMS reduces the time spent on legal checks for new content by up to 90%.
• Gain clarity: Use the provided checklist to easily verify all mandatory details under ECG and UGB.
• Act now: Place a clearly visible link to the Impressum in the footer—accessible from every page.

From blocker to accelerator: The Impressum as a marketing enabler

The question "What has to be in the Impressum?" paralyzes many marketing teams. Every new campaign, every landing page requires a legal check, which drives up time-to-publish. This uncertainty leads to delays and blocks creative processes. The goal is to turn this hurdle into a standardized, fast process. An always legally compliant and centrally managed Impressum gives the team the confidence to focus fully on creating high-converting content.

A legally compliant Impressum in 4 steps

A legally compliant Impressum isn’t rocket science but a clearly defined process. Follow these steps to meet all statutory requirements and launch your digital projects without legal pitfalls.

1. Capture core company data: Gather the basics. This includes the exact company name as registered, the full physical address (no P.O. box), and the names of all authorized representatives, e.g., managing directors.
   • Action: Marketing assistant collects all data from the commercial register extract by end of week.
2. Add contact and registration details: Ensure immediate reachability. Add a working email address and a phone number. Also include your commercial register number, the competent court, and—if available—your VAT identification number (UID).
   • Action: Content manager checks the currency of contact details and adds the UID number by tomorrow.
3. Check Austria-specific details: Name the competent supervisory authority and your membership in the Chamber of Commerce (WKO). If you run a blog or newsletter, you must also state the business purpose and the "Blattlinie" (fundamental editorial orientation).
   • Action: Marketing lead drafts the Blattlinie and has it briefly reviewed by legal counsel (deadline: 3 days).
4. Ensure central publication and linking: Create a dedicated page titled "Impressum" and add all collected information there. Place a clearly visible link in your website’s footer so the Impressum is accessible from any subpage with one click.
   • Action: Web developer creates the Impressum page and implements the footer link in the next sprint.

Real-world example: From campaign stopper to efficiency booster

An e-commerce company was preparing its most important seasonal campaign. One week before launch, legal stopped everything: The Impressum on the new landing pages was outdated, the UID number was missing.

• Before: The campaign was postponed by 14 days. The estimated revenue loss was €15,000. Time-to-publish for new pages averaged 5 business days because each page required a manual legal review.
• After: The company implemented a central Impressum template in the CMS. Changes are now made once and automatically rolled out across all pages. Time to publish new landing pages dropped to under 4 hours, a 90% reduction.

This step gave the marketing team back control and enabled them to refocus on successful campaigns.

Checklist: Copy-paste template for your Impressum (Austria)

Use this template to create your Impressum quickly and safely. Copy the text and replace the placeholders [...]. Save the template centrally in your CMS to save time on future projects and avoid errors.

Template for corporations (e.g., GmbH)

# Impressum

**Media owner and publisher**
[Your company name GmbH]

**Business purpose**
[e.g., trade in all kinds of goods, management consulting]

**UID number**
[Your ATU number]

**Commercial register number**
[Your commercial register number]

**Commercial register court**
[e.g., Regional Court of Linz]

**Registered office**
[Street and number]
[Postal code City]
Austria

**Contact details**
Tel.: [Your phone number]
E-mail: [Your email address]

**Memberships**
Member of WKÖ, [Chamber of Commerce of your federal state, e.g., WKO Upper Austria]

**Applicable legal provisions and access**
Trade Regulation Act: www.ris.bka.gv.at

**Supervisory authority/Trade authority**
District authority [Responsible district]

**Management**
[First and last names of the managing directors]

**Blattlinie (if editorial content is present)**
[Description of the fundamental orientation of your website, blog, or newsletter]

A quick tip: Modern systems like JET-CMS let you manage such legal building blocks centrally. This greatly simplifies the process and ensures all channels remain compliant.

KPIs to measure success

• Time-to-publish: Measure the time from content creation to publication. Target a reduction of >50% through standardized legal texts. (Trackable via project management tools like Jira/Asana)
• Number of legal review loops: Count how often content is sent back to marketing due to Impressum errors. Goal: reduce to zero. (Trackable via communication logs)
• Bounce rate on the Impressum page: A high bounce rate is normal. A sudden increase in dwell time, however, may indicate unclear or hard-to-find information. (Trackable in Google Analytics / Matomo)

Typical mistakes & quick fixes (Pitfalls & Quick Fixes)

Problem (Pitfall)	Quick fix	Who / What / By when
The Impressum is hidden or hard to find	Place a clearly labeled link ("Impressum") in the footer. It must be accessible from every page.	Who: Web developer What: Add footer link By when: Immediately
The data is no longer up to date	Set up a quarterly calendar reminder to review the data (e.g., when management changes).	Who: Marketing lead What: Create recurring check By when: Next quarter start
A phone number is missing	Add a valid phone number. A contact form alone is not sufficient for the required "immediate" contact.	Who: Content manager What: Add number By when: Within 24h
The “Blattlinie” is missing for blogs or newsletters	Add a short sentence describing the editorial orientation. In Austria this is mandatory for editorial content.	Who: Marketing manager What: Draft Blattlinie By when: Before the next send
Information is embedded as an image	Provide all information as plain text. Only then is it legally clean and accessible for screen readers.	Who: Web developer What: Replace image with HTML text By when: Immediately

FAQ: Common questions from day-to-day marketing

Does every website in Austria really need an Impressum? Yes, virtually every commercial website. As soon as your online presence is not solely for private or family purposes, the Impressum obligation under the E-Commerce Act (ECG) applies. This covers company websites, online shops, and even blogs that earn money through advertising.

What’s the difference between an Impressum and a privacy policy? The Impressum answers: Who is responsible for this website? The Privacy Policy answers: What happens to my data? Both are legally required but serve different purposes—transparency about the operator versus information about data processing (GDPR).

Do I need to adapt the Impressum for an online shop? Yes, online shops have extended information obligations, e.g., on the right of withdrawal and the order process. However, these details don’t belong directly in the Impressum but in the Terms and Conditions. Clearly link to your T&Cs from the Impressum to meet all requirements.

Is a link to the Impressum in the main menu enough? No, the proven and legally safe method is placement in the footer. That’s where users expect it, and it is "easily and permanently accessible" from every subpage, as required by law.

Note on DACH/GDPR This guide focuses on Austrian law (ECG, UGB). The requirements in Germany (TMG/TTDSG) and Switzerland (UWG) are very similar but differ in details. Regardless of location, GDPR compliance is mandatory for all companies processing EU residents’ data.