Unsubscribe Rate
Unsubscribe rate is the share of delivered emails attributed to an opt-out. Compare consistent audiences, reporting windows, and subscription scopes.
Unsubscribe rate measures opt-outs attributed to an email as a share of delivered messages. For a unique-recipient rate, divide recipients who unsubscribed by delivered emails and multiply by 100.
If 5,000 emails are delivered and 25 recipients unsubscribe, the unsubscribe rate is 0.5%. Count each recipient once for that message and use a defined reporting window.
Check which subscription ended
A recipient may leave one newsletter or opt out of all marketing. Those actions have different scopes. Confirm what the platform records before comparing reports or treating the rate as a measure of overall audience loss.
An unsubscribe is also different from a bounce or spam complaint. Keep those events separate so you can investigate the reason for a change.
Respond to an increase
Check recent changes in signup source, audience selection, message topic, and frequency. Compare similar sends. An increase can identify a problem to investigate, but it does not establish which change caused it.
Honor the request even if the reason is unknown. A preference center can let subscribers choose topics or frequency when your sending rules support those choices. Keep a direct way to unsubscribe. Extra steps can prevent the recipient from completing the request.