KPIMarketing

Email Unsubscribe Rate

Percentage of email recipients who opt out of marketing communications

What is Email Unsubscribe Rate?

Email unsubscribe rate is the percentage of delivered emails that led to someone opting out. It is a measure of how well the content, frequency and targeting of email marketing suit the people on the list.

A small number of unsubscribes is normal and even healthy, since it removes uninterested people. A rising rate is a warning that emails are irrelevant, too frequent or poorly targeted.

How this KPI is measured

Function: Marketing
Sub-function: Email Marketing
Industry: All Industries
Type: Lagging
Impact: Quality
Unit: %
Measurement frequency: Monthly
Formula: (Unsubscribes / Emails delivered) × 100

How to calculate it

Divide the number of unsubscribes by the number of emails delivered, and multiply by 100.

For example, if an email was delivered to 25,000 people and 50 unsubscribed, the rate is (50 / 25,000) x 100 = 0.2%.

Monitor it by campaign and by segment. A spike after a particular email or a change in frequency points to the cause.

Where it is used

Protecting list health
Catch content or frequency problems before they damage the size and quality of the list.
Testing send frequency
See whether sending more often increases opt-outs.
Evaluating segmentation
Identify audience groups for whom the current content is not relevant.

How to improve it

Segment the listSend different content to different groups so each receives what is relevant to it.
Set expectations at sign-upTell people what they will receive and how often, so emails match what they agreed to.
Offer a preference centreLet people reduce frequency or choose topics instead of leaving altogether.
Review frequencyTest sending less often, and see whether opt-outs fall without hurting results.
Investigate spikesLook at the content and audience of any email with an unusually high rate.

Tips and common mistakes

Make unsubscribing easy. Hiding the link leads to spam complaints, which do far more harm.
Do not aim for zero. Some opt-outs are healthy.
Look at the rate alongside spam complaints, which are a more serious signal.

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