The newsletter unsubscribe rate describes the share of counted recipients who unsubscribe after a mailing. It helps compare similar mailings when the sending tool calculates the rate in the same way each time.
How do you calculate the rate?
One common calculation divides unsubscribes by delivered emails and multiplies by 100. Five unsubscribes after 1,000 delivered emails give a rate of 0.5 percent. Check the denominator your sending tool uses before comparing values.
What does an increase mean?
Compare similar mailings using the same data source. Check whether topics, frequency, or signup sources changed. A low rate alone does not tell you whether recipients read the newsletter or are happy with how often it arrives.
Unsubscribes and spam complaints
Track unsubscribes and spam complaints separately. An unsubscribe removes a recipient from the mailing list. A spam complaint reports the message to the recipient’s email provider.
