Unsubscribe Rate
The percentage of email recipients who opt out of receiving future emails.
What is Unsubscribe Rate?
Unsubscribe rate measures how many recipients choose to stop receiving your emails. For cold email, this includes both explicit unsubscribe requests and replies asking to be removed.
Formula: (Unsubscribes / Emails Delivered) x 100
Typical benchmarks:
- Under 0.5%: Normal for cold email
- 0.5-1%: Elevated - review your targeting
- Over 1%: Problem - reassess your approach
Important for cold email: 1. Always honor unsubscribe requests immediately 2. Treat "not interested" replies as unsubscribes 3. High unsubscribe rates indicate targeting or messaging problems 4. Ignoring unsubscribes can lead to CAN-SPAM violations
Unsubscribes are actually a healthy sign that your emails are reaching inboxes. The real problem is when people mark you as spam instead of unsubscribing.
Why It Matters
- 1Legal requirement to honor unsubscribes
- 2Indicates audience-message fit
- 3Better than spam complaints (people are taking action)
- 4High rates suggest targeting or messaging problems
Related Guides
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