What is Unsubscribe Rate?
The unsubscribe rate is a critical email marketing metric that measures the percentage of recipients who opt out of your mailing list after receiving a specific campaign. It serves as a direct indicator of your audience's engagement and the relevance of your content.
While seeing people leave your list can be discouraging, it is a natural part of list hygiene. However, a sudden spike in your unsubscribe rate often signals issues with content quality, sending frequency, or list segmentation.
How to Calculate Unsubscribe Rate
The formula for calculating your unsubscribe rate is straightforward. You divide the number of people who unsubscribed by the number of emails successfully delivered, then multiply by 100 to get a percentage.
(Total Unsubscribes / Total Delivered Emails) × 100 = Unsubscribe Rate %
Calculation Example
Let's look at a realistic scenario:
- You sent an email campaign to 10,200 subscribers.
- 200 emails bounced (were not delivered).
- Your Total Delivered Emails count is 10,000.
- 50 people clicked the unsubscribe link.
The calculation would be: (50 / 10,000) × 100 = 0.5%.
What is a Good Unsubscribe Rate?
While benchmarks vary by industry, generally speaking, an unsubscribe rate below 0.5% is considered healthy. If your rate consistently exceeds 0.5%, it may be time to audit your email strategy.
| Rate Range | Assessment | Action Required |
|---|---|---|
| < 0.2% | Excellent | Keep doing what you are doing. Your audience is highly engaged. |
| 0.2% – 0.5% | Average | Standard performance. Monitor for any sudden increases. |
| 0.5% – 1.0% | Below Average | Review your subject lines, content relevance, and sending frequency. |
| > 1.0% | Critical | Immediate audit needed. Check for technical issues, spammy content, or permissions issues. |
5 Tips to Reduce Your Unsubscribe Rate
- Segment Your List: Don't send the same email to everyone. Group your subscribers based on interests, demographics, or past purchase behavior.
- Optimize Frequency: sending too often is the #1 reason for unsubscribes. allow users to choose their frequency preference.
- Write Relevant Content: Ensure your content delivers value and matches what subscribers signed up for.
- Clean Your List: Regularly remove inactive subscribers to improve overall engagement metrics.
- Use Double Opt-In: Ensure that people actually want to be on your list by confirming their email address upon signup.