Do unsubscribe links and rates affect email deliverability and spam filtering?

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor notes the importance of using confirmed opt-in to ensure high quality email lists. He mentions that unengaged contacts should be removed, which will improve overall deliverability.

Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that you always want people to leave your list through the method that you control rather than hitting the spam button.

Email marketer from StackOverflow emphasizes the importance of implementing one-click unsubscription to comply with email regulations and improve user experience. Making it easy for users to unsubscribe reduces the likelihood of them marking emails as spam, which positively impacts deliverability.

Email marketer from Email on Acid shares that CAN-SPAM compliance requires a clear and conspicuous unsubscribe mechanism. Failure to comply can result in penalties and negatively impact deliverability.

Email marketer from Mailjet shares that managing unsubscriptions effectively is crucial for maintaining good deliverability. High unsubscribe rates can signal to mailbox providers that your emails are not wanted, potentially leading to increased spam filtering and decreased sender reputation.

Email marketer from Email Geeks says that unsubscribes are a good metric to look at as it likely follows with proportionate spam complaint level

Email marketer from Sendinblue explains that unsubscribe rates are a key factor in determining email deliverability. They share that high unsubscribe rates can negatively impact your sender reputation, leading to more emails being directed to the spam folder.

Email marketer from Reddit shares their experience, noting that a sudden spike in unsubscribe rates correlated with a drop in email deliverability. They suggest monitoring unsubscribe rates closely and investigating any unusual increases to maintain a healthy sender reputation.

Email marketer from Litmus explains that list hygiene, including managing unsubscribes, is critical for deliverability. A clean list with engaged subscribers leads to better deliverability rates and fewer spam complaints.

Email marketer from an Email Marketing Forum stresses the importance of honouring unsubscribe requests promptly. They note that failing to do so can lead to legal issues and severely damage sender reputation, leading to long term deliverability problems.

Expert from Email Geeks clarifies that mailbox providers do not track whether someone has clicked on the unsub link and instead rely on whether the user marks the email as spam. Also that mailbox providers do not, at the simple level you’re talking, have access to unsub rates.

Expert from Spam Resource shares the need to have a working unsubscribe link so that your recipients can remove themselves from your marketing emails. Not having one makes it harder to remove yourself and can result in you being marked as spam.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that unsubscribe links typically have little direct effect on deliverability, but a 'bad' hostname can cause the email to be treated as spam. He highlights that unsubscribes are good, while 'mark as spam' is bad because if there is no unsub link, people will mark the mail as spam which wrecks delivery.

Expert from Word to the Wise emphasizes that managing bounces promptly is crucial. This includes ensuring that hard bounces are removed from the mailing list immediately to prevent future deliverability issues and ISP throttling.

Expert from Email Geeks mentions that if the mail you’re sending is unwanted a click on the unsub link is neutral, as far as the MBP is concerned. Marking the mail as spam is very negative. Everything else falls out from that.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that if a MBP uses your RFC8058 unsub headers to do an in-app unsubscribe and that doesn’t return an error then that’s a neutral result as far as they’re concerned. If the user later marks your mail as spam that’s negative.

Expert from Email Geeks confirms that in the rare instance where unsubs are high but complaints are low, that shouldn't impact deliverability much at all assuming other factors aren't in play such as sending to a high amount of spam traps, etc.

Documentation from Amazon Web Services Simple Email Service outlines the importance of feedback loops, including managing bounces and complaints. It shares that actively addressing these issues is essential for maintaining a positive sender reputation and ensuring high deliverability rates.

Documentation from Microsoft outlines best practices for sending bulk email, including providing a clear and easy-to-find unsubscribe link. They explain that failure to do so can lead to increased spam complaints and reduced deliverability rates.

Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools emphasizes the importance of handling bounces and processing feedback loops. It shares that implementing List-Unsubscribe headers is necessary to allow users to easily unsubscribe and shows that they monitor spam complaints and use them to determine sender reputation, so offering one-click unsubscription and keeping your lists up to date are very important

Documentation from SparkPost focuses on managing opt-outs effectively. It highlights that promptly processing unsubscribe requests and maintaining a clean list are crucial for avoiding deliverability issues and maintaining a positive sender reputation.

Documentation from RFC 2369 defines the List-Unsubscribe header, explaining its purpose is to provide an easy and automated way for users to unsubscribe from mailing lists. It shares that compliance with this standard can improve deliverability by reducing spam complaints.