Unsubscribes are good. Here’s why:

Unsubscribes make email marketers nervous, raising questions from stakeholders, often interpreted as a sign that something went wrong. 

But in a well run lifecycle marketing program, unsubscribes are not a failure. They are a healthy signal that helps you improve list quality, performance, and deliverability. 

Here’s what those unsubscribes are doing for your program:

Improve list quality

A large list is meaningless without engagement. Subscribers who consistently ignore your emails dilute open rates, click rates, and downstream conversion metrics. When uninterested contacts unsubscribe, your list becomes more representative of users who actually want your content.

This matters because mailbox providers like Gmail and Yahoo heavily weight engagement signals when deciding inbox placement. Higher engagement from a smaller, more relevant audience leads to better deliverability over time. According to Validity’s research on engagement and inbox placement, low engagement is one of the strongest predictors of filtering for commercial email programs.

Protect your sender reputation

An unsubscribe is always better than a spam complaint. When recipients cannot easily opt out, they are more likely to mark messages as spam, which directly harms your sender reputation and can impact your domain’s ability to reach inboxes.

Inbox providers generally treat unsubscribes as neutral or even positive signals because they show users are in control of their experience. Spam complaints are the opposite. As outlined in Google’s sender guidelines for bulk email, complaint rates are a key factor in filtering decisions, while unsubscribes are expected behavior.

A visible, frictionless unsubscribe link is one of the simplest deliverability safeguards you can implement. 

Surface lifecycle issues early

Unsubscribe trends are one of the most underused diagnostics in lifecycle marketing. A sudden spike often points to a specific issue such as over-sending, poor segmentation, irrelevant promotions, or a mismatch between acquisition promise and ongoing content.

When you track unsubscribes by campaign, flow, and audience segment, patterns emerge quickly. For example, high unsubscribes after onboarding emails may indicate unclear value. High churn after promotions may suggest discount fatigue or improper targeting.

Research from SendGrid’s email engagement benchmarks shows that relevance and frequency are the two biggest drivers of long-term subscriber retention, making unsubscribe data especially valuable for optimization.

Reduce operational and platform costs

Most ESPs and CDPs price based on contact volume. Keeping inactive or uninterested subscribers increases costs without increasing revenue. Over time, that inefficiency adds up.

Allowing natural churn reduces wasted spend and lets lifecycle teams focus budget and effort on engaged segments that drive repeat purchases and lifetime value. 

Pro tip: for more on maintaining a healthy list and boosting performance, see “How to clean your email list in lifecycle marketing” on the Scalero blog.

Some churn is normal and healthy

Expecting zero unsubscribes is unrealistic and often counterproductive, especially for growing brands scaling acquisition.

According to Campaign Monitor’s email marketing benchmarks, unsubscribe rates under 0.2 percent are considered normal across most industries. A steady, low level of churn indicates your list is self-correcting.

The unsubscribe experience matters

The unsubscribe moment is still a brand interaction. A clear, respectful experience reinforces trust even as a user looks to conclude their engagement with your brand. Preference centers that allow users to reduce frequency or switch content types can retain subscribers without forcing them to stay.

Unsubscribes are not something to hide from. They are an essential feedback loop in lifecycle marketing. When you listen to them, your email program gets sharper, more relevant, and more effective.