Marketing Cloud Unsubscribe functionality

Three ways unsubscribed users are counted

Unsubscribe Links
Unsubscribe Links can be found in the footer of your sent email. The subscriber can unsubscribe from the list, universal unsubscribe or global unsubscribe. 

Check out this quick video to get a better understanding of the different unsubscribed levels


 

• Universal Unsubscribes are specific to individual accounts. Subscribers are on the universally unsubscribed list if they're noted as "unsubscribed" in the "All Subscribers" list. Depending on Account Settings, a universal unsubscribe can be applied to the entire enterprise or only the business unit.
• Global Unsubscribe Lists are a system-wide list and affect all Accounts. Subscribers on these lists have requested no communication from any Account in the Marketing Cloud system. To remove a subscriber from the Marketing Cloud global unsubscribe list, the subscriber must send an email to abuse@abuse.salesforce.com from the email address in question stating that they wish to be removed from said global unsubscribe list. 

Note: When a subscriber unsubscribes, they aren’t removed from a list or account. Their status is changed to Unsubscribed and a red icon appears next to their name on the list. 

Click to get more info on SFMC Unsubscribes.

Execute LogUnsubEvent call
For more information about the LogUnsubEvent Call, see Unsubscribing and Logging an UnsubEvent with a LogUnsubEvent Execute Call.

Complaint Delivery
If the subscriber marks your email as Spam and the email provider allows a feedback loop to be set up, it will send the feedback to the Marketing Cloud and will result in an unsubscribe from that subscriber. This is called a Complaint Delivery.

Reply with 'Unsubscribe'
If Reply Mail Management is configured for your account where Yes is selected for 'Unsubscribe Manual Requests', and a subscriber replies to your email with one of the unsubscribe terms, that subscriber will be unsubscribed. See the Reply Rules - Terms for a list of the terms that cause Reply Mail Management to unsubscribe an email address.