Unsubscribes

Learn about unsubscribes in Email Studio and Marketing Cloud Engagement.

This guide explains how unsubscribes are handled and what happens to your lists when a subscriber chooses not to receive your publications. Users can’t control when subscribers unsubscribe, but they can understand how to identify an unsubscribed subscriber and how to respect their wishes with future sends.

Note This guide describes the typical unsubscribe scenario, but depending on your account type, you can’t experience what is described here. For example, Enterprise 1.0 accounts experience a different unsubscribe process. For a customized description of what occurs within your account, contact your representative.

Unsubscribes

Unsubscribed is a status in Email Studio that signifies a subscriber has unsubscribed from your communication or you unsubscribed them. When a subscriber clicks the unsubscribe link in an email, their status is set to unsubscribed.

Note An unsubscribed status only affects sends with a commercial type send definition.

Explanation

An unsubscribe link appears at the bottom of every email you send.

A subscriber can choose to click the Manage Subscriptions link, which provides unsubscribe options. Or they can click One-Click Unsubscribe, which unsubscribes the subscriber from the list the send originated from. To unsubscribe from every list, the subscriber must click Manage Subscriptions and unsubscribe from every 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.

A subscriber can unsubscribe in four different ways:

• List Unsubscribe
• Universal Unsubscribe
• Global Unsubscribe
• One-Click Header Unsubscribe

• Subscriber Filter Unsubscribe Settings
  Processing unsubscribes for Enterprise 2.0 business units in Marketing Cloud Engagement are set using subscriber filters.
• Global Unsubscribe
  A global unsubscribe occurs when a subscriber chooses to unsubscribe from every email that anyone sends from Marketing Cloud Engagement.
• List Unsubscribe
  Learn about list unsubscribes in Email Studio.
• List-Unsubscribe Header Unsubscribe
  A List-Unsubscribe header is included with all commercial sends and supports the one-click unsubscribe method. An email client uses the header and DKIM signature included with authenticated domains to display a uniform unsubscribe link in its interface. The header helps subscribers easily unsubscribe from unwanted emails. Inbox service providers choose if, where, and how the unsubscribe link appears.
• Universal Unsubscribe
  A universal unsubscribe occurs when a subscriber unsubscribes from every email your company sends. When a subscriber uses the universal unsubscribe option, their status is set to Unsubscribed on all your lists and your universal list.