Do people who use the list-unsubscribe header show up as unsubscribed in email analytics?

[Monica_Wright]

We have been digging into our unsubscribe sources and noticed a significant amount are coming from list-unsubscribe. For the people who unsubscribe using the list-unsubscribe header,  I am assuming that they are NOT counted in email analytics? I do know  that unsubscribers need to use a form to be counted as an unsubscribe from a specific email asset. (This article is also a good reference.)

Thanks for confirming.

[SanfordWhiteman]

The List-Unsubscribe header is an unsubscribe atttributed to a specific email asset. You can see an Activity Log entry to that effect.

[Monica_Wright]

Thanks for such a prompt response. But there is no direct way to report on the people who use list-unsubscribe, correct? We are noticing mostly because we are tracking our unsubscribe pages using hidden fields, and list-unsubscribe is simply those unsubscribed people without those fields.

[Casey_Grimes]

---

@Monica_Wright wrote:

Thanks for such a prompt response. But there is no direct way to report on the people who use list-unsubscribe, correct? We are noticing mostly because we are tracking our unsubscribe pages using hidden fields, and list-unsubscribe is simply those unsubscribed people without those fields.

---

What you can do in a case like this is actually use the Reason constraint on an Data Value Change for unsubscribed ("Reason contains from list unsubscribe") to actively trigger off this behavior. If you're segmenting your emails by content in a subscription preference center-type setup, you can also use that trigger in conjunction with the Unsubscribed from Email activity filter to set data appropriately.

As for Email Performance Reports, I would recommend just avoiding them in general and reporting off email statuses instead. 

[Monica_Wright]

Thanks. I tried the Data Value Change approach and it didn't work (using the constraint "Reason contains list unsubscribe").  Maybe we don't have some kind of tracking in place? However, the example that @SanfordWhiteman shows here does work - https://nation.marketo.com/t5/Product-Discussions/Do-people-who-use-the-list-unsubscribe-header-show...

[Amit_Jain]

That's correct. These unsubs through list-unsubscribe header will not show up in the native email performance report but as Sanford mentioned you can create a separate smart list to see those unsubscribes.

[SanfordWhiteman · Accepted solution]

These unsubs through list-unsubscribe header will not show up in the native email performance report 

---

They do, though! Somehow this has become received wisdom but it isn't true. Unsubscribes via List-Unsubscribe are counted in the Email Performance Report - notwithstanding the report's other shortcomings.

[Monica_Wright]

Thanks! And DO SHARE  the other shortcomings, or point me in the right direction!

[SanfordWhiteman]

When you get a chance, please mark my answer above as the solution, so as not to have any ambiguity when people search in the future.

[Monica_Wright]

All set. Thanks for your help.

[SanfordWhiteman]

Well, they just don't do as much as you can do with a SL.

However, they do what they do very well (and accurately) and some of that cannot be done automatically in another report type or SL (i.e. without hard-coding values and nesting lists).

[Monica_Wright]

Hi Amit,
Clarifying this comment: "These unsubs through list-unsubscribe header will not show up in the native email performance report."

Are you saying that these people are NOT counted as unsubscribed in the email performance report? That was my original question. I know they become unsubscribed in the Activity Log, but I want to confirm that these people who do unsubscribe are also counted in the email performance report. Thanks!

[SanfordWhiteman]

---

Are you saying that these people are NOT counted as unsubscribed in the email performance report? That was my original question. I know they become unsubscribed in the Activity Log, but I want to confirm that these people who do unsubscribe are also counted in the email performance report. 

---

They are also counted in the EPR.

[SanfordWhiteman]

This will give you all email client-driven Unsubscribes (which includes both Unsubscribe and Report as Spam type buttons):