New Gmail Unsubscribe Implementation

By: Chris Reibold
Senior Email Analyst

Google has started displaying unsubscribe links at the top of messages in its popular web client for Gmail:

Essentially, Gmail looks for the List-Unsubscribe header and pulls the information, displaying the above hyperlink next to the sender address. As a measure of security, DKIM/Domainkeys is verified before the link is displayed in a message.

This is actually a rather good move on Google’s part in helping email marketers and newsletter senders like yourself. By emphasizing the unsubscribe link at the top, the recipient of the message is more likely to simply click that instead of the “spam” button that is above it.

Please keep in mind that this change has come at a time when Gmail’s FBL (Feedback Loop) is being implemented for companies like JangoMail to use. FBLs send a message that goes to the sender whenever a subscriber hits the spam button. Eventually Gmail’s use of the unsubscribe link will be gathered, along with the FBL data, to tell us how well your engagement is with Gmail-using recipients.

There is an obvious shift in the way Google wants Gmail to operate; they have added tabs, turned on images by default, made the unsubscribe link more prominent, and now they are implementing an FBL.

It appears that Google really wants to cleanup the inbox and minimize the amount of spam their users are receiving. This is a double edged sword.  On one hand it can make your message emphasized over others, but on the other it will also make it harder for you to land in the inbox.

Only time can tell how well this new feature works, but Gmail putting an emphasis on unsubscribe over spam is a good thing indeed.

New Feature: List-Unsubscribe Header

In response to users' frustrations with trying to figure out how to unsubscribe from mailings, Hotmail and GMail have created features in their interface to standardize unsubscribing and make it easier. Users can now simply click one link in their email interface to unsubscribe from a mailing. This feature offers an alternative to using the Mark As Spam button to unsubscribe. We are now supporting this List-Unsubscribe Header option for GMail and Hotmail users.

On Wednesday, July 29 we will turn on this option on for all of our customers. This feature does not apply to transactional emails. You can turn this feature off or on by following these steps:

1. Click on My Options and Settings in your JangoMail account.

2. Under Reply Management, choose Unsubscribe Options.


3. Find the Use List-Unsubscribe Header checkbox. To turn on the List-Unsubscribe feature, keep the box checked. To turn off this feature, uncheck the box.

4. Save your preferences by clicking the Update Unsubscribe URL button.


This feature adds code into the header of the email that includes two links for an email client to use to unsubscribe the user:

1. A URL that will unsubscribe the user when visited
2. A mailto address that the email client can use to send the unsubscribe request

The header of the email looks like the below screenshot:

Click to Enlarge

The email client will follow one of these links to unsubscribe the user. If they follow the URL, JangoMail can match that unsubscribe to the email campaign it came from and it will show up in your Reporting. If the email client uses the mailto address, the unsubscribed address will only show up in your universal unsubscribe list and JangoMail won't be able to track it to a specific campaign. Unfortunately, it's up to the email client to choose which of these two links to use.


GMail users can unsubscribe from a mailing in two ways:

1. Mark the mailing as spam and choose the Unsubscribe option

2. Click the "show details" link in the top right hand corner and click "Unsubscribe from this sender"


Hotmail users can unsubscribe simply by hitting the "Unsubscribe" link at the top of the page when they are reading the mailing.

As more email clients adopt the List-Unsubscribe Header, they will be adding their own link for recipients to unsubscribe.

For the official website on the List-Unsubscribe Header, visit: http://www.list-unsubscribe.com/

To read the technical specification on the List-Unsubscribe Header, visit: http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2369.html

To read about GMail's implementation, visit: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/unsubscribing-made-easy.html