How to Unsubscribe from Emails with Gmail

Ah, that nutrition tips newsletter I've been ignoring for six months and haven't followed a (single!)piece of advice from 😅... Or those weekly investor community digests I haven't read in two years 🙄...

It's time to face the truth. It's time to learn how to stop receiving these mass emails.

⚡ For readers in a hurry: Just click here and go straight to the point

When Should I Unsubscribe?

It might seem obvious, but is unsubscribing the right action? Sometimes, blocking the sender is more appropriate.

In a nutshell, the deciding factor is your initial consent to receive the content:

• Use unsubscribe when you no longer want to receive content you initially welcomed.
• Use block (or even report) when the email was never wanted or is potentially harmful.

These two actions are processed very differently:

• Unsubscribing informs the sender that you no longer want to receive their content, aiming to stop future emails. This is why it sometimes takes a few days to become effective.
• Blocking is a one-sided choice. You might still receive content, but it will be automatically filtered and redirected to your spam folder, making it invisible to you. Blocking also sends the information to Gmail that the sender is potentially a bad actor

As an email service provider, we kindly ask you to use the unsubscribe functionality to avoid penalizing companies that follow best practices🙏. On the other hand, don't hesitate to take action against those who don't play by the rules.

How to unsubscribe 

The modern approach in Gmail is to use the unsubscribe feature, which makes the process very smooth. But it also implies that the sender complies with the latest Email sender guidelines of 2024

The modern approach :

From Your Computer:

1. Open Gmail
2. From the email list, hover over the email you want to subscribe, the "Unsubscribe" button will appear.

Or :

1. In Gmail, Open the email from the sender you want to unsubscribe from,
2. Next to the sender's name, at the right, click "Unsubscribe"

From Your Mobile

1. Open the Gmail app on your mobile device.
2. Open the email from the sender you want to unsubscribe from,
3. Next to the sender's name, at the right, click "Unsubscribe"

The legacy approach :

As mentioned earlier, Gmail sometimes doesn't display the "Unsubscribe" button, so you'll need to find the unsubscribe link directly within the email. It's usually located at the very end of the email with labels like "Unsubscribe" or "Manage my preferences."

If you can't find it, this can be considered bad behavior from the sender, and you may legitimately consider blocking them.

Unsubscribe from a Sender's Point of View

Obligations of a Sender Regarding Opt-Out

As an email sender, it's crucial to adhere to legal and ethical standards for handling opt-out requests. Yes, these are obligations, but if you are seriously willing to play the long game in email marketing, you should acknowledge that offering the best opt-out experience is also a way to maintain a good delivery rate: Unlike being blocked or reported as spam, allowing recipients to easily unsubscribe preserves your reputation.

How Mail Merge for Gmail implements Unsubscribe links

We provide features to implement unsubscribe links in your mass emails. Using our unsubscribe feature will allow you to : 

• Keep your deliverability at the best level
• Handle unsubscribe list in real time
• Fully comply with the latest guidelines, and preserve your domain reputation.

You can get a glimpse of how our unsubscribe feature works, or even better by trying it from here!