How can I tell which contact clicked an unsubscribe link?

A contact can be unsubscribed, or removed, from a list in several different ways: Bulk edit action, automation action step, admin action, or they can click an unsubscribe link in your email.

Take note

We have implemented a human verification challenge when the unsubscribe link is clicked in ActiveCampaign emails to help prevent unintentional unsubscribes. Learn more about our bot click unsubscribe protection.

How it works

When a contact is unsubscribed from your list, we’ll display the date and time of that unsubscribe in the List Status modal and Activity Stream on the Contact’s profile page.

List Status modal:



Activity Stream:



But how can you see the method of unsubscribe when viewing your unsubscribed contacts? In this article, we’re going to show you how you can investigate an unsubscribe method for a contact, and what best practices you can employ moving forward that will help you quickly search for and view this information.

Viewing your unsubscribed contact

First, we recommend viewing the List Status modal on the Contact’s profile record. If they clicked an unsubscribe link in your email, we will display that they clicked the unsubscribe link and provide the reason they chose to unsubscribe from your communication, if they provided one. It will look something like this:



To view that list status modal, go to the Contacts overview page in your account and click on the contact you wish to view. Then, click the list name located in the List row to open the status modal:



We will also display this information in the Contact’s Activity Stream:



If a contact was unsubscribed from a list via system unsubscribe (automation action, bulk edit, admin action) then you will see something like this instead:

Review the Unsubscribe report for your direct campaigns

With every direct campaign you send, we will provide statistics on which contacts clicked the unsubscribe link and display the reason for their unsubscribe if they provided one. You can view this information in addition to viewing the individual’s contact profile page.

To view the unsubscribe report:

1. Click "Reports" on the left menu.
2. Click the campaign you wish to view.
3. Click the "Campaigns" option under the "Reports" menu. 
4. A list of campaign reporting options will display. Click "Unsubscribes." Alternatively, you can click "Unsubscribes" located in the Summary box on the campaign report.

We will list all contacts that clicked the Unsubscribe link for that particular campaign, along with the date and time of the unsubscribe action and the reason if they provided one.

Review the Unsubscribe report for your automated campaigns

With every automated campaign you send, we will provide statistics on which contacts clicked the unsubscribe link and display the reason for their unsubscribe if they provided one. You can view this information in addition to viewing the individual’s contact profile page.

1. Click "Automations" on the left menu.
2. Locate the automation containing the campaign for which you want to view the Unsubscribe report. 
3. Hover over the email icon under the "Automation Stats" column.
   
4. Click the email name. 
5. The report for your automated campaign will load. Click the "Campaigns" option under the "Reports" menu. 
6. A list of campaign reporting options will display. Click "Unsubscribes." Alternatively, you can click "Unsubscribes" located in the Summary box on the campaign report.

Best practices for organizing your unsubscribed contacts

While unsubscribe methods are not listed as an advanced search or segment option, there are some best practices you can employ that can help you quickly search for this information moving forward.

All suggestions below use our Tags feature, so you’ll want to first strategize what tags for each unsubscribe method makes the most sense for you, and how you wish to use these tags to organize this information.

1. Tag contacts when you use the bulk editor to unsubscribe them from lists. The bulk editor allows you to apply more than one action at a time to contacts. Click the “Add a tag” option in the bulk editor alongside your “Remove from a list” action to tag contacts.
   
   
   
   That way, contacts are unsubscribed and tagged at the same time. You can then later use this tag to search for contacts who were unsubscribed by this method.
2. Add a “Add tag” automation action after an “Unsubscribe from list” action.
   
   
   
   By adding this tag action, you can easily search for contacts that were unsubscribed by an automation action.
3. Tag to contacts as soon as you manually unsubscribe them. You can manually add a tag to individual contacts as soon as you unsubscribe them from a list. Simply type the tag into the “Tag” field located on their contact profile page.
   
   
   
   
4. Use the “Link action” feature to tag contacts when they click the unsubscribe link in your email. In order to use this method, you will need to replace the default footer in each campaign and automation email you create with your own footer, then add the link action to the Unsubscribe link. You can learn how to replace a default footer with your own footer here. That way, you can easily locate contacts in a search that clicked an unsubscribe link.
5. Add a note to contacts right from their contact profile page. After a contact is unsubscribed from your list, click the “Add Note” tab on the compose bar, type your note, and click the green “Add” button to save it.
   
   
   
   Note: It is not possible to create advanced searches or segments with notes.

For in-depth information about unsubscribes and how you can manage them, see this guide.