# Email Unsubscribe & Complaint Benchmarks by Type

> Benchmark data ranking email types by unsubscribe and spam complaint rates.

This tip shares data from over 2 billion emails across 180 companies to explain stagnant email list growth. It reveals which campaign types trigger the highest churn through spam complaints and unsubscribes versus those that retain audience trust. Email marketers can use this breakdown to adjust their sending mix and protect deliverability.

## How it works

Email list not growing fast? Check the unsubscribe and spam complaint rates per email type. Affiliate and cold emails are the worst offenders; welcome, thank-you, reminder and support emails are the safest.

## What it is for

- Diagnose why an email list is shrinking or plateauing
- Audit an email campaign calendar to cut high-churn message types
- Benchmark unsubscribe and complaint rates across different message categories

## Key points

- Based on data from 2,051,402,492 emails sent across 180 companies between 2022 and 2024
- Identifies affiliate and cold outbound emails as the highest drivers of complaints and unsubscriptions
- Highlights transactional and nurture emails (welcome, thank-you, reminders, support) as the safest formats
- Frames list churn reduction as a primary lever for net subscriber growth

## Pricing

Free

## Details

- Type: Tip
- Category: [Marketing & Sales](https://xiry.app/topics/marketing-sales.md)
- Topic: [Email Marketing](https://xiry.app/topics/marketing-sales/email-marketing.md)
- Open source: no
- Platforms: other
- For: Email marketers, newsletter creators, and growth leads
- Tags: email, deliverability, benchmarks, churn, growth, newsletters

## Why it was saved

- [@neilpatel, 9 January 2025](https://x.com/neilpatel/status/1877339550168584510): Frames unsubscribe/complaint data as the answer to 'why isn't my list growing'.

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Updated 11 October 2026. Page: https://xiry.app/resources/email-unsubscribe-and-complaint-benchmarks-by-type

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