Gmail separates ‘Report spam & unsubscribe’ to avoid false signals

Abner Li | Jan 19 2024 - 2:38 pm PT

Google is streamlining how you unsubscribe to unwanted messages in Gmail, while it has separated the report spam and unsubscribe option.

On mobile (Android first and iOS soon), Gmail has elevated the “Unsubscribe” button to the conversation view after previously placing it in the three-dot overflow menu.

Gmail also made the button more prominent on the web and added it as a hover action in the inbox view alongside archive, delete, etc.

Meanwhile, Google is removing the combined “Report spam & unsubscribe” button. Gmail is making “Report spam” and “Unsubscribe” two distinct options to avoid false signals that might impact messages you actually want.

…we know it is common for people to receive unwanted messages, despite initially signing up to receive them from brands or organizations. These messages often originate from legitimate senders, and marking them as spam can negatively impact the sender’s email reputation and can potentially affect the deliverability of future emails.

These changes have rolled out in recent weeks to the web and Android, with iOS availability coming soon.

Looking ahead, Google is requiring bulk senders — or those that send over 5,000 emails per day to Gmail addresses — to implement one-click unsubscribe by February 2024. Gmail will require the one-click unsubscribe link to be clearly visible in the message body and for these commercial senders to process that request within two days.

The company is also requiring these senders to authenticate emails with DKIM (and SPF) to make the “From” address harder to spoof/impersonate, while DMARC (used by official logos and blue checkmarks) also has to also be in place.

Lastly, Google is implementing a “clear spam rate threshold that senders must stay under to ensure Gmail recipients aren’t bombarded with unwanted messages” of 0.3% as reported by Gmail’s Postmaster Tools.