Why Isn't the Gmail Unsubscribe Button Appearing in My Emails?

Why isn’t the unsubscribe button showing up in Gmail? I get this question a lot so I decided to go through hundreds and thousands of messages to find some commonalities.

The unsubscribe button is offered by gmail to easily unsubscribe in one click. You may have noticed it yourself. It’s the big, blue “unsubscribe” text found at the top of an email. You can also find it in the inbox without opening an email by hovering your cursor over a message when checking your Gmail on desktop.

The unsubscribe button is great for both subscribers and marketers. It allows someone to easily remove themselves from your email list without resorting to reporting it as spam. Too many spam complaints, and future emails will be delivered to spam. To enable it, marketers just need to add an email address or unsubscribe link in the header as described in RFC2369 or RFC8058. Most email service providers will do this automatically, too. But to get it to show up for marketers can be a bit of a challenge sometimes.

Here’s what I found that is likely the cause of the missing unsubscribe button:

• You’re sending from a new domain. Gmail needs more information to determine if you’re a good sender or a bad actor. They don’t want bad actors to hijack the unsubscribe button to verify legit emails, or worse, send them to a phishing or malware payload site.
• You’re sending from a domain with a bad reputation. For the same reasons above, they can’t trust you and so they won’t display the unsubscribe button. That’s also why they don’t display the button for senders in the spam folder.
• HTTP Unsubscribe link is being used. HTTPS is preferred for security. Unsubscribing over HTTP raises red flags. Not only that, it’s required for the list-unsubscribe header.
• Lack of encryption (TLS or S/MIME). Gmail prioritizes secure connections. Lack of encryption might trigger caution and hide the unsubscribe button.
• SPF, DKIM, and/or DMARC fails. Gmail requires emails to be authenticated and passing authentication. Without this, they have a hard time determining your reputation (see first bullet).
• No DMARC record: Messages lacking DMARC were much more likely to not display the unsubscribe button. This could be because DMARC helps Gmail verify legitimate senders, and its absence raises concerns.
• Domain alignment issues: When the return-path and DKIM domains differ, it might raise suspicion and cause the button to be hidden. And I’m not referring to a subdomain and root domain pair, but completely different root domains.
• Apple Private Relay: Did you sign up with Apple’s private email relay service to test? This anonymizes your IP address, making it harder for Gmail to assess the sender's legitimacy and display the unsubscribe option.

Even without a list-unsubscribe header, Gmail may still show the button in some cases. I found some senders where this was the case, like Bowflex and some Pinterest emails, for example. Why do they show the unsubscribe button for these senders, but not for senders where it’s in the header? I have no idea. But it’s likely they have extremely positive reputations.

The unsubscribe button may not appear in all of your email campaigns either. For example, about one in 10 emails sent from Morning Brew lacked the unsubscribe button, despite passing SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and having a good sending reputation. Why? I have no idea. But it could be due to just technical glitches on Gmail’s end. Try a few more tests and cross your fingers.

If the unsubscribe button isn’t showing up in your messages, check these things first. Still not showing up? Patience may be the ultimate key.