Help Center

Email Campaign Unsubscribe and Opt-Out Handling

LeadCenter automatically respects unsubscribe and opt-out rules for email marketing campaigns. This helps protect your sender reputation, keeps campaigns compliant, and makes sure contacts who should not receive marketing emails are excluded automatically.

How Unsubscribe Handling Works

Email marketing campaigns only send to contacts who are eligible to receive marketing email. Before each campaign runs, LeadCenter checks the selected audience and filters out contacts who should not be included.

This means a contact can match your segment and still be excluded from the campaign if they are opted out or otherwise not eligible to receive email.

Contacts Automatically Excluded from Campaign Sends

A contact is excluded from an email marketing campaign if any of the following apply:

• Do Not Email is enabled
• Do Not Mass Email is enabled
• The contact has unsubscribed from marketing emails
• The contact does not have a valid email address
• The email address is invalid or undeliverable

These contacts are filtered out automatically before the campaign sends.

Required Unsubscribe Content in Marketing Templates

Email templates used in email marketing campaigns must include the required unsubscribe and sender identification content.

A marketing-ready email template should include:

• Unsubscribe shortcode — such as [[unsubscribe_link]] or [[unsubscribe_url]]
• Postal address shortcode — [[postal_address]]

Important: If these required shortcodes are missing, the Send Email step may show an error and prevent the campaign from being scheduled.

How Contacts Unsubscribe

When a recipient clicks the unsubscribe link in a marketing email, LeadCenter records that preference and excludes the contact from future marketing sends.

This unsubscribe applies to marketing email eligibility and helps prevent future campaign sends to that contact.

Do Not Email vs Do Not Mass Email

LeadCenter uses both settings when deciding whether a contact can receive an email marketing campaign.

If either setting blocks campaign eligibility, the contact is filtered out of the send.

Where to Review Excluded Contacts

After a campaign runs, you can review excluded contacts in the campaign run details screen.

1. Go to Marketing → Email marketing → Campaigns.
2. Find the campaign.
3. Click the campaign Name or the number in the Runs column.
4. Review the Filtered Contacts section.

This section helps explain why fewer emails were sent than expected.

Common Reasons a Contact Was Filtered Out

The most common reasons include:

• The contact unsubscribed from marketing emails
• Do Not Email is enabled
• Do Not Mass Email is enabled
• The contact has no email address
• The email address is invalid

Best Practices

• Always use a marketing-ready template that includes the unsubscribe and postal address shortcodes.
• Review the Filtered Contacts section after each send so you understand who was excluded and why.
• Clean up invalid email addresses regularly.
• Do not try to work around unsubscribe or opt-out rules by changing segment filters.
• Use direct one-to-one email tools only when appropriate and in line with your compliance practices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will unsubscribed contacts still receive a campaign if they match the segment?

No. Even if they match the segment, unsubscribed contacts are excluded automatically before the campaign sends.

What is the difference between Do Not Email and Do Not Mass Email?

Both settings can block a contact from receiving an email marketing campaign. Do Not Mass Email is specifically for bulk or marketing sends, while Do Not Email is a broader email restriction.

Why did my campaign send to fewer contacts than my segment size?

Some matching contacts may have been filtered out because they unsubscribed, had opt-out flags enabled, had no email address, or had an invalid email address. Check the campaign run details for the Filtered Contacts section.

Can I use any email template in a marketing campaign?

Only templates that are ready for email marketing should be used. A marketing template should include the required unsubscribe and postal address shortcodes.

If you need help understanding unsubscribe or opt-out behavior, contact support@leadcenter.ai.