Random cancellations happening automatically

[jskene]

Sometimes when I send out a mailing several subscribers get an email saying they have cancelled their subscription. The emails I send do not have an unsubscribe link in them, so I don’t understand how this is happening. The subscribers are upset because they have no intention of unsubscribing.

Can anyone suggest a fix for this?

[BerndH]

Hi!

Sorry, no fix from my side but to put some more weight on this topic: we have the same problem here.
We have had this problem with four out of 400 subscribers.

When the newsletter is sent out, the subscribers receive an unsubscribe email. When I checked the subscription list, they were still active subscribers. From the logs (attached below) you can see that they get automatically reactivated immediately.

Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks
Bernd

User 1)
Same problem for the last three newsletters
ID Date Source IP Lists
187 10. Juni 2021 1:55 reactivate 40.94.87.21 status: C
185 10. Juni 2021 1:55 unsubscribe 40.94.87.63 status: U
163 5. Juni 2021 14:57 reactivate 40.94.104.46 status: C
161 5. Juni 2021 14:57 unsubscribe 40.94.104.97 status: U
153 15. Mai 2021 19:58 reactivate 40.94.87.27 status: C
151 15. Mai 2021 19:58 unsubscribe 40.94.87.45 status: U

User 2)
Same problem for the last three newsletters
I tried to change the registered email address on June 9 (what helped user three below) – did not help.
ID Date Source IP Lists
186 10. Juni 2021 1:55 reactivate 40.94.90.62 status: C
184 10. Juni 2021 1:55 unsubscribe 40.94.90.65 status: U
181 9. Juni 2021 22:56 edit 87.78.56.42 status: C
162 5. Juni 2021 14:57 reactivate 40.94.96.58 status: C
160 5. Juni 2021 14:57 unsubscribe 40.94.96.57 status: U
152 15. Mai 2021 19:58 reactivate 40.94.105.8 status: C
150 15. Mai 2021 19:58 unsubscribe 40.94.105.50 status: U

User 3)
Problems started one newsletter after users 1 and 2.
For him the problem started when his registered company email address changed and got forwarded to a different address. I put him as a test subscriber and sent out test newsletters. Also the test newsletters triggered the unsubscription. When I changed his registered address to the new one, the problem disappeared.
ID Date Source IP Lists
183 9. Juni 2021 22:58 edit 87.78.56.42 status: C
180 9. Juni 2021 22:52 reactivate 40.94.95.85 status: C
179 9. Juni 2021 22:51 unsubscribe 40.94.95.76 status: U
178 9. Juni 2021 22:00 reactivate 40.94.102.18 status: C
177 9. Juni 2021 21:59 edit 87.78.56.42 status: U
176 9. Juni 2021 21:57 reactivate 40.94.88.8 status: C
175 9. Juni 2021 21:57 unsubscribe 40.94.88.72 status: U
172 9. Juni 2021 21:44 edit 87.78.56.42 status: C
158 5. Juni 2021 12:08 reactivate 40.94.105.3 status: C
157 5. Juni 2021 12:08 unsubscribe 40.94.105.68 status: U

User 4)
Problem occured first when the very latest newsletter was sent. No changes to his email address / account before or after whatsoever
ID Date Source IP Lists
192 11. Juni 2021 8:08 reactivate 40.94.87.63 status: C
191 11. Juni 2021 8:08 unsubscribe 40.94.87.88 status: U

[BerndH]

My problem seems to be related to an unsubscribe link in the Newsletter. Some hyperactive email-scanner scans all the links and – by doing so – unsubscribes the subscriber. This seems to happen over at least two levels. So when the email-scanner receives the Good Bye-page, it checks also these links and reactivates the subscriber again. Removing the link solved the problem for me.

I’m afraid this doesn’t help you, jskene, if you don’t have an unsubscribe link in your newsletter.
Have you tried deactivating the unsubscribe-header?

4. List-Unsubscribe header
List-Unsubscribe is a special (hidden) header (RFC 2369) which can be added to emails when they are sent to a list of people, like a newsletter.
That header contains “instructions” to unsubscribe, which can be used by email clients (like Thunderbird, Gmail, Outlook, …) to show an unsubscribe button.

[Author]

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