How we prove an unsubscribe actually worked
Plenty of tools click an unsubscribe link, show a green tick and move on. A green tick only means a web server answered. Here's what we do instead - and what we won't claim.
1. We send the request and keep the receipt
Where a sender supports one-click unsubscribing (the standard built into their own emails), we send it for you. We store the exact address we contacted, the status code it returned and a short snippet of the reply. You can read all of it on the company's page in your account.
2. After 48 hours we look for their confirmation
We re-read your mailbox - subject lines and dates only - looking for a message from that sender confirming you've been removed. If one arrives, we show you its subject and date as evidence rather than just saying 'confirmed'.
3. For 14 days we watch whether the email actually stops
Silence is the real proof. Senders often have one more message already queued, so we ignore anything sent in the first 72 hours. After that, any new marketing from them counts against the unsubscribe.
4. Only then is it 'verified stopped'
No marketing from that sender across the whole 14-day window is the only state we treat as proof. Until then your dashboard says 'request accepted' or 'watching your inbox', because that is all we honestly know.
5. If they ignore it, we escalate - we don't pretend
Senders who keep emailing get moved up a ladder of real mechanisms: their listed opt-out address, then their marketing preference centre, then a formal written objection to direct marketing that you send from your own address. Each step is a different mechanism, never the same click again.
What we can't do, stated plainly
- We can't force a company to honour an unsubscribe. Nobody can. What we can do is use every mechanism they publish, prove whether it worked, and escalate when it didn't.
- Some senders don't include an unsubscribe option at all. Those have to be switched off inside your account with them - we take you to the exact page and track it.
- Verification needs your mailbox still connected. If you disconnect it, we lose the ability to check, and we'll say so rather than guess.
- We only ever read who emailed you, the subject, the date and any unsubscribe link. Never the contents of your messages.
- Your word overrides our checks. If you're still getting email from a sender we thought was sorted, hit “Still getting these?” and it goes straight back on the list, escalated.