When should you use Unsubscribe link present?
email-unsubscribe-present · functional · required
When should you use this check?
Run this on every commercial send, on the mail that actually reached the inbox rather than on the template. The template had an opt-out in it last quarter too; what matters is whether the message survived the merge, the ESP wrapper and whatever the campaign editor changed on the way out. It also reads the `List-Unsubscribe` header, which is what powers the native Unsubscribe button in Gmail and Apple Mail — the route most recipients now use, and the one a footer-only review never looks at.
When should you not?
Do not run it on operational mail where an opt-out is itself the defect. Nobody may unsubscribe from a security notice, a password reset or a service outage warning, so a passing verdict on that mail would be recording the wrong outcome. Transactional receipts and confirmations sit in the same category: they are not commercial solicitations, and the honest audit choice is to leave this check out of the set rather than to configure your way around it.
What does it inspect?
Check MIME List-Unsubscribe header and rendered HTML anchors for unsubscribe URL/text patterns. Pass if either check passes.
What does a failure mean?
A failure means the message offered no working opt-out where the audit looked for one. For commercial mail that is a legal exposure under CAN-SPAM and an immediate deliverability problem, because recipients with no unsubscribe route use the spam button instead — which is the single most damaging signal you can teach a mailbox provider. The usual cause is mechanical: a wrapper that did not apply, a merge that dropped a footer block, or a header the sending platform stopped adding.
What are the Standard defaults — and why?
This check has no tunable thresholds. It is a presence check against the message as delivered — the header and the visible opt-out route are either there or they are not — so there is nothing to calibrate and no numeric dial to argue about. What varies is not the threshold but whether the check belongs in the set at all, which is a decision about the kind of mail you are sending.
How does an agent call it?
{
"type": "email",
"validations": [
"email-unsubscribe-present"
]
}
Who governs the Standard?
Schemafirst.org publishes community-governed standards for digital QA. ArbiterQA is a sponsor and commercial licensee of those standards; citation does not mean Schemafirst operates ArbiterQA.
Author ArbiterQA · Reviewed by ArbiterQA · 2026-08-14