In a recent Business Bloomer Club Slack thread, a debate surfaced around what store owners do with email subscribers who hit the “unsubscribe” button.
The conversation explored legal obligations, ethical marketing practices, and possible technical workarounds—like uploading unsubscribed users to ad platforms.
While it started as a question of curiosity, it opened the door to a much-needed conversation on respectful email marketing in WooCommerce.
So, what should you actually do when someone unsubscribes?
The Question: Is Retargeting Unsubscribers Acceptable?
The original scenario was simple: a WooCommerce store owner wondered what others do with unsubscribed email addresses—do they go quietly, or do some store owners upload them to a custom audience on platforms like Facebook or Google Ads?
Technically, that’s not an email. But ethically—and legally—it’s still murky.
GDPR and Legal Compliance
One clear takeaway was this: GDPR says no. If a person unsubscribes from your marketing emails, it doesn’t mean they consented to be targeted elsewhere using that same data.
Even if you’re using that email for display ads and not inbox content, personal data is personal data. Without explicit opt-in for ad targeting, you’re on shaky ground.
And that’s just Europe. If you’re working across borders, you might also have to comply with CAN-SPAM (USA), CASL (Canada), and other privacy laws.
Ethical Marketing Wins in the Long Term
The most repeated advice in the thread? Just delete them. People unsubscribe for a reason. If you continue to chase them—through email, ads, or otherwise—you risk your brand reputation and violate their trust.
The consensus was that a clean list is a healthy list. Respect unsubscribes, purge inactive contacts periodically, and consider it part of good list hygiene.
What You Can Do
This doesn’t mean unsubscribes aren’t valuable. As one participant put it: “Unsubscribes can feel disheartening, but they’re insights.”
Instead of chasing them:
- Survey them: Offer a quick, optional form asking why they left. Poor timing? Irrelevant content? Too frequent?
- Analyze trends: Do most unsubscribes come from a specific campaign? A subject line? A product category?
- Improve segmentation: Sometimes a customer doesn’t want all your emails—just the ones that matter.
If you’re seeing unsubscribes pile up, it’s time to adjust your strategy—not double down on outreach.
Tools and WooCommerce Options
For WooCommerce store owners, there are tools to help you manage this gracefully:
- MailPoet and Klaviyo allow list segmentation, unsubscribe reasons, and automated suppression.
- WooCommerce’s customer data export tools make it easy to remove inactive or unsubscribed contacts.
- You can also use filters to prevent sending abandoned cart reminders or post-purchase emails to unsubscribed users.
Conclusion
A healthy WooCommerce email strategy doesn’t cling to unsubscribers. It learns from them. Respecting customer choices—especially around their inbox—isn’t just good manners, it’s legally necessary and strategically wise.
Focus on the people who want to hear from you. Everyone else has spoken, and it’s time to listen.
