> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Unsubs Within 7d of Purchase, Dotdigital > Spike = post-purchase programme over-mailing. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Cross-Platform Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Email Marketing](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) > Spike = post-purchase programme over-mailing. ## At a glance > Share of customers who unsubscribed from Dotdigital marketing within 7 days of placing an order. Computed as `COUNT(distinct unsubscribers WHERE unsub_timestamp <= order_timestamp + 7 days) ÷ COUNT(distinct purchasers in period)`. The single best canary for post-purchase over-mailing, when this rate climbs, your post-purchase programme is sending too many touches and customers are firing back the only signal they have. | | | | ------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | Customers whose `Placed Order` event is followed within 7 days by an `Unsubscribed` event on the same `contactId`. The numerator is distinct contacts; a customer who places two orders in one week and then unsubscribes counts once. | | **Definition of "sent"** | n/a, this card is engagement-outcome focused, not send-volume focused. | | **Open rate basis** | n/a, count of unsubscribe events. | | **Bounce handling** | n/a, unsubscribes are a separate event type from bounces. | | **Attribution model** | The 7-day window is fixed for this card. Customers who unsubscribe later (8 to 30 days) appear in the general unsubscribe rate, not here. The 7-day rule isolates "post-purchase fatigue" specifically. | | **Currency** | n/a, ratio metric. | | **Channel coverage** | Email + SMS unsubscribes both count. A customer who unsubscribes from SMS only (via STOP) but stays on email registers here as a partial unsub. | | **Implicit unsubs (spam complaints)** | Spam complaints within the 7-day window also count. They are the strongest signal of over-mailing because the customer rejected the message rather than going to the unsubscribe link. | | **Soft churn** | Customers who simply stop opening but don't actively unsubscribe are NOT counted here, that is `dd_dormant_subscribers` territory. This card captures only active unsub events. | | **Time window** | `90D` (rolling 90-day rate, more stable than 30D for a relatively rare event) | | **Alert trigger** | `>3%`, driven by `sentiment_key: post_purchase_unsub_rate`. Below 1.5% is healthy; 1.5 to 3% is acceptable; above 3% suggests post-purchase programme over-mailing. | | **Roles** | owner, marketing | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Dotdigital data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A UK DTC homewares brand on BigCommerce + Dotdigital. Window covers 12 Jan 26 to 12 Apr 26 (90 days). | Metric | Value | | ------------------------------------------------ | --------- | | Distinct purchasers in window | 18,420 | | Purchasers who unsubscribed within 7 days | 612 | | **Post-purchase unsub rate (this card)** | **3.32%** | | Comparison: general unsub rate (all subscribers) | 0.42% | | Comparison: 30-day post-purchase unsub rate | 4.91% | Post-purchase programme behaviour over the 7 days following purchase: | Day after purchase | Programme step | Sends | Unsubs | Unsub rate per send | | ------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ------ | -------------- | ------------------- | | Day 0 | Order confirmation (transactional, not promotional) | 18,420 | 4 | 0.02% | | Day 1 | Thank-you + how-to-use email | 17,200 | 22 | 0.13% | | Day 2 | Cross-sell ("complete the look") | 16,840 | 84 | 0.50% | | Day 3 | Customer review request | 16,520 | 138 | 0.84% | | Day 5 | "Care guide" email | 16,180 | 218 | 1.35% | | Day 7 | Loyalty / referral nudge | 15,800 | 146 | 0.92% | | **Total touches across 7 days** | **6** | | **612 unsubs** | | What's interesting: 1. **3.32% post-purchase unsub rate trips the `>3%` alert.** This is actionable, the merchant is over-mailing the post-purchase population. Most healthy DTC programmes run at 1.5 to 2.5%. 2. **6 promotional touches in 7 days is too many.** Industry best practice is 2 to 3 touches in the first 7 days post-purchase: a thank-you (Day 1), a review request (Day 5 to 7), and optionally one cross-sell or care-guide. Day 2 + Day 3 + Day 5 + Day 7 promotional sends compound; the audience is recently-purchased customers who came for a specific item, not for daily merchant emails. 3. **The unsub rate climbs day-over-day, peaking at Day 5.** The classic over-mailing signature, the first 1 to 2 touches feel welcome; by Day 5 the customer perceives it as spam. The fix is to remove Day 2 and Day 5 entirely, leaving Day 1 (thank-you), Day 3 (review request), and Day 7 (optional loyalty nudge). 4. **Day 0 transactional confirmation has near-zero unsubs (0.02%).** This is the right baseline; transactional emails are expected and welcomed. Promotional touches following a transactional touch must clear a higher bar. 5. **The cost of over-mailing is twice the unsub rate.** Each unsubscribed customer represents not just one churned email contact but the lost revenue from their next 12 to 24 months of nurture. At a typical email-attributed AOV of £40 and post-purchase repurchase rate of 25%, 612 unsubs represents roughly £6,100 of forfeit pipeline revenue. The 3 to 5 percentage points of saved unsub rate is worth far more than the marginal revenue from Day 2 and Day 5 sends. **The actionable read**: cut the post-purchase programme from 6 touches to 3 (Day 1, Day 3, Day 7), retest after 30 days. Most merchants see post-purchase unsub rate drop to 1.5 to 2% with no loss in attributed revenue. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Post-Purchase Unsub Rate | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Unsubscribe Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/dotdigital/unsubscribe-rate) | The general baseline. If post-purchase unsub is much higher than the general rate, post-purchase programme over-mailing is confirmed. | | [Send Cadence](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/dotdigital/send-cadence) | Diagnostic. Counts the touches per period; over-mailing shows up here as 4+ touches in the first 7 days post-purchase. | | [Welcome Programme Status](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/dotdigital/welcome-programme-status) | The complementary lifecycle programme. Welcome unsub rates are typically lower because the customer has just opted in; if Welcome unsub is also climbing, the issue is broader than post-purchase. | | [Bounce Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/dotdigital/bounce-rate) | Often co-moves with unsub rate. A list-quality issue produces both. | | [Spam Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/dotdigital/spam-complaint-rate) | Implicit unsubscribe. Rising spam complaints in the 7-day post-purchase window are the strongest over-mailing signal. | | [Email-Attributed Revenue](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/dotdigital/email-attributed-revenue) | The trade-off. Cutting post-purchase touches reduces unsubs but may also reduce attributed revenue; pair to monitor net effect over 30 days. | | [Repeat Customer Rate (commerce)](/nerve-centre/bigcommerce/bc_repeat_customer_rate) | The downstream impact. Unsubs from post-purchase programme can't be reached by future nurture; repeat-rate erodes 30 to 90 days later. | | [Klaviyo Post-Purchase Unsub Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/klaviyo/unsubs-within-7d-of-purchase) | Klaviyo equivalent. Same definition, comparable bands. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Dotdigital:** Dotdigital does not expose a "post-purchase unsub" view natively. The closest screens for cross-checking the inputs: * [r1-app.dotdigital.com → Contacts → Suppressions](https://r1-app.dotdigital.com/contacts/suppressions) for the list of unsubscribed contacts and their unsub timestamps. * [r1-app.dotdigital.com → Insights → Subscriber Insights](https://r1-app.dotdigital.com/insights/subscribers) for general unsubscribe trends. * [r1-app.dotdigital.com → Programmes → Post-purchase programme report](https://r1-app.dotdigital.com/programmes) for per-step unsub counts within the programme itself, the most direct view for the over-mailing diagnosis. **Where to look in BigCommerce / Magento:** The denominator (purchasers in the period) comes from the connected commerce platform. In BigCommerce: **Analytics → Orders → unique customers in window**. The match between BC unique purchasers and Dotdigital `Placed Order` event count is the diagnostic for "is the order pixel firing on every order". **Why our number may legitimately differ from Dotdigital's reports:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Window anchor**. Vortex IQ anchors on the order timestamp; some Dotdigital reports anchor on the unsub timestamp. The two views agree on totals but disagree on which window an unsub falls in. | None on rate; differs in time-bucket distribution | Use Vortex IQ for the over-mailing diagnosis; use Dotdigital's view for raw unsub trends. | | **Implicit vs explicit unsubscribe**. This card pools unsubscribe-link clicks AND spam complaints. Some Dotdigital reports separate them. | Vortex IQ slightly higher | Spam complaints are a stronger signal of over-mailing; including them is deliberate. | | **Time-zone**. Dotdigital reports run on account locale; Vortex IQ on UTC. | Boundary days off | Averages out across the 90-day window. | | **Multi-purchase in window**. A customer who bought twice in the window and then unsubscribed counts once on Vortex IQ; some Dotdigital exports count once per order, inflating the rate. | Vortex IQ lower (usually) | The distinct-customer view is the right one. | | **Refunded orders**. The denominator includes refunded orders; some merchants want to exclude. | Either, drift typically \<1pp | Filter on the commerce platform side if needed. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`klaviyo.klv_xc_unsub_after_post_purchase`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/klaviyo/unsubs-within-7d-of-purchase) | Same definition, comparable bands | Klaviyo's healthy band is 1 to 2.5%, slightly tighter than Dotdigital's 1.5 to 3% because Klaviyo's automation depth allows more granular post-purchase targeting. | | [`bigcommerce.bc_repeat_customer_rate`](/nerve-centre/bigcommerce/bc_repeat_customer_rate) | Inverse relationship over 30 to 90 days | A 1pp climb in this card typically produces a 0.3 to 0.6pp drop in 90-day repeat rate, the unsubscribed customers can't be reached by nurture. | | [`dotdigital.dd_unsubscribe_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/dotdigital/unsubscribe-rate) | This card should be 3 to 6× higher than the general rate | If they're equal, your post-purchase programme isn't driving incremental unsubs (good). If this card is 10× higher, the post-purchase programme is single-handedly driving the unsub problem. | The most useful view is *the gap* between this card and the general unsubscribe rate. A 0.5pp general rate paired with a 3.3% post-purchase rate is a 6.6× over-index, that's the over-mailing signature. ## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **What's a healthy post-purchase unsub rate?** Below 1.5% is healthy; 1.5 to 3% is acceptable; above 3% suggests over-mailing. The benchmark varies by category: B2B and considered-purchase verticals (homewares, furniture) typically see 1 to 2%; impulse-purchase verticals (fast fashion, beauty) see 2 to 3.5%; flash-sale / one-time-promotion businesses can see 4%+ and consider it a cost of doing business. Compare against your own general unsub rate; if this card is 5 to 10× higher, the gap *is* the over-mailing signal. **My post-purchase unsub rate is 4% but our revenue is fine. Should I care?** Yes. The unsubscribed customers are gone from your nurture stream forever; you can never email them again without a fresh re-opt-in. At a 4% rate over 12 months, you're losing 48% of your purchaser base from email coverage. Post-purchase nurture is one of the highest-ROI marketing efforts (existing customers convert 5 to 10× higher than first-timers); losing it costs more than the marginal Day 5 promotional send delivers. **How quickly will the rate drop after I cut programme touches?** The post-purchase unsub rate is a 90-day rolling window, so changes show up over weeks, not days. Cut Day 2 and Day 5 sends today; the card's reading will start dropping from Day 30 onward; full effect is visible by Day 90. To see the immediate impact faster, look at the per-step unsub-per-send rate in the Dotdigital programme report rather than the rolling 90-day card. **Should I send to recent purchasers at all?** Yes, but selectively. Day-1 thank-you and Day-7 review request are nearly always net-positive. Day-2 and Day-3 cross-sell sends drive incremental revenue but at high unsub cost; test removing them. Day-5 "care guide" or "how to use" content typically has mixed results, depending on the product (high for complex products like skincare or appliances; low for simple products like apparel). **My post-purchase unsub rate spiked after Black Friday. Is this normal?** Yes, post-tentpole unsub spikes are common because (a) discount-driven first-time buyers have lower brand affinity than full-price returners, and (b) BFCM cohorts often hit programme cadences designed for higher-affinity audiences. If your card jumped from 2.5% to 5% in early December, that's a cohort effect, not a programme problem. It typically settles by mid-January if you don't change anything; if it stays above 4% by February, treat it as evidence the programme cadence needs tightening for discount-led cohorts. **Does this card include unsubs from SMS only?** Yes, both email and SMS unsubscribes count. SMS unsubscribes (STOP messages) are typically less common in volume but more decisive because the customer had to manually text a reply, no accidental clicks. A high SMS-unsub share within this card is a stronger over-mailing signal than email-only unsubs. **My customers unsubscribe via the email but stay on SMS, do they count?** The card pools all unsubscribe events. A partial unsub (email-only or SMS-only) counts once. To split, use the Suppressions view in Dotdigital and filter by channel; full-channel unsub is a stronger signal but partial unsubs still indicate fatigue. **Spam complaints, are those counted?** Yes. A spam-complaint event in the 7-day post-purchase window is implicit unsubscribe and counts in the numerator. Spam complaints are far more damaging than explicit unsubs because they hurt sender reputation; a card reading driven by spam complaints (visible in the Dotdigital programme report's per-step breakdown) is a 5-alarm fire, immediate programme pause is warranted. **What should my post-purchase programme look like for a healthy reading?** For a typical DTC store: Day 1 (transactional + brief thank-you), Day 3 (review request, separate send), Day 7 (loyalty / referral nudge). For complex products: add Day 2 or 3 "how-to-use" content. Avoid Day 4 to 6 promotional sends entirely, that window is when fatigue peaks. For high-AOV / considered-purchase categories, stretch Day 7 to Day 10 or 14. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Unsubs Within 7d of Purchase* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Dotdigital and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.