When a subscriber would rather hear from you less than not at all, that is a win. This tracks the people who turned the dial down instead of walking out the door.
At a glance
A time-series of profiles that updated their email or subscription preferences in the selected period, for example by changing send frequency or opting down to fewer topics through a preference centre, rather than unsubscribing outright. This is the healthy alternative to a hard unsubscribe: a profile that opts down stays on the list, keeps receiving the mail it asked for, and remains reachable. Reading this line against the unsubscribe trend tells you whether your preference centre is doing its job of catching would-be leavers. A rising preference-update line alongside a falling unsubscribe line is one of the better signals a list-health programme can produce.
| What it counts | The number of profiles that changed their email or subscription preferences per interval, such as adjusting frequency or topic opt-downs via a preference centre, without fully unsubscribing. |
| API endpoint + statistics field | Derived from profile and consent changes via GET /api/profiles, with list context from GET /api/lists, bucketed per interval. Where a merchant tracks a preference-update metric event it can be cross-read via GET /api/metrics. |
| A healthier outcome | Distinct from an unsubscribe. A preference update keeps the profile subscribed (often to a narrower set), preserving reachability. An unsubscribe ends contact. |
| Lists vs segments | Preference changes apply to list and channel consent, not to segment membership, which updates automatically by rule. |
| Consent status | The profile typically remains subscribed after a preference update, just with adjusted settings. Contrast with the unsubscribed transition counted on the unsubscribe cards. |
| Chart type | Line (time-series). |
| Time window | Selected period, bucketed by day or week. |
| Alert trigger | Read as context for churn rather than a standalone alert; a healthy reading is a high preference-update line relative to unsubscribes. |
| Roles | owner, marketing |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your Klaviyo 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 fashion brand on Shopify that added a preference centre to its unsubscribe footer, offering “get less email” and “monthly only” options before the full opt-out. The 30-day window covers 14 Mar 26 to 12 Apr 26. All figures are illustrative.| Week (in window) | Preference updates | Unsubscribes | Ratio updates : unsubs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Mar to 20 Mar | 210 | 540 | 0.39 |
| 21 Mar to 27 Mar | 280 | 500 | 0.56 |
| 28 Mar to 03 Apr | 460 | 470 | 0.98 |
| 04 Apr to 12 Apr | 520 | 430 | 1.21 |
| Window total | 1,470 | 1,940 | 0.76 |
- By the end of the window, more people opt down than opt out. The ratio climbs from 0.39 to 1.21 across the four weeks. The preference centre is increasingly catching subscribers who would otherwise have left entirely. That is the whole point of the feature.
- 43 percent of opt-out intent was redirected into “stay, but less”. Of every 100 people who reached the unsubscribe footer with the intent to reduce mail, roughly 43 chose to adjust preferences instead of leaving. Those profiles remain reachable and revenue-generating, just at a lower frequency.
- The rising line tracks adoption, not deterioration. A climbing preference-update line is not a warning. It usually means the preference centre is being surfaced more prominently or that frequency has crept up enough that people want to dial it back. Either way, retaining them beats losing them.
- Read this with the unsubscribe trend, never alone. A high preference-update count is only good news if the unsubscribe line is flat or falling. If both lines rise together, the underlying issue is over-mailing, and the preference centre is merely softening the damage rather than fixing the cause.
- Honour the new preferences or you undo the win. A profile that asked for “monthly only” and then receives three sends a week will unsubscribe for real. The value of this metric depends on the sending programme actually respecting the reduced cadence the subscriber selected.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
Updated Email Preferences is best read as the softer counterpart to churn. Pair it with these:| Card | Why pair it with Updated Email Preferences |
|---|---|
| Unsubscribe Rate | The hard opt-out rate. A healthy programme shifts intent from unsubscribes into preference updates, so watch the two move inversely. |
| Unsubscribe Trend | The opt-out count over time. Read against this line to judge whether the preference centre is catching would-be leavers. |
| Suppressed Profiles | The other end of reachability. Preference updates keep profiles reachable; suppression removes them. |
| List Health Summary | The condition roll-up that preference retention contributes to. |
| Subscriber Growth Rate | Retaining opt-downers protects net growth by reducing the outflow side. |
Reconciling against Klaviyo
Where to look in Klaviyo:- Profiles → [a profile] → Activity shows preference and consent changes on an individual profile, useful for spot-checking what “updated preferences” means for your account.
- Analytics → Metrics for any preference-update metric event your account tracks, which gives the event-level time-series.
- Audiences → Lists & Segments to see how preference settings map onto the lists and channels a profile is subscribed to.
- Your hosted preference centre / subscription page configuration, since the options offered there determine what kinds of updates this card can count.
| Reason | Direction of divergence |
|---|---|
| Preference-centre design. This card can only count the preference options a merchant actually offers. A simple all-or-nothing unsubscribe page produces few or no updates. | Lower on accounts without a real preference centre. |
| Time-zone. Klaviyo buckets in account time zone; Vortex IQ buckets in UTC. Points near midnight can shift a day. | Per-interval shift; window total close. |
| Update vs unsubscribe classification. What counts as a “preference update” versus a partial unsubscribe depends on how consent is modelled. Edge cases can land differently between the two cards. | Variable at the margin. |
| Metric availability. If no preference-update event is tracked, the count derives from consent changes, which can bucket slightly differently from an event stream. | Marginal. |
| Page caps. Profile reads paginate at 50 per page; large windows are assembled across pages with minor mid-pull drift possible. | Marginal. |