> ## 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. # Unverified Email Customers, Shopify > Unverified Email Customers for Shopify stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Supporting Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Ecommerce Platform](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > Customers in the database with `Customer.emailMarketingConsent.state IN ('NOT_SUBSCRIBED','UNKNOWN')` or whose email has bounced. The marketing-deliverability canary; uncovers customers who've opted out, never opted in, or have unreachable emails. | | | | ----------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(customers WHERE emailMarketingConsent.state != 'SUBSCRIBED' OR email IS BOUNCED)`. The denominator is total customer base; ratio surfaced as percentage. | | **VAT / tax treatment** | Not applicable, count metric. | | **Shipping** | Not applicable. | | **Discounts** | Not applicable. | | **Refunds** | Not applicable. | | **Cancelled / voided orders** | Not applicable. | | **Currency** | Not applicable. | | **Channels / sources** | Customer-level state regardless of order channel. POS-walk-in customers without email don't appear (no email = no customer record); customers who once opted in but later opted out do appear. | | **Time window** | `RT` (real-time, computed from latest customer-state snapshot). | | **Alert trigger** | `>10% of base` triggers `unverified_email` sentiment key. | | **Roles** | owner, marketing | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Shopify 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 lifestyle brand on Shopify, \~24,000 customer base. Snapshot 12 May 26. | Cohort | Count | Share | | ---------------------------------- | ---------- | --------- | | Subscribed (opted in, deliverable) | 18,200 | 75.8% | | Not subscribed (never opted in) | 4,200 | 17.5% | | Opted out (formerly subscribed) | 980 | 4.1% | | Bounced / undeliverable | 620 | 2.6% | | **Total customers** | **24,000** | **100%** | | **Unverified (alert population)** | **5,800** | **24.2%** | The card reads `24.2%`, **14.2 ppt above the 10% threshold**. Six things to notice: 1. **The alert is firing.** 24% unverified is well above healthy norms. For a UK lifestyle brand, target 5-15% unverified. Above 20% means the brand is sending emails to \~5k customers who aren't receiving. 2. **The "not subscribed" cohort is the biggest piece.** 4,200 customers (17.5%) never opted in. Likely guest checkouts who didn't tick the marketing consent box. Recover via post-purchase opt-in flow. 3. **Opted-out is small but signal.** 980 customers actively unsubscribed. Trend: if this is rising, your email content or cadence may have issues. 4. **Bounced rate of 2.6% is unhealthy.** Industry benchmark: \<1%. Investigate list-hygiene practices; a 2-3% bounce rate over time gets your brand flagged by Gmail / Outlook spam filters. 5. **Marketing-spend efficiency.** If you pay Klaviyo per active profile, 5,800 unverified customers are dead weight on the bill. Either re-engagement or list-pruning saves cost. 6. **GDPR compliance signal.** Customers without `SUBSCRIBED` status receiving marketing email is a GDPR risk in EU/UK. Pair with deliverability tools to confirm sends respect consent. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together Unverified Emails is the deliverability canary. Companions: | Card | Why pair it with Unverified Emails | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | [Customer Count](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/unique-customers) | Denominator. | | [Customers with Zero Spend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/customers-with-zero-spend) | Subset overlap; customers without spend often haven't opted in. | | [Email Health](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/email-health) | Aggregate email-marketing health; this card is one component. | | [Repeat Customer Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/repeat-customer-rate) | Subscribers convert to repeats far more than unverified. | | [New Customers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/new-customers) | New customers should be opted-in by default; if not, post-purchase consent flow is broken. | | [Klaviyo unsubscribe rate](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/kl_unsubscribe_rate) (when connected) | Email-platform companion; tracks the *opted out* sub-cohort. | | [Klaviyo bounce rate](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/kl_bounce_rate) (when connected) | Tracks the *bounced* sub-cohort. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Shopify Admin:** > **Shopify Admin → Customers** filtered by *Email subscription status: Not subscribed* OR *Email subscription status: Unsubscribed* The most direct equivalent. Sum the matching counts and divide by total customer count. Other Shopify Admin views: * **Customer segments**: build segments based on consent status. * **Apps like Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Hubspot**: their dashboards expose deliverability health in detail. **Why our number may legitimately differ from Shopify Admin:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | -------------------------- | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Bounce-state inclusion** | Either | We include bounced; Shopify's filter doesn't always. | | **Sync lag** | Either, transient | Customer-state updates lag 5-30 min during heavy edits. | | **Identity-resolution** | Either | Shopify identifies customers by email + phone; edge cases (typo'd email) sometimes resolve in Admin and not in our index. | | **Email-engine variation** | Either | If using Klaviyo as primary, Klaviyo's view of subscription state may differ from Shopify's during cutover. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`klaviyo.kl_subscriber_count`](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/kl_subscriber_count) (when connected) | Should match SUBSCRIBED count | Klaviyo's profile state should mirror Shopify's; cutover gaps and import lag can desync. | | [`klaviyo.kl_bounce_rate`](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/kl_bounce_rate) | Should match BOUNCED subset | Klaviyo's bounce tracking is the source of truth; Shopify mirrors. | ***
Documentation cross-reference (for agencies running multiple platforms) * [`bigcommerce.unverified_emails`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/unverified-email-customers) * [`adobe_commerce.unverified_emails`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/unverified-email-customers)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Why is my unverified rate so high?** Three usual causes: 1. **Guest checkout dominant**: customers complete checkout without ticking marketing consent. Common; consent uptake at checkout is typically 30-60% even with prominent prompts. 2. **Imported customers from previous platform**: bulk imports often arrive without consent state. Default state for ambiguous imports is "not subscribed". 3. **Cleansing not run recently**: opted-out and bounced customers accumulate over time. Quarterly hygiene reviews keep the rate manageable. **What's a healthy unverified rate?** Category-dependent rough guides: * **Pure DTC subscription brands**: \<5%. Email is the channel; opt-in is mandatory. * **Standard DTC**: 10-20%. Welcome flow recovers most. * **Marketplace-heavy brands**: 30-50%. Many customers never opt in. * **Hybrid retail**: 25-40%. POS captures don't always include email consent. **Should I email unverified customers anyway?** GDPR / CAN-SPAM constraints: emailing customers without consent is illegal in EU/UK and risky in US. Don't. Three legitimate recovery paths: 1. **Re-engagement campaign**: confirmation-of-interest emails to opted-out customers (request fresh consent). 2. **Post-purchase consent flow**: email customers who've recently bought asking for consent (must be carefully crafted to avoid being unsolicited). 3. **List pruning**: just remove bounced and long-stale unverified records to keep your sender reputation healthy. **Why are bounce rates so important?** Above 1-2% bounce rate, mail providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo) start to flag your sender domain. Above 5%, you risk being marked as spam by default. List-hygiene matters for deliverability of your *good* customers' emails. **Does this card respect Shopify's email-marketing consent model?** Yes. We use `Customer.emailMarketingConsent.state` field directly. The model has four states (`SUBSCRIBED`, `NOT_SUBSCRIBED`, `PENDING`, `UNSUBSCRIBED`); this card flags everything except `SUBSCRIBED` plus bounced. **Action playbook for managing unverified emails:** 1. **Quarterly list pruning**: remove customers bounced >3 times and customers with no engagement >18 months. 2. **Consent flow audit**: confirm post-purchase opt-in is firing for guest checkouts; A/B test wording. 3. **Re-engagement campaign**: target opted-out customers with a confirmation request. 4. **Deliverability monitoring**: pair with Klaviyo / mailing-tool deliverability dashboards. 5. **GDPR compliance**: confirm only `SUBSCRIBED` customers receive marketing; this card identifies the population that shouldn't be receiving. 6. **POS opt-in capture**: train staff to capture email consent at till; the gap between in-store and online consent rates is often large. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Unverified Email Customers* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Shopify 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.