• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, December 18, 2023

Most legitimate businesses follow best practices when it comes to letting people unsubscribe. But Google is making it easier for consumers to opt out with a more prominent blue unsubscribe button that appears next to the name of the sender. 

The previous scheme consisted of the gray text version introduced in 2014, according to 9to5 Google, which spotted the change.  

The bigger “Unsubscribe” button will also appear in Gmail for Android and iOS, 9to5 Google says.

There is no reason for alarm at this change, but it reinforces the need to give consumers control over their own inbox. 

Google announced this in October. As of February 2024, it will require that bulk senders—those who send more than 5,000 messages to Gmail addresses in one day, to observe these rules:

• Authenticate your email — This will “close loopholes exploited by attackers that threaten everyone who uses email,” Google writes.  
• Enable easy unsubscription — Large senders must give Gmail recipients the ability to unsubscribe from commercial email in one click, and they will process unsubscription requests within two days. 
• Ensure you’re sending wanted mail — To add another anti-spam protection going forward, “we’ll enforce a clear spam rate threshold that senders must stay under to ensure Gmail recipients aren’t bombarded with unwanted messages.”

Far from suppressing email engagement, these changes should reassure Gmail users that they are in a secure environment, Google says. 

Google concludes: “These changes are like a tune-up for the email world, and by fixing a few things under the hood, we can keep email running smoothly.”