• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, Yesterday

The United States once again had the dubious honor of being the leading country for email opt-outs in 2024. 

The U.S. accounted for 84.68% of the world’s unsubscribes, making 2023 -- when the opt-out rate declined by 8% -- look like an outlier, according to an infographic published by Optizmo Technologies, its seventh annual opt-out report.  

In contrast, Europe generated 9.78 of total opt-outs The U.K. contributed 2.33% and France contributed 2.03%. Most of the world’s regions were below 1%.  

Why did the U.S. stand out? Probably because of the size of the population and the sheer number of emails going out. It may also be that American consumers are more jaded from advertising of all types.  

An imposing. 71.12% of opt-outs are occurring on mobile devices, and 28.25% on desktop. 

Among ESPs, Yahoo! has the honor of being first in opt-outs, as shown here: 

1. Yahoo — 45.32% 
2. Gmail — 12.65%
3. AOL — 10.99% 
4. Hotmail — 5.65%
5. Comcast — 3.88%
6. Verizon.net — 1.44% 
7. iCloud — 1.34% 
8. ATT.net — 1.29% 
9. sbcglobal.net — 1.18%
10. charter.net — 1.04% 

“After seeing Gmail drop out of the top slot in 2023, we saw Yahoo! retain its position at number one in 2024, even widening that lead,” the infographic notes. “The rationale behind Yahoo’s jump is likely a combination of factors impacting how email marketers were reaching inboxes during the year.”

When can a marketer expect opt-outs? The biggest day was Monday, the lightest day Saturday last year: 

Sunday — 13.47% 

Monday — 15.99%

Tuesday — 15.29% 

Wednesday — 14.91% 

Thursday — 14.40%

Friday — 13.30%

Saturday — 12.63% 

But these are not dramatic rates from prior years.  

“Opt-out activity by weekday continued its trend of flattening out in 2024. Notably, last year also saw the highest Saturday and Sunday volumes we’ve tracked in the infographic’s history, but shifts remain minor and gradual," the study said. 

December was the highest opt-out month last year, perhaps because of “an increase in holiday email volume, a higher opt-out rate, or a combination of both,” the study says. Either way, it was an exception. 

Among operating systems, iOS saw strong opt-out growth in 2024 (48.14%), followed by Android (22.98%), Windows (16.74%) and MacOS (10.63%).

All others made up 1.51%.