How fast your email list is growing after subtracting the people who left. It tells you whether sign-ups are keeping ahead of unsubscribes and complaints.
Formula
List growth rate = (new subscribers − unsubscribes − spam complaints) ÷ list size at the start × 100
Example
In a normal month Meera's 8,000-person list gains 400 subscribers and loses 160 to unsubscribes and 8 to spam complaints. Net growth is 400 − 160 − 8 = 232, so the list grew 232 ÷ 8,000 = 2.9%.
How you'll hear it
“List growth rate is healthy, but most of the new sign-ups came from the giveaway, so let's see if they open.”
What it helps you decide
Whether to invest in new sign-up sources, whether a source brings real subscribers, and whether frequency or content is driving people away faster than you add them.
Where people misread it
A spike from a giveaway or contest can look like great growth while adding people who wanted the prize, not the emails. Hard bounces and list cleaning also shrink the list but are not in this formula, so check the real list size too.
The story
Meera runs an Instagram giveaway: enter your email for a chance to win a ₹5,000 voucher.
| List at start | 8,000 |
| New subscribers | +400 |
| Unsubscribes | −160 |
| Spam complaints | −8 |
| List growth rate | 2.9% |
|---|
| List at start | 8,000 |
| New subscribers | +1,600 |
| Unsubscribes | −160 |
| Spam complaints | −8 |
| List growth rate | 17.9% |
|---|
The number looks right. Net growth of 1,432 in one month (1,600 − 160 − 8), about six times a normal month.
What it hides. In the next campaign, the 1,600 giveaway subscribers produce 16 clicks, a 1% click rate, against 3% for the rest of the list. Several mark the first email as spam, which hurts sender reputation for everyone.
What to look at instead. Track growth by source and follow each source for two or three campaigns: click rate, unsubscribes and complaints. A smaller source that clicks well is worth more than a big one that doesn't.
All figures are fictional and illustrative.
Work out your list growth rate
The example's numbers are filled in. Replace them with yours.
Check where the new subscribers came from and how they behave in the next few campaigns.
Don't confuse it with
- List size: a total at a point in time; growth rate is the net change.
- Unsubscribe rate: one part of the loss side, measured per email.
Related terms
Sources
- Email analytics: 13 email marketing metrics you should track, HubSpot, 2026