An unsubscribe refers to the scenario where a customer either cancels their subscription or does not renew their subscription. It is different from churn in that an unsubscribe is the step that precedes the more permanent subscription expiry, known as churn.
When tracked regularly, this metric can act as a mitigation tactic for voluntary churn by highlighting the window between cancellation or unsubscribe and actual expiration. It is much easier to win back an unsubscribed customer with retention discounts and promotions than a customer who has voluntarily churned out.
Unsubscribes can serve as an early indicator of a bigger customer satisfaction problem. A segmented analysis of Unsubscribes by customer cohort can help you pinpoint the types of customers who are cancelling more often, so that you can uncover and address root cause. Deeper time-based analysis can also highlight seasonal cancellation patterns that can then be incorporated as part of churn reduction strategy.