Title: Subscriber unknown Last modified: October 15, 2025 --- # Subscriber unknown * Resolved [Sandy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sandyseoane/) * (@sandyseoane) * [7 months, 4 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/subscriber-unknown/) * Hi. My Mailpoet plugin works great for the most part and I send every subscriber on my list (all 1,922) an email once a week. Engagement tracking has been very helpful and is also functioning fine…for the most part. My question is about my inactive list, which for some reason shows many users with “unknown” next to the engagement score. Many of these subscribers are several years old, so they should have received hundreds of emails from me at this point – so shouldn’t the score say “0” if those emails were never opened? If it instead shows as “ unknown” does that mean they never received my emails and if so, why not? Does this mean they are not valid email addresses? I am hesitant to delete these inactive subscribers if the issue might be on my end – or a glitch with the plugin. * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fsubscriber-unknown%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US) to see the link]_ Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total) * Plugin Support [Ojoma a11n](https://wordpress.org/support/users/geraltrivia/) * (@geraltrivia) * [7 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/subscriber-unknown/#post-18687334) * Hello there [@sandyseoane](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sandyseoane/) , * Thank you for reaching out and for explaining your question so clearly. I completely understand why seeing “unknown” next to some of your subscribers’ engagement scores could be confusing, especially when you’ve been consistently sending newsletters for a while. * You can find a detailed explanation of how inactive subscribers and engagement scores work here: [Understanding inactive subscribers](https://kb.mailpoet.com/article/264-inactive-subscribers) * To clarify, those inactive subscribers did receive your emails, but they haven’t engaged with them (for example, by opening or clicking). A subscriber score is only generated once someone has interacted with at least three emails. Until then, their engagement level will appear as “unknown.” * This doesn’t mean their email addresses are invalid or that there’s a glitch with the plugin, it simply indicates that there hasn’t been enough engagement activity to calculate a score yet. * I hope this helps clarify what you’re seeing, but please let me know if you’d like any help reviewing your engagement data or managing your inactive subscribers. * Thread Starter [Sandy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sandyseoane/) * (@sandyseoane) * [7 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/subscriber-unknown/#post-18687891) * Thank you for the reply. To clarify, I’m confused about the difference between subscribers that show a score of “0” and a score of “unknown.” It generally seems as though the score is unknown until three newsletters are sent – and then if they have not engaged it changes to 0. Is that not the case? * Plugin Support [Ojoma a11n](https://wordpress.org/support/users/geraltrivia/) * (@geraltrivia) * [7 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/subscriber-unknown/#post-18688812) * Hello again [@sandyseoane](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sandyseoane/) , * Thank you for reaching out and for taking the time to clarify your question about subscriber scores. You’re absolutely right in your understanding. * A score of **“unknown”** means that the subscriber hasn’t received enough newsletters yet for the system to calculate an engagement score. Once at least three newsletters have been sent to them, MailPoet begins tracking engagement based on their opens and clicks. * If after that period the subscriber still hasn’t engaged with any of your newsletters, their score will then show as **“0.”** * You’ve got it exactly right. The “unknown” status simply means there hasn’t been enough data collected yet to generate a score. * Cheers! * Thread Starter [Sandy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sandyseoane/) * (@sandyseoane) * [7 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/subscriber-unknown/#post-18689508) * Ok- thank you Ojama – we have arrived at the problem. I have several hundred subscribers who have received well over the requisite three emails are still marked as “unknown” when their rating should be “0” according to the process as you just explained it. This seems indicative of a problem where Mailpoet is not functioning as expected – or there is an additional factor that has not been explained. Please see my initial question as it was laid out accurately. * Plugin Support [Ojoma a11n](https://wordpress.org/support/users/geraltrivia/) * (@geraltrivia) * [7 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/subscriber-unknown/#post-18697648) * Hello again [@sandyseoane](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sandyseoane/) , * Thank you so much for following up and for explaining your findings so clearly. I completely understand your concern. If several long-time subscribers are still showing as “unknown,” it’s reasonable to question whether MailPoet is functioning as expected. * You’re right that normally, once a subscriber has received at least three emails and hasn’t engaged with any, their score should change from “unknown” to “0.” However, there are a few factors that can affect this behavior: * Due to recent updates in how email clients report “opens,” MailPoet no longer relies solely on that data. This means that if an email client blocks open tracking or uses “machine opens,” MailPoet might not have enough reliable engagement data to assign a score, so it remains “unknown.” * Can you confirm if a majority of these email addresses with “unknown” scores have the same email extension e.g [@gmail](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gmail/). com, [@hotmail](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hotmail/).com ? * I completely understand your hesitation to delete those “unknown” subscribers just yet. It’s a good idea to segment them first and perhaps send a re-engagement email to verify which ones are still active before removing anyone. * Please let me know if you’d like some help setting up that re-engagement segment. I’ll be happy to walk you through it. * Cheers! * Thread Starter [Sandy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sandyseoane/) * (@sandyseoane) * [7 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/subscriber-unknown/#post-18698519) * Thank you again for the reply. Looking at the list, the subscribers do not appear to be from any specific extension. There’s gmail, hotmail, verizon, cox.net and more – with subscribers listed as “unknown” and now in “inactive” status in my list going as far back as 2022. * Plugin Support [Ojoma a11n](https://wordpress.org/support/users/geraltrivia/) * (@geraltrivia) * [7 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/subscriber-unknown/#post-18707320) * Hello again [@sandyseoane](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sandyseoane/), * Thank you for sharing those extra details and for taking the time to review your list so carefully. I completely understand your concern about those long-time subscribers still showing as “unknown.” * If those subscribers are now listed as Inactive, it means they haven’t engaged with any of your emails in the past 12 months. Based on our experience, less than 1% of inactive subscribers will typically respond to a re-engagement email to remain active. * That said, it can still be worthwhile to create a segment for these subscribers and send a re-engagement campaign to confirm whether any are still interested in hearing from you. This helps clean up your list while giving subscribers one last chance to stay connected. * I hope this is helpful. * Plugin Support [Ojoma a11n](https://wordpress.org/support/users/geraltrivia/) * (@geraltrivia) * [5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/subscriber-unknown/#post-18781281) * Hello there [@sandyseoane](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sandyseoane/) , * We haven’t heard back from you in a while, so I’m going to mark this as resolved– if you have any further questions, you can start a new thread. Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total) You must be [logged in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fsubscriber-unknown%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US) to reply to this topic. * ![](https://ps.w.org/mailpoet/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=3284564) * [MailPoet - Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/mailpoet/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/mailpoet/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/mailpoet/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/mailpoet/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/mailpoet/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/mailpoet/reviews/) * 8 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [Ojoma a11n](https://wordpress.org/support/users/geraltrivia/) * Last activity: [5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/subscriber-unknown/#post-18781281) * Status: resolved