A common conversation we have when working with campaigns who've ramped up engagement — donation asks, petition pushes, regular sends — is the moment they look at their unsubscribe number and worry something is wrong. Almost always, the answer is the same: nothing is wrong. The list is doing what active, healthy lists do.
Email lists churn. Real ones, healthy ones, the kind run by professionals with deliverability dialed in — they all churn. The thing actually worth watching for isn't churn; it's a list that doesn't churn at all, because that usually means it isn't being used or measured. A list sitting stagnant on one safe update a month is a goldmine of unused potential.
We tell every client: optimize for the people who stay on your list, engage, and the new people who want to.