Contact Lists

A contact list is the primary container for storing and managing your subscribers. Each list holds contacts along with their profile information, making it easy to organize, segment, and target specific audiences for your campaigns.

Viewing Contact Lists

Navigate to Lists → Contact Lists to view all your lists.

List View vs Folder View

You can toggle between two display modes:

View	Description
List View	Traditional table format showing all lists
Folder View	Hierarchical tree structure organized by groups

Filtering Lists

Use the filter options at the top of the page:

• Our records / User records: Toggle between admin-created lists and user-created lists
• Filter by admin: Filter lists by the admin who created them

List Information

The contact lists table displays:

Column	Description
List Name	Name of the contact list
List Group	Group the list belongs to
Contacts	Total number of subscribers in the list
Added By	User who created the list
Last Activity	Date of last activity on the list
Created on	Date the list was created

Creating a Contact List

Navigate to Lists → Contact Lists → Add Contact List.

Basic Settings

List Name

Define a descriptive name for your contact list. This name helps you identify the list when scheduling campaigns or creating segments.

Best practices:

• Use descriptive names (e.g., "Newsletter Subscribers - January 2024")
• Include the purpose or source (e.g., "Webinar Registrants - Product Launch")
• Avoid generic names like "List 1" or "Test"

Group

Groups help organize related lists together. You can:

• Select an existing group from the dropdown
• Click Add New Group to create a new one

Use groups to organize by:

• Client or brand
• Campaign type (newsletters, promotions, transactional)
• Geographic region
• Product line or service

Sender Information

Sender Name

The name that appears in the recipient's inbox as the email sender. This can be pulled from the contact list when scheduling a broadcast if you select the option to use list sender information.

Examples:

• "John Smith"
• "Acme Marketing Team"
• "Your Company Newsletter"

Sender Email

The email address used as the sender (appears in the "From" header). This must belong to a verified sending domain.

Verified Domain Required

Ensure the email domain is confirmed as a sending domain before using it in broadcasts. Unverified domains may cause delivery issues.

Email format: [email protected]

Select the domain from the dropdown of eligible domains configured in your system.

Reply-to Email

The email address where recipient replies will be sent. This can be different from the sender email.

Example: If you send from [email protected] but want replies to go to [email protected], set the reply-to email accordingly.

Bounce Email

The email address used for bounce handling. This address appears in the Return-Path header of sent emails and receives bounce notifications.

Return-Path Header

The bounce email is where failed delivery notifications (bounces) are sent. Configure a bounce mailbox in your system to automatically process these bounces and update contact statuses.

Select from the dropdown of configured bounce email addresses on verified domains.

Profile Fields

Profile fields (also called custom fields) store additional information about your contacts beyond just email addresses.

Assigning Profile Fields

Select which profile fields should be available for contacts in this list:

Default fields include:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Birth Date
• City, State, Country, Zip Code
• Mobile, Phone, Fax
• Company, Title

You can also create custom fields to fit your specific needs.

Field Assignment

When editing a list, you can choose to Assign/unassign custom fields for previously imported contacts. This will:

• Restore missing custom fields with empty values
• Remove data from unassigned fields
• Improve segmentation accuracy

Prioritize Columns

The Prioritize Columns panel (shown on the right side when editing a list) lets you customize which columns are displayed when viewing contacts in this list and their display order.

Available Columns

Column	Description
Contact	Email address, first name, and last name (combined column)
Group	The list group
List	The contact list name
Created on	When the contact was added
Bounced	Bounce status indicator
Unsubscribed	Unsubscription status
Confirmed	Double opt-in confirmation status
Spam	Spam complaint status
Suppressed	Suppression status
Active	Active/inactive status
City	Contact's city (from custom fields)
(Custom Fields)	Any assigned profile fields

How to Use

1. Select columns: Check the box next to each column you want to display
2. Reorder columns: Drag and drop using the handle (≡) to rearrange the display order
3. Save changes: Click Save to apply your column preferences

Column preferences are saved per list, allowing different views for different lists based on your needs.

Additional Headers

Configure custom email headers for messages sent to this list. Additional headers appear in the email message source/headers.

Header Format

Only hyphens (-) can be used in header names. Spaces and special characters are not supported.

Managing Contact Lists

Editing a List

1. Navigate to Lists → Contact Lists
2. Click the Edit icon next to the list name
3. Modify settings as needed
4. Click Save

List Actions

Click the actions menu (three dots) next to any list to access:

Action	Description
Add a contact	Manually add a single contact to this list
Import contacts	Bulk import contacts from a CSV file
Export contacts	Download all contacts as a CSV file
Make copies	Create one or more copies of the list
Split list	Divide the list into smaller lists
Merge into another list	Combine this list with another list
Change group	Move the list to a different group
Re-count contacts	Recalculate the contact count
Dedupe list	Remove duplicate contacts across lists
Import History	View history of all imports to this list
Edit	Modify list settings
Delete	Permanently delete the list and its contacts

Copying a List

Create one or more copies of a contact list:

1. Click Make copies from the actions menu
2. Enter the number of copies to create
3. Choose whether to copy contacts or just the list structure
4. Click Copy

Copy Limitations

When copying with contacts, only email addresses are copied. Profile field data is not included.

Splitting a List

Divide a large list into smaller, more manageable lists:

1. Click Split list from the actions menu
2. Choose split method:
   • Number of contacts per list: Specify contacts per new list
   • Number of contact lists: Specify how many lists to create
3. Click Split

The system creates new lists with contacts distributed evenly.

Merging Lists

Combine two lists into one:

1. Click Merge into another list from the actions menu
2. Select the destination list from the dropdown
3. Choose duplicate handling:
   • Skip duplicates: Keep existing contacts, ignore duplicates
   • Overwrite duplicates: Replace existing contacts with incoming data
4. Click Merge

Merge Direction

Contacts are moved FROM the current list INTO the selected destination list. The source list remains but without the merged contacts.

Changing Groups

Move a list to a different group:

1. Click Change group from the actions menu
2. Select the new group from the dropdown
3. Click Save

Bulk Actions

Select multiple lists using the checkboxes, then choose a bulk action:

Action	Description
Delete selected lists	Permanently remove selected lists and their contacts
Delete contacts within selected lists	Remove all contacts but keep the list structure
Mark contacts as confirmed	Set confirmation status to confirmed
Mark contacts as unconfirmed	Set confirmation status to unconfirmed
Set format to receive emails in HTML	Change email format preference
Set format to receive emails in plain text	Change to text-only format
Mark soft-bounced contacts as not bounced	Reset soft bounce status
Mark hard-bounced contacts as not bounced	Reset hard bounce status (use carefully)
Change unsubscribed contacts to subscribed	Re-subscribe contacts (use carefully)
Mark contacts as active	Activate all contacts
Mark contacts as inactive	Deactivate all contacts
Delete soft-bounced contacts	Remove soft bounced contacts
Delete hard-bounced contacts	Remove hard bounced contacts
Delete suppressed contacts	Remove suppressed contacts
Delete unsubscribed contacts	Remove unsubscribed contacts

Irreversible Actions

Bulk delete operations cannot be undone. Always verify your selection before proceeding.

Managing Groups

Click the Groups button to manage list groups:

Creating a Group

1. Click Groups to open the groups modal
2. Enter a new group name
3. Click Save

Editing a Group

1. Click the edit icon next to the group name
2. Modify the name
3. Click Save

Deleting a Group

1. Click the delete icon next to the group name
2. If the group contains lists, you'll be prompted to reassign them
3. Confirm deletion

Default Group

Lists without an assigned group appear in the "Unsorted" group.

Exporting Contacts

Export list contacts to a CSV file:

1. Click Export contacts from the actions menu
2. The export starts in the background
3. Once complete, click Download to get the file

The exported CSV includes:

• Email addresses
• Custom field values
• Contact statuses

Large Exports

For large lists, the export runs in the background. You can navigate away and return later to download the file.

Deleting a Contact List

Data Loss Warning

Deleting a contact list permanently removes all contacts and their associated data. This action cannot be undone.

Soft Delete vs Hard Delete

When deleting contacts, you may see options for:

Type	Description
Soft Delete	Retains contact references (ID, statuses, creation date) but removes personal details (name, profile field data)
Hard Delete	Permanently erases all information

Dependency Check

If a list is used in campaigns, segments, or triggers, you must unassign it from those assets before deletion. The system will display a dependency check showing where the list is used.

Import History

View the history of imports for a list:

1. Click Import History from the actions menu
2. Review past imports with statistics:
   • Total records
   • Successfully imported
   • Duplicates
   • Invalid records

Deduplication

Remove duplicate contacts across lists:

1. Click Dedupe Contacts from the actions menu
2. Choose deduplication mode:
   • Delete matching contacts from all other contact lists: Keep duplicates only in this list
   • Delete matching contacts from this contact list: Keep duplicates in other lists
3. Click Dedupe

The deduplication process runs in the background.

List Limits

Depending on your package or admin settings, you may have limits on:

• Number of contact lists: Maximum lists you can create
• Contacts per list: Maximum contacts in a single list
• Total contacts: Overall contact limit across all lists

These limits appear in the interface when applicable.

Best Practices

Naming Conventions

• Use consistent naming patterns
• Include the purpose (Newsletter, Customers, Leads)
• Add dates or versions when relevant
• Avoid special characters that may cause issues

Organization

• Create logical group structures
• Don't create too many small lists (harder to manage)
• Don't create single massive lists (harder to segment)
• Aim for lists of 10,000-100,000 contacts for optimal performance

Maintenance

• Regularly clean bounced and unsubscribed contacts
• Run deduplication periodically
• Re-count contacts after major imports
• Archive inactive lists rather than deleting (if storage permits)

Next Steps

• Contacts - Learn how to add and manage individual contacts
• Custom Fields - Configure profile fields for your lists
• Importing Contacts - Bulk import subscribers