Email contact management
Updated
A contact is a person you may email, together with the context that decides whether and what you send.
What a contact stores
- Email, first name and last name
- Status: subscribed, unsubscribed, bounced, complained or pending
- Source: manual, import, API or form
- Tags, list memberships and custom fields
- Notes and a timeline of events such as subscribing, suppression and activity
Getting contacts in
- CSV import. Addresses are validated, rows with problems are listed, suppressed addresses are skipped, and you record where the consent came from.
- Signup forms and landing pages. Collect contacts directly, with optional double opt-in: new subscribers stay pending until they click a confirmation link.
- Manual entry one at a time.
- Export to CSV whenever you need your data back.
Your plan sets a contact limit, and imports respect it.
Lists, tags and segments
| Tool | Best for | |---|---| | Lists | Fixed groups you maintain, such as "Newsletter" | | Tags | Labels that change over time, such as "customer" | | Segments | Saved rules that recalculate, such as "tagged customer AND created in the last 30 days" |
Segment rules combine conditions with all/any logic, in groups. Conditions can test email, name, status, source, dates (created, last activity, unsubscribed), tags, list membership and your custom fields, with operators such as equals, contains, starts with, is set, before and after. You can preview a segment's contacts before using it.
Suppression
Hard bounces and spam complaints add an address to the suppression list automatically. When a recipient clicks the unsubscribe link in a campaign or automation email, they are marked unsubscribed and suppressed immediately. Suppressed addresses are excluded from campaigns and skipped on import. You can also add or remove entries by hand.
Removing an address from the list means you intend to email it again, so only do that when the original reason no longer applies, for example after a recipient fixes a full mailbox.
Contacts and transactional email
Transactional sends through the API do not need a contact record: you pass the recipient address in the request. They do share the suppression list, so an address that hard-bounced stays blocked in both places.
Frequently asked questions
- How are imported addresses checked?
- Imports validate the address format and check that the domain can receive mail. Rows that fail are reported, and addresses already on your suppression list are skipped.
- What are the contact statuses?
- Subscribed, unsubscribed, bounced, complained and pending (waiting for double opt-in confirmation).
- Can I store extra fields like a plan or birthday?
- Yes. Contacts have custom fields, and extra CSV columns on import become custom fields. You can use them in segments, merge tags and automation conditions.
Import your contacts
Create a workspace, verify a domain, and make your first API call.