Unsubscribed Contacts: Still showing in list.

[user12474]

I'm wondering if there is an easier way to remove Unsubscribed contacts from lists than manually removing each one. I see the Email Status says "Unsubscribed" but they still show in the list. There is no way to sort the list by Email Status to make it easier to organize/remove, and in the drop down to filter by status "Unsubscribed" is not an option. I want to know how many actual Subscribed contacts are in a list, and want to be able to track that metric regularly. Please let me know if there is an easier way.

[William_A]

Hello @user12474 ,

If a contact is currently unsubscribed, then they would not be showing up in any lists. When a contact unsubscribes from you, or you upload them as unsubscribed, they are removed from all of your lists. They'll still show up in your total contacts, and can be sorted based on their status. Unsubscribed contacts are considered inactive, and thus don't count toward your billable contacts. 

See our main article on unsubscribed contacts for more info. See our main article regarding the contacts dashboard for more info on sorting, searching, and filtering your overall contacts page.

[user12474]

Hi there. Thanks for the help! I've pieced together and uploaded a screenshot below of what I'm referring to. When I go to this list, and look at the contacts it shows people as "Unsubscribed" but they're still on the list. Let me know your thoughts - thanks!

[William_A]

It's either a visual glitch, or something is causing the contact to still appear on the list despite its status. Regardless of whether or not you're still able to send to the contact, or if it is actually unsubscribed, please call our phone support for live troubleshooting. 

[William_A]

After further investigation and speaking with our technical teams, it looks like this was part of a very recent update in order to accommodate SMS-only contacts. It also has the indirect benefit of maintaining the list record, in case a contact unsubs accidentally, or as part of an integration sync, and needs to be resubbed.

What this means going forward, is that contacts in a list that unsubscribe for emails will remain in the lists they were a part of, regardless of their SMS subscription status. Our article on understanding unsubscribed contacts has been updated since that release to reflect this change. However, their unsubscribed email status means that they won't be sent email campaigns, even if the list they're in is selected to send to. 

In the event that a contact that is listed as unsubscribed says they still received your email, please call our phone support so they can investigate the specific contact further.

If you're not wanting unsubbed contacts to remain in your lists, you can remove them from the lists or delete them from your account entirely. We do still recommend that you maintain a record of your unsubscribed contacts in some capacity, whether that's in your account, or as a file in a database / cloud / device. You can either export the list itself and remove the Email Status: Subscribed contacts via your preferred spreadsheet program, or export all listed unsubscribed contacts. 

[user12474]

Hi again. I really appreciate the detailed and thorough explanation. I will make note of this moving forward. As a suggestion, if they could make an option to either filter by or sort by "unsubscribed" or "email status" that would help immensely in saving time for those (me) who want to remove the unsubscribed emails from lists. Businesses such as mine use the subscriber metrics to negotiate partnerships, so it's important to us to know exactly how many subscribers we have. Thank you again!