Importing Existing Contacts for Exclusion

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1

Hello -

I have a list of 1,500 active International contacts that I need to exclude from getting emails, and take out of my active contact list because we’re almost at our limit.

They are currently subscribed to our USA list and I thought that if I imported these contacts, selected “Import as Excluded” it would do this for me (take out of list and active contact totals), but it did not.

I searched a contact in List Exclusions, and they were there. But then I searched them as a contact and they were there too - still subscribed to a list.

I then tried AC Chat and was told that I can Import these contacts again, select the list they’re subscribed to, and select the “Import as an Unsubscribed Contact,” which I did. However, I searched a contact and they’re still subscribed.

Any thoughts on how to go about keeping them in the system, but excluding them from emails and not active in our contact count? The only other thing I can think of is to Import them again, add a tag (International) then bulk edit to Unsubscribe them.

I need to keep them in the system because we have a custom sales object that continually pushes contacts in AC through DOMO when they order. If I delete these contacts and they order they will show up again and I’ll have to repeat the process, which is why I’m excluding them.

Thanks!

2

Hi Josh!

Here’s what’s I think is happening:

  • List Exclusions prevent contacts from receiving campaigns sent to that specific list, but they remain active contacts and can still receive other emails
  • “Import as Excluded” only adds them to list exclusions - it doesn’t unsubscribe them or remove them from your active count
  • Contacts need to be unsubscribed to stop counting toward your contact limit

Your best solution: Your instinct about bulk unsubscribing is correct. Here’s the most efficient approach:

  1. Import with a tag (like “International”) - this makes them easy to find later
  2. Use Manage Contacts to filter by that tag
  3. Bulk select all filtered contacts
  4. Bulk action: Unsubscribe from all lists

I think you should be set after that!