In this article, we’ll show you how to create an automation that unsubscribes contacts from all lists who haven’t engaged with your campaigns in the last 90 days.
Keep in mind that 90 days is a recommendation. You can tailor this time window to 30 or 60 days if that works better for your business needs.
This solution is ideal for customers looking for a quick and easy way to unsubscribe unengaged contacts from their lists using engagement signals. If you do not need a quick or immediate cleanup, you can send a win-back email to unengaged contacts before unsubscribing them from your list(s).
Visit "Use automation to win back subscribers" for more information.
In addition to performing this list cleanup, we also recommend setting up three additional automations that will help you track contacts’ last engaged dates, unsubscribe unengaged contacts within the first 90 days that they were added to your account, and unsubscribe unengaged contacts from the last 6 months or year.
Visit "Use automation to track contacts' last engaged dates and perform ongoing list cleanup" to learn more
Take note
- You must have permission to access custom contact fields and the Automations feature
How it works
The expedited list clean-up is a 3-step process. First, you create an automation with no start trigger and include an “Unsubscribe from all lists” action, then set the automation to “Active.” Next, you perform an advanced search for subscribed contacts who have not engaged with any campaign within the last 90 days. Once you have that list of contacts, you will perform a bulk action that adds them to your unsubscribe automation.
We recommend adding a tag action before the unsubscribe action in the automation that shows the date contacts were added to this workflow. We recommend updating the tag to its relevant date if you plan to reuse this automation.
Build the automation
- Go to Automations and click “Create an automation.”
- Click “Start from Scratch” > “Continue” in the modal pop-up.
- Click the “Start without a trigger” option.
- Optional: Drag the “Add a tag” action to your automation. This tag should let you know when and how these contacts unsubscribed. For example, you can call it [Unengaged] Expedited List Cleanup DATE.
- Drag the “Unsubscribe” action to your automation and select the “Unsubscribe from all lists” option. This unsubscribes the contact from all lists in your account.
- Drag the “End this automation” action to your workflow.
- Make the automation “Active.” Contacts cannot be added to this automation unless you manually add them.
Create an advanced search
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Go to Contacts > Search bar> Advanced Search.
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Use the following conditions for your advanced search:
- Is subscribed to list (active) - At least one list AND
- Has been sent - Campaign - Any campaign - In the last - 90 - Days AND
- Has not opened - Campaign - Any campaign - In the last - 90 - days AND
- Has not clicked on a link - Campaign - Any link - In the last - 90- Days AND
- Has not replied - Campaign - Any campaign - In the last - 90 - Days
- Click the “Search” button. The page will display all contacts who meet the conditions you set in the search.
- Bulk add contacts to your automation (steps below).
Bulk add contacts to your automation
- From the advanced search, click the “Edit all” button to select all contacts rendered in the search.
- A modal window will appear. Click the “Add to an automation” option and select the automation you created to unsubscribe contacts.
- Click the “Add” button, then click the “Apply” button.
- A modal window will appear. Click the “Apply changes” button to confirm the bulk update action.
- Click “OK” to close the modal window.
Contacts will be added to your automation, tagged, and unsubscribed from all lists.