While you can delete bounced and unsubscribed contacts, it is a decision that you should carefully weigh.
You may choose to delete these contacts for the following reasons:
- You no longer need these contacts in your account
- You wish to keep your list clean and avoid any potential GDPR violations with contacts you no longer use. Click here to learn more about the GDPR
Or you may choose to keep these contacts in your account for the following reasons:
- They might update their email address or subscription preferences with you
- They may have a deal and are progressing through your pipeline
- You are communicating with them on different channels, such as SMS
Before you delete these contacts, you must consider the following:
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Contacts with a bounced or unsubscribed status do not count toward your contact limit and you are not charged for them
Note that it's possible for a contact to be unsubscribed from one list and subscribed to another. If so, the contact will still be considered "Active" in your account. Read more about contact statuses here. -
Deleting contacts is done at your own risk
We recommend exporting contacts into a CSV file before you delete them. Learn how to export a list. Or how to export all contacts in your account instead. Note that it's possible for a contact to be unsubscribed from one list, and subscribed to another, so you need check the contact's subscription status for each list before you delete them. If you delete a contact by mistake, an Account Admin can restore the contact record within 30 days of deletion. -
Campaign metrics
Deleted contacts will not change the open or click rates of campaign metrics. Their actions will still count toward the overall percentage for each report. However, their names will be removed from the open and click metrics.
Once you have exported your contacts and double-checked that you do not need their history or statistics in your account, you can delete them from the Contacts Overview page. For more information on this topic, read the How to delete contact records help article.
To remove unengaged contacts from a list, we recommend using the Expedited List Cleanup automation.
For more information on how to manage unsubscribes, read this guide.