Why do I have more contacts than my total contacts when I calculate by status?

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Summary

On the Contact Overview page, when I calculate my contacts by each status (i.e. Active, Unsubscribed, Unconfirmed, and Bounced), the final contact count is larger than the number of total contacts in my account (in parentheses in gray). How can that be?

Solution

To calculate total Active contacts from Contacts Overview, it is best practice to filter by “All Lists'' and “Active” Status. This will show you the contacts that are Active and counted towards your contact limit. Learn more about what active, unconfirmed, unsubscribed, or bounced status means:

Contacts_Overview_filtered_by_All_lists_and_Active_status_to_show_only_active_contacts_example_shows_104.png

To calculate total contacts from Contacts Overview, it is best practice to filter by “All Lists” and “All” Statuses. This will show you the total contacts in your account, regardless of status:

Contacts_Overview_filtered_by_All_Lists_and_All_Statuses_show_all_contacts_in_the_account_the_example_shows_113.png

Note that you can also see these numbers on your ActiveCampaign Dashboard if you click on the ActiveCampaign logo at the top left and choose “All” or “Active” status in the Contact widget.

ActiveCampaign_Dashboard_contact_widget_you_can_show_all_or_active_contacts.jpeg

Cause

The reason the calculated number is larger than the total contact count is that one contact can have multiple statuses. When each status is filtered and calculated that one contact is then counted more than once.

For example, a contact can be in two lists where they are Active on the first list but Unsubscribed to the second:

Contact_record_example_with_two_lists_one_with_subscribed_status_and_one_with_unsubscribed.png

Using the same example account as above, in the account the total Active contacts equals 104 (see screenshot above) and the total Unsubscribed equals 16:

Contacts_Overview_filtered_by_All_Lists_and_Unsubscribed_status_shows_16_contacts.png

When added together it totals 120 which is more than the 113 total contacts (see screenshot above) because this contact and others that also have both statuses, were counted twice, once as Active and once as Unsubscribed.

Note that a contact can only be counted once per status. For example, if a contact is unsubscribed on two lists, e.g. List 1 and List 2, this would only be counted as one Unsubscribe.

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