Editing Contact Lists (section)

== Contact List Statuses Explained ==
Last updated November 5, 2025 at 10:59 PM

Contacts on your email marketing or SMS marketing list(s) can have one of four statuses: Active, Unconfirmed, Unsubscribed, or Bounced. In this article, we will define each contact status, the list type (email or SMS) each status applies to, and show you how to filter contacts by their status.

=== Take Note ===
This article refers to contacts on email marketing and SMS marketing lists.

==== Contact Limits ====
How your contact limit is calculated depends on when you created your account:
* Accounts created on or after November 3, 2025: All contacts, regardless of their list status, count towards your contact limit. 
* Accounts created on or before November 2, 2025: Only active contacts count towards your contact limit.

=== Contact Statuses ===
Status availability depends on the type of list you are using:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Status Availability
! Status !! Email Marketing Lists !! SMS Marketing Lists
|-
| Active || ✅ || ✅
|-
| Unconfirmed || ✅ || 🚫
|-
| Unsubscribed || ✅ || ✅
|-
| Bounced || ✅ || ✅
|}

==== Active ====
An “Active” contact is defined as a contact who is subscribed to either an email or SMS marketing list, has not opted out or bounced, and can receive marketing messages via email or SMS. 

An "Active" contact can opt-in or give consent to send messages through a form, can be added by you manually, through the API, etc. 

* [[Learn how to add contacts to your email marketing list]]
* [[Learn how to add contacts to your SMS marketing list]]

A contact is no longer “Active” if your email or SMS messages bounce or if they unsubscribe from your lists. For email marketing lists, note that an "Active" contact is not the same as an "Engaged" contact, which refers to contacts who open and/or click links in your marketing emails.

* [[Learn how to track engagement of your active contacts]]

==== Duplicates ====
You may come across duplicate contacts when using phone-only forms if phone numbers are entered in different formats or if the number matches a contact that already has an email address associated with it. To mitigate this, it is best practice to use consistent phone number formatting. Only exact matches are recognized as the same contact. 

If duplicate contacts happen, we recommend merging contacts to consolidate.

==== Unconfirmed ====
A contact receives this status if they submit a double opt-in form but have not clicked the confirmation link. 

"Unconfirmed" contacts will not be sent campaign emails until they receive an “Active” status. This can be achieved by clicking the confirmation link or by being manually added to an email marketing list by an Admin user. 

Note that manually adding unconfirmed contacts to any lists without explicit consent is a violation of our terms of use and may upset your contacts, potentially leading to spam complaints.

* [[Learn how to resend a confirmation email to an unconfirmed contact]]

==== Unsubscribed ====
A contact receives this status when they click the "Unsubscribe" link in your email or reply STOP to your SMS, or if they have been given an "Unsubscribed" status by you or an “Unsubscribe” automation action. 

For information on managing unsubscribes, read this guide.

==== Bounced ====
A contact receives this status when their email address or phone number cannot be reached after delivery attempts, preventing them from receiving future email or SMS campaigns. Contacts with a “Bounced” status are excluded from future email campaigns or SMS broadcasts.

===== Email Bounces =====
A "bounced" status for email marketing lists means an email could not be delivered to a contact’s address.

* **Hard Bounce:** The email address is invalid or permanently inaccessible. After a hard bounce, the contact is immediately given a "Bounced" status and will no longer receive emails.
* **Soft Bounce:** The email address is temporarily unavailable (for example, the inbox is full or the server cannot be reached). If a contact receives three soft bounces in a row from three different campaigns, the status changes to "Bounced."

* [[Learn about email campaign bounces and bounce codes]]

===== SMS Bounces =====
A "bounced" status for SMS marketing lists means an SMS message cannot be delivered:

* If the mobile carrier reports the number is invalid, the contact is immediately given a "Bounced" status and will no longer receive SMS messages.
* If the carrier indicates the handset is unavailable or unreachable, up to three delivery attempts are made. After three failures, the contact is marked as "Bounced."

=== Filter Contacts by Status ===
You can filter contacts by status on the Contacts Overview page. Here, you'll see a row of filters above your contacts. Click "Any" next to "Status" to display a menu of contact statuses. 

Click the status you are interested in filtering by to display those contacts. Note that you can combine filters to narrow your contact list further. For instance, you could filter first by the list and then by the contact status to find contacts on that list that are unconfirmed or unsubscribed.

If "None" is selected for the List filter, the status dropdown will be hidden. This is because a contact must be on at least one list to have a status.