Suppression list: how to exclude recipients from the newsletter

What is a suppression list

If you want to exclude a recipient from your newsletter, add their email address to a suppression list. Before a campaign starts sending out your newsletter, it will check whether the profile's email address is on the list. If it is there, the profile will be excluded from the recipient list. Suppression lists are used to adhere to the regulatory requirements of the CAN-SPAM Act. In our article “How to Send a Million Emails and Avoid Spam Filter" you will find more information about this Act.

Where to find suppression lists

Select the Data section ➝ Suppress list in the main menu. In the window, you will see all suppress lists. It is most likely that you have not created any suppress lists yet, and now you are surprised to find a suppress list called “Global suppress list”:

This is a global suppress list. Every account has it by default. When you create a profile database, this list is immediately attached to it.

Any campaign will check whether the contact details of its recipients are in the global suppress list before sending out emails.

If you want subscribers to be automatically added to the global suppress list, use the global unsubscribe link in the email template. Users who follow this link will immediately go to the global suppress list and will be excluded from all newsletters.

If you want to filter email addresses in certain resources, you can create a suppression list and link it to a separate email template or to your database.

How to create a suppression list

To create a new suppress list click "Create" in the upper panel:

In the new window, enter the name of your suppression list.

Click the "Save" button. You will be redirected to the general settings of your newly created suppression lists:

Import from the file

You have two options to add profiles to the suppression list: upload addresses from a file or enter them manually.

To add contacts from a file to the suppression list, select “Import” from the quick action menu:

Drag and drop the file with the list of contacts into the opened form.

The file should be in one of the following formats:

• .zip
• .gz
• .xls
• .xlsx
• .csv
• .txt

You can add multiple files at once. Files can contain multiple columns.

After uploading the file, select a column to be used for importing into the blocklist by setting its value as «Use column”. The remaining columns will have their default value set as “Skip column”. You cannot select more than two columns. Then, click the “Import” button in the upper right corner.

When using this import method, the data type you're importing doesn't matter – whether it's phone numbers or email addresses. They are imported using the same algorithm.

Manual suppression list creation

To manually add customer contacts to the suppression list, click on the name of the suppression list to open it. There are two tabs within it - “Email and Domains” and “Phone Numbers.”

• Adding email addresses and domains manually

The default tab, “Email and Domains”, is active. In the “Email and Domains” block, enter the address or domain you want to add and click “Check.”

If you're adding addresses to the list for the first time, you'll see a tab labeled “Not found in suppressed.” Below, you'll be able to mark addresses and/or domains, with addresses and domains highlighted in different colors.

If you're editing a list you've worked with before, and it already contains addresses, you'll see two tabs: “Not found in suppressed” and “Exists in suppressed.” If a domain or address you've just entered already exists in the suppression list, it will appear on the second tab. If a domain and/or address is absent from the suppression list, it will be on the first tab. Select the necessary addresses and click “Add Selected.” You can choose to mark all domains and/or addresses at once or selectively. At this stage, you can also switch to the second tab and remove an address or domain that's already in the list.

After adding the desired email addresses and domains to the suppression list, click “Save” in the upper right corner of the panel. Now, all users whose contact information is in the list will be excluded from your mailings.

• Adding phone numbers manually

You can use the same process to add phone numbers to the suppression list. To do this, navigate to the “Phone Numbers” tab and enter the full phone numbers with country codes separated by commas and spaces in the available field.

After clicking “Check,” you will see if the numbers you entered are in this blocklist. Then, mark all numbers at once by clicking the 'Select All Phones' button. Alternatively, manually add numbers by placing checkmarks in the relevant boxes:

Click “Add selected” below, and then “Save” on the top panel.

In the future, remember to attach the necessary suppression list to the appropriate database or template to ensure its functionality.

FAQ

1. What is the difference between a suppression list and an unsubscription?

These are completely different things. Suppression lists are usually used for temporary exclusion from newsletters. For example, some piece of content may cause a negative reaction from a group of your subscribers.

2. Will a subscriber receive your email if their address is in your suppress list but at the same time their status is active?

No, they will not. If you have added a profile to the blocklist, even if the profile has an active global status, no messages will be sent to them.

3. Will users be deleted from a suppression list if they want to subscribe to a newsletter again?

If your newsletter is not connected to a resource, they will not. Use an API in this case. We recommend that you use subscriptions to different resources in the future.