Contact Lists
A contact list stores your contacts together with their field values and statuses. Every list also carries the sender details that campaigns can use, so it's usually one list per audience: your newsletter subscribers, your customers, your webinar sign-ups.
The Contact Lists page
Go to Lists → Contact Lists to see your lists.
Two buttons at the top right switch the layout:
| View | What it shows |
|---|---|
| List View | A table of all your lists. |
| Folder View | Your lists inside their groups, like folders. |
In List View, the table shows:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| List Name | The list's name. A Missing Sending Domain badge and a Fix Now link mean the list's sender email isn't on an Active sending domain. See Sender details. |
| List Group | The group the list is filed under. |
| Contacts | How many contacts the list holds. Click the number to see them. |
| Last Activity | When the list last changed. |
| Created on | When the list was created. |
| Actions | The list's menu. See List actions. |
While a list is being imported or exported, the Actions column shows its progress instead of the menu.
Above the table:
- Add New opens the form for a new list.
- Groups manages your list groups. See Groups.
- The bulk action menu, Select an Action with a GO button, applies an action to every ticked list. See Bulk actions.
Mumara ONE watches the bounce and complaint rates of every list. A list that goes over the limit is blocked: it shows Blocked instead of its actions menu, and campaigns and triggers skip its contacts. See Sending Reputation for what to do.
Create a contact list
Go to Lists → Add Contact List, or click Add New on the Contact Lists page.
Contact List Details
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| List Name | Required. A name that says what the list is, such as Newsletter: website sign-ups. You'll pick lists by name when you schedule campaigns and build segments. |
| Group | Optional. The group to file the list under. Click the + icon to create a group on the spot. Lists without a group go into Unsorted. |
| Profile Fields | The custom fields contacts in this list can hold, such as First Name, Last Name or Company. Contacts can only store values for fields assigned to their list. |
Sender details
Campaigns and triggers can take their sender details from the list, so fill these in carefully.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Sender Name | Required. The name recipients see in their inbox, such as your company or newsletter name. |
| Sender Email | Required. Type the part before the @, then choose the domain from Choose Domain. |
| Reply-to Email | Required. Where replies go. It can differ from the sender email, for example support@example.com. |
The domain list is split in two:
- Eligible Domains are your Active sending domains. Only these can be chosen.
- Ineligible Domains are domains that aren't ready yet, shown greyed out with the reason, such as pending authentication or authentication failed.
If the domain you want isn't eligible, finish setting it up under Setup → Sending Domains. See Sending Domains.
There's no bounce address on a list. Mumara ONE sets the return path from your sending domain and processes bounces for you. See Bounces and Complaints.
If a list's sender domain stops being Active, for example because it was deleted or its DNS records started failing, the list shows Missing Sending Domain on the Contact Lists page. Email to its contacts can't go out until you fix it: click Fix Now, choose an Active domain under Sender Email, and save.
Prioritize Columns
The Prioritize Columns panel on the right of the form decides which columns appear when you view this list's contacts, and in what order.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Contact | The email address, first name and last name together |
| Group | The list's group |
| List | The list's name |
| Created on | When the contact was added |
| Confirmed | Whether the contact confirmed their subscription |
| Bounced | Whether the contact has bounced |
| Unsubscribed | Whether the contact unsubscribed |
| Spam | Whether the contact reported your email as spam |
| Suppressed | Whether the contact matches a suppression list entry |
| Active | Whether the contact is active |
| Your profile fields | Any field assigned to the list, such as City or Country |
Tick the columns you want, and drag them by the handle (≡) to reorder them. The choice is saved with the list, so each list can show different columns. You can change it later from the list's contacts page too. See Choose the columns.
Additional Headers
Additional Headers adds custom headers to every email sent to this list, for example an internal tracking reference. Click Add New for each header and fill in the Header name and its Value.
Header names can contain letters, numbers and hyphens (-) only: no spaces or other special characters.
Save the list
Click Save. Then add contacts to the list: see Contacts.
Edit a list
On Lists → Contact Lists, open the list's Actions menu and click Edit. Change what you need and click Save.
When you change the list's Profile Fields, the edit form also offers Assign/unassign custom fields for previously imported contacts. Tick it to bring the contacts already in the list in line with the new field selection:
- newly assigned fields are added to every contact, with empty values
- data in fields you unassigned is deleted from every contact
If you unassign a field and tick the box, that field's values are removed from every contact in the list, for good. Export the list first if you might need them.
List actions
Open a list's Actions menu for:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Add a contact | Adds one contact to this list. See Add a contact. |
| Import contacts | Imports a file into this list. See Import contacts. |
| Export contacts | Exports the list's contacts to a CSV file. See Export a list. |
| Make copies | Creates one or more copies of the list. See Copy a list. |
| Split list | Divides the list into several smaller lists. See Split a list. |
| Merge into another list | Moves every contact into another list. See Merge lists. |
| Change group | Moves the list to another group. |
| Re-count contacts | Recalculates the number in the Contacts column. |
| Dedupe list | Removes contacts that also appear in your other lists. See Remove duplicates across lists. |
| Import History | Shows the results of the list's last import. Appears once the list has been imported into. |
| Edit | Opens the list's settings. |
| Delete | Deletes the list and its contacts. See Delete a list. |
If Import contacts is missing for a list, importing into that list has been switched off for your account. Contact Mumara support if you need it.
Copy a list
- Choose Make copies.
- Enter the Number of copies.
- Under Also copy the contacts?, choose Yes to copy the contacts too, or No for empty copies with the same settings.
- Click Copy.
The copies are named after the original, with -copy and a number.
When you copy contacts, only their email addresses are copied. Field values, such as names, aren't. To copy a list with its field values, export it and import the file into a new list.
Split a list
- Choose Split list.
- Under Split by, choose Number of contacts per list or Number of contact lists, and enter the number.
- Click Submit and confirm.
The split runs in the background and you get a notification when it's done. The original list keeps its share of the contacts, and the new lists are named after it with -SPLIT and a number. Each new list takes the original's group, sender details and fields.
Open each new list with Edit and check its Sender Email before you send to it. If a new list shows Missing Sending Domain, choose the domain again and save.
Merge lists
Merge into another list moves every contact from this list into the list you choose, then removes this list.
- Choose Merge into another list.
- Under Merge with list, choose the list that should receive the contacts.
- Under If duplicates found, choose what happens to addresses that are in both lists:
- Skip duplicates keeps the contact already in the destination list and drops the one from this list.
- Overwrite duplicates replaces the destination list's contact with the one from this list.
- Click Submit, then confirm.
The merge runs in the background, and you get a notification when it's complete.
After a merge, the list you merged from no longer exists. If it's used by a segment, trigger, web form or scheduled campaign, point those at the destination list before you merge.
Change a list's group
Choose Change group, pick the group under Select new group and click Submit.
Remove duplicates across lists
Dedupe list finds contacts in this list whose address also appears in your other lists, and removes one side. In Dedupe Contacts, choose:
- Delete matching contacts from all other contact lists. The address stays in this list only.
- Delete matching contacts from this contact list. The address stays in your other lists, and is removed from this one.
Click Dedupe. The job runs in the background.
Export a list
Choose Export contacts from the list's Actions menu, or tick several lists and choose Export contacts from the bulk action menu.
The export runs in the background, and the list's Actions column shows its progress with a Cancel link. If an export seems stuck, a Retry link appears. When it's done, download the CSV file under Tools → Exported Files. See Exported Files.
The file holds each contact's email address, field values and statuses.
Bulk actions
Tick the lists you want, choose an action under Select an Action and click GO. Each action applies to every contact in the ticked lists.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Delete selected lists | Deletes the lists and all their contacts |
| Re-count contacts | Recalculates the contact counts |
| Export contacts | Exports each list to a CSV file |
| Mark contacts as confirmed / Mark contacts as unconfirmed | Sets every contact's confirmation status |
| Set format to receive emails in HTML / Set format to receive emails in plain text | Sets the format every contact receives |
| Mark soft-bounced contacts as not bounced | Clears soft bounces |
| Mark hard-bounced contacts as not bounced | Clears hard bounces. Only do this if you're sure the addresses are valid. |
| Change unsubscribed contacts to subscribed | Resubscribes contacts. Only do this for people who asked to hear from you again. |
| Mark contacts as active / Mark contacts as inactive | Switches contacts on or off |
| Delete contacts within selected lists | Deletes the contacts and keeps the empty lists |
| Delete soft-bounced contacts, Delete hard-bounced contacts, Delete suppressed contacts, Delete unsubscribed contacts | Deletes contacts with that status |
Deleted lists and contacts can't be recovered. Before you delete people who unsubscribed or complained, add them to Email Suppression, so a later import can't bring them back. See Suppression.
Groups
Groups keep related lists together, for example one group per brand, region or campaign type. Click Groups on the Contact Lists page to see every group with its Group Name, Added by and Created on, and to rename or delete groups.
- Add a group from the list form with the + icon next to Group.
- Delete a group from the Groups window. If it still holds lists, you can move them to another group first. Lists left without a group go into Unsorted.
In Folder View, each group is a folder, and deleting it moves the lists inside to Unsorted.
Delete a list
- Open the list's Actions menu and click Delete, or tick several lists and choose Delete selected lists.
- Confirm: all contacts in the list, and their data, are deleted.
If the list is used by a trigger, a segment or a web form, an Associated Assets window lists them instead, with "Unassign the contact list from its associated assets before deleting it." Remove the list from each of them first, then delete it.
List limits
Your plan can limit how many contact lists you create and how many contacts they hold in total, and a list can have a contacts limit of its own. When you reach the list limit, Add New returns you to the Contact Lists page with "The number of contact lists has exceeded the limit." See Plan & Usage and Mumara ONE pricing.
Good practice
- Use one list per audience, and segments to target within it. Many near-identical lists are hard to keep clean.
- Keep sender details recognisable. A familiar sender name and an address on your own domain help people trust your email.
- Re-count after big changes, such as large imports or deletions, if a count looks wrong.
- Remove dead weight. Delete hard-bounced contacts, or leave them: Mumara ONE doesn't mail them either way. Keep unsubscribed and complaining addresses in Email Suppression.
- Export before destructive changes, such as unassigning fields, merging or deleting.
Next steps
- Contacts: add, import and manage contacts
- Custom Fields: create the fields your lists hold
- Segments: target contacts across lists