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Jeff Gang
First Timer
December 11, 2025
Solved

Removing inactive contacts

  • December 11, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 205 views

Hi EA folks! I’m looking to keep our number of contacts below the paid-for threshold. What’s the best way to do this? Find old contacts with no donation history and no longer subscribed to emails, and bulk-delete them? Has anyone gone through this process?

Best answer by Jasmine Mostrom

Hi ​@kmartin, I can get why that might be a bit confusing since subscription statuses are tied to emails but create a list is going to look at the entire contact record (including all of it’s emails). What you’re going to want to do is create a multi-step search using Create-a-List, by following the below instructions:

 

  1. Create a new search in Create-a-List
  2. Using the email section, set Subscription Status = Unsubscribed
  3. Click Add Step
  4. Select Remove Contacts
  5. Using the email section, set Subscription Status = Subscribed

This should give you a list of contacts who only have unsubscribed emails. 

I will flag that, technically, we have a third email subscription status called Not Subscribed. This status acts similar to Unsubscribed, as those emails cannot receive emails sent through Targeted Email or a Workflow Automation, but it is more like a neutral status where you were given an email (on a form or through external means) for a contact that didn’t explicitly opt-in or out. You aren’t allowed to email them through blast messaging, but maybe the email is used for contact matching or one on one communication purposes.

If this is a status that is being used in your system, you may want to modify #5 above to check both options and be Subscription Status = Subscribed or Not Subscribed. You could also separate these out from each other by repeating #4-5 by creating a Remove Contacts step just for the Not Subscribed status.

Additionally, I would suggest making sure to take a look at the Suppressions on each step to verify if you want to include or exclude contacts like those that have been marked as Deceased. 

3 replies

Liz Ragland
Liz Ragland
First Timer
December 12, 2025

Hi ​@Jeff Gang I’m not familiar with your particular data or the size/age of your database but here’s where I would start from a priority list: 

yes to your suggestion of unsubscribed and no donation history. 
Bounced emails - if none of these have donated within 2 years, I would delete. If they have donated, I would attempt to fix. 
Unengaged contacts - contacts with no donation history and have not opened an email or engaged with your organization (Advocacy form, event attendee etc) in the past 2 years. 

Depending on the age of your data...I once worked with a customer who imported donations from 10+ year ago but they had no email addresses for the majority of these contacts and they didn’t send that much direct mail  + more than 2/3 of these donors had not donated within this decade. I advised them to remove these contacts if they had no giving history within the most recent 4 years. 

Others might recommend trimming to only keep those  that have engaged within the past 12-18 months but again, depending on the size and age of your data and how much you are wanting to trim that’s really up to you!

Liz at Bonterra
    kmartin
    kmartin
    First Timer
    January 22, 2026

    Following up on this, we’re also trying to clean up our database, and I’d like to know how to see people who are truly unsubscribed. If I have my work and personal email subscribed, and choose to unsubscribe my personal email, I will still show up in the “Unsubscribed” filter when making a list, even though I’m not. How do I see who is truly unsubscribed, and doesn’t have a separate, subscribed email?

    Jasmine MostromAnswer
    Bonterran
    January 26, 2026

    Hi ​@kmartin, I can get why that might be a bit confusing since subscription statuses are tied to emails but create a list is going to look at the entire contact record (including all of it’s emails). What you’re going to want to do is create a multi-step search using Create-a-List, by following the below instructions:

     

    1. Create a new search in Create-a-List
    2. Using the email section, set Subscription Status = Unsubscribed
    3. Click Add Step
    4. Select Remove Contacts
    5. Using the email section, set Subscription Status = Subscribed

    This should give you a list of contacts who only have unsubscribed emails. 

    I will flag that, technically, we have a third email subscription status called Not Subscribed. This status acts similar to Unsubscribed, as those emails cannot receive emails sent through Targeted Email or a Workflow Automation, but it is more like a neutral status where you were given an email (on a form or through external means) for a contact that didn’t explicitly opt-in or out. You aren’t allowed to email them through blast messaging, but maybe the email is used for contact matching or one on one communication purposes.

    If this is a status that is being used in your system, you may want to modify #5 above to check both options and be Subscription Status = Subscribed or Not Subscribed. You could also separate these out from each other by repeating #4-5 by creating a Remove Contacts step just for the Not Subscribed status.

    Additionally, I would suggest making sure to take a look at the Suppressions on each step to verify if you want to include or exclude contacts like those that have been marked as Deceased. 

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