Unsuppressing a Contact
Re-enable a previously suppressed contact
Unsuppressing a Contact
Suppressed contacts are blocked from receiving any emails. In some cases, you may need to re-enable a contact that was suppressed by mistake or whose situation has changed. This article explains when and how to unsuppress a contact.
When to Unsuppress
Unsuppressing is appropriate in limited circumstances:
- Accidental suppression: A team member manually suppressed the wrong contact.
- Resolved bounce: A hard bounce was caused by a temporary server issue on the recipient's side, and you have confirmation the address is now valid.
- Contact request: The contact has reached out asking to be re-subscribed.
Important: Do not unsuppress contacts who have filed spam complaints. Re-sending to a contact who has complained will damage your sender reputation and may violate anti-spam laws. Similarly, do not unsuppress contacts who have unsubscribed unless they have explicitly asked to re-subscribe.
How to Unsuppress a Contact
- Navigate to Contacts from the sidebar.
- Use the status filter to show Suppressed or Bounced contacts.
- Click on the contact you want to unsuppress.
- On the contact detail page, look for the Status section.
- Click Unsuppress (or change the status back to Active).
- Confirm the action.
What Happens After Unsuppressing
Once unsuppressed, the contact's status changes back to active. They will be eligible to receive campaigns and automations again. Their full activity history is preserved, including the suppression event.
Things to Check Before Unsuppressing
- Why were they suppressed? Check the activity timeline for the event that caused suppression (hard bounce, complaint, manual suppression).
- Is the email address still valid? If the suppression was due to a hard bounce, verify the email address is working before unsuppressing.
- Do you have consent? Ensure you have the contact's explicit permission to send them emails.
- Check global suppression list: If the contact appears on the global suppression list, unsuppressing them from the contact record may not be sufficient. Check the global suppression list in your Organization Settings.
Preventing Unnecessary Suppressions
- Use double opt-in to ensure email addresses are valid before they enter your list.
- Regularly clean your contact list to remove invalid addresses before they accumulate bounces.
- Educate your team on when manual suppression is appropriate to avoid accidental suppressions.