List Hygiene
Removing Contacts who are not engaging with your content is an easy way to maintain your sender reputation with great deliverability and boost engagement. Use List Hygiene to remove Contacts from specified Lists after a period of email* inactivity!
*List Hygiene logic does not include SMS engagement
In This Article
Before Getting Started
In order for List Hygiene to run, your account must have at least one List with Contacts who have been in your Sendlane account for at least 30 days and have received at least one email.
If you'd like to remove inactive Contacts that have been in your account for less than 30 days, use Segments. Learn more about that process here!
What Contacts Are Removed With List Hygiene?
Contacts must meet all of the following criteria to be removed from a List during List Hygiene:
- Has been on the specified List for at least 30 days, AND
- Was sent an email in the specified time period, AND
- Did not engage (open or click) on any email in the specified time period
Accessing List Hygiene
Click the Audience icon > Lists > View > Hygiene
Smart List Hygiene
Use Smart List Hygiene to remove Contacts at one point in time rather than on an ongoing basis.
Smart List Hygiene is the default first tab in the List Hygiene window. To run Smart List Hygiene:
- Set the number of days (between 10 and 365) of inactivity to run Smart List Hygiene for
- Click Remove inactive contacts
Once the process is complete, inactive Contacts will be removed from your List and you'll receive an email with an export .CSV file that includes all of the removed Contacts' details.
Lists with List Hygiene activated will show a magic wand icon:
Automatic List Hygiene
Use Automatic List Hygiene if you'd like to have unengaged Contacts removed automatically! To enable Automatic List Hygiene:
- Click the Automatic tab on the List Hygiene window
- Click the toggle to Enabled
- Choose a number of days of inactivity (we suggest 60)
- Choose a frequency for Automatic List Hygiene (we suggest every 14 days)
- Click Update Automatic Hygiene
- Click Proceed
Every time Automatic List Hygiene runs, Contacts will be removed according to the unengagement settings you've specified and you'll receive an email with an export .csv file that includes details on the Contacts that were removed.
List Hygiene History
The History tab shows the date and time of all past List Hygiene processes, the number of Contacts removed during each process, and the ability to download a .csv file of the removed Contacts' details or the option to restore the removed Contacts to the List.
🚨 Important Note
Sending to unengaged contacts can severely harm your deliverability, open rates, and sender reputation.
Be cautious when restoring contacts removed by list hygiene. Contacts who were not engaging with your content are unlikely to start engaging again.