How to Move Contacts to a New List
This tutorial will teach you how to move contacts from one list to another using an Automation.
Please Note
This process only works for moving new contacts that come in after the automation is activated. If you'd like to move existing contacts, they will need to be moved manually using an export and import.
Before Getting Started
Before you can move contacts within your account, please be sure you have a source list and a destination list created.
Once both lists are created, you can move on to setting up your automation!
Move Contacts to a New List
- Navigate to Automations → New Automation and select Start from Scratch
- Click to add a trigger, and choose Subscribes to a list
- Select the source list that includes the contacts you'd like to move and click Done
- Next, build out your automation with actions, emails, tags, and anything else you might need
Please Note
One great reason to move contacts via an automation is to filter out contacts who have engaged with your emails vs those who have not. This can be done using a conditional split.
- Once you have your automation funnel built, select the conditional split option from the actions toolbar.
- You will be able to set the rules for what you want the conditional split to look like. This example will check if the subscriber opened any campaign in the automation.
- Once you have the conditional split set up, add the Update Contact Property action under the "Yes" or "No" branch, depending on your preference.
- Click on Subscribe to List
- Select the destination list that you'd like contacts to move to and click Done. Repeat steps 7-9 to fill out both sides of the conditional split.
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If you'd like these contacts to remain on both lists, there's nothing else for you to do. Once you activate your automation funnel, any new contacts that subscribe to your source list will also be added to List 2.
If you'd like to unsubscribe contacts from your source list once they join your destination list, please continue on to the section below for next steps.
Next Steps
After you've added your Subscribe to List action, here's how to unsubscribe contacts from your source list once they join your destination list:
- Click the plus icon (+) and under Actions, select Update Contact Property
- Choose Unsubscribe from List
- Select your source list from the dropdown and click Done
- Toggle the automation status to Active.
And you're all set! Any new contacts will be added to List 2 and unsubscribed from List 1!
Please Note
The unsubscribe action (if it is unsubscribing the contact from the source list [List 1]) will end the automation. Any action you place after the unsubscribe action will not happen since the user is unsubscribed from the source list.
TL;DR
Move from source to destination list (stay on both): Automation → New Automation → Start from Scratch → Subscribes to a list → Select source list → Done → Update Contact Property → Subscribe to List → Select destination list → Done → Active
Move from source to destination list (unsubscribe from source): Automation → New Automation → Start from Scratch → Subscribes to a list → Select source list → Done → Update Contact Property → Subscribe to List → Select destination list → Done → Update Contact Property → Unsubscribe from List → Select source list → Done → Activate