Wondering how to delete cleaned contacts in MailChimp? It’s super easy. Here’s how…
If you have a MailChimp account, you will more than likely notice that, after a while, you start seeing ‘cleaned’ contacts in your Audience section…
You may have tried to delete them. But it’s not especially obvious how to delete your cleaned contacts at first glance. Fortunately, it’s actually pretty easy. I’ll show you exactly how in this article.
But first up, what exactly are ‘cleaned’ contacts in Mailchimp?
What are cleaned contacts?
Cleaned contacts are email addresses in your audience that have hard bounced, or repeatedly soft bounced, and are therefore considered invalid by Mailchimp.
A hard bounce occurs when there is a permanent reason why an email cannot be delivered… For example a typo in an email address or the email address is no longer in use.
A soft bounce occurs when there is a temporary reason why an email cannot be delivered… For example the recipient’s mailbox is full, the email is too large or the recipient’s email server is down.
Do you have to pay for cleaned contacts in Mailchimp?
No, unlike unsubscribed contacts, you do not have to pay for cleaned contacts in Mailchimp.
(Did you know you have to pay for unsubscribed contacts in Mailchimp? Find out how to stop paying for them here >>> How to avoid paying for unsubscribed contacts in Mailchimp)
How to delete cleaned contacts in MailChimp
Cleaned contacts cannot be archived, like unsubscribed contacts, but can be permanently deleted by creating a segment in the Data Management Tool. Here’s how…
Step 1: Access the Data Management Tool
To permanently delete cleaned contacts in MailChimp, navigate to the Audience tab >> All Contacts >> Manage Contacts >> Data Management Tool.
Step 2: Create a new segment
Next, create a new segment and set the segmenting conditions to Email Marketing Status | is | Cleaned…
Step 3: Preview and select
Click on ‘Preview Segment’.
Then click the checkboxes next to the contacts you want to delete.
Step 4: Permanently delete cleaned contacts
Select ‘Permanently delete’ and then type PERMANENTLY DELETE into the pop up window, then click ‘Confirm’.
And that’s it!
Over to you…
I’d love to know if you found this helpful. If so, let me know in the comments below!
Or do you have any other Mailchimp related questions? If so, pop them in the comments and I’ll try to help you out!
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Found this post super helpful!
Question: Is there a way to email all 50,000 of my account holders – a one-time email about our Privacy Policy update? Should I just bite the bullet, pay for the one time $500 charge of that many contacts?
Thanks!
Good to hear! I’m a little confused by your question. Are you saying you have 50,000 account holders who are currently not on your mailing list? If that is the case, then yes you would have to pay Mailchimp for that many contacts if you want to email your account holders about your privacy policy update. Eb 🙂