Inactive contacts can significantly impact your email and SMS marketing performance. They lower engagement rates, affect deliverability, and inflate costs, especially if your Klaviyo plan is based on the size of your contact list. Knowing how to effectively suppress or remove inactive contacts in Klaviyo is essential for maintaining a healthy and engaged audience.
This guide will walk you through the exact process, share best practices, and highlight common mistakes to avoid.
Why Should You Remove Inactive Contacts in Klaviyo?
Regularly managing inactive contacts is a critical part of email list hygiene. Inactive contacts, those who haven't engaged with your emails or SMS messages for a defined period, can hurt your sender reputation and decrease email deliverability. By leveraging the Klaviyo suppression list and other tools to delete inactive contacts, you can maintain a high-quality list and improve overall campaign performance.
How to Remove Inactive Contacts in Klaviyo: Quick Answer
To remove inactive contacts in Klaviyo, create a segment of unengaged profiles, export this list, and then add these contacts to your suppression list or delete them permanently from your account.
Step-by-Step: How to Remove Inactive Contacts in Klaviyo
Follow these detailed steps to efficiently clean your Klaviyo contact list:
1. Log Into Your Klaviyo Account
Visit www.klaviyo.com and sign into your dashboard.
2. Create a Segment of Inactive Contacts
Navigate to the "Lists & Segments" section on the left-hand menu.
Click "Create List/Segment" at the top right of the page.
Select "Segment" and name it something descriptive like "Inactive Contacts 180 Days."
3. Define Inactive Contact Criteria
In the "Define Conditions" section, set up rules to identify inactive contacts.
For example, choose:
Engagement Criteria: "What someone has not done" > "Opened Email" > "in the last 180 days."
Add additional filters such as "Has not clicked email" or "Has not placed an order" to refine your criteria further.
4. Preview the Segment
Before proceeding, click "Preview Segment" to see a list of contacts that match your conditions.
This step helps verify that your segment correctly identifies inactive contacts.
5. Export the Inactive Contacts List
Once your segment is finalized, click "Manage Segment" > "Export Segment to CSV."
Save this file on your computer, as you will need it for the next steps.
6. Suppress or Delete Inactive Contacts
Option 1: Suppress Inactive Contacts
Navigate to the "Profiles" section.
Click "Suppressed Profiles" and then "Add Suppressed Profiles."
Upload the CSV file of inactive contacts.
Suppression ensures these contacts will not receive any future communications but keeps their data in Klaviyo for historical analytics.
Option 2: Delete Inactive Contacts
To completely remove profiles, go back to the "Profiles" section.
Use the "Bulk Delete" option and upload your CSV.
Deleting removes all data associated with these profiles permanently, which can be useful for compliance with data regulations.
Best Practices for Removing Inactive Contacts in Klaviyo
1. Set a Re-Engagement Campaign Before Removal
Before suppressing or deleting contacts, run a re-engagement campaign to give inactive users a chance to re-opt-in.
2. Define Your Inactivity Criteria Clearly
Typically, 90 to 180 days of no engagement is a standard threshold, but adjust based on your business model and email frequency.
3. Use Suppression Over Deletion When Unsure
Suppressing contacts retains their data in Klaviyo, allowing you to analyze historical trends without sending them communications.
4. Automate Inactive Segmentation
Create dynamic segments that automatically populate with inactive profiles, streamlining future clean-up efforts.
5. Regularly Clean Your List
Schedule periodic clean-ups, such as quarterly or biannually, to maintain list health.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When You Remove Inactive Contacts in Klaviyo
❌ Not Running a Re-Engagement Campaign
Before removal, give your inactive subscribers a final opportunity to engage.
❌ Using Too Short of an Inactivity Window
Avoid being overly aggressive with removal criteria, which could lead to the loss of potentially valuable contacts.
❌ Ignoring Suppressed Contacts in Analytics
Suppressed contacts can still provide valuable insights. Use this data to refine your strategies without risking deliverability issues.
How to Use the Klaviyo Suppression List Effectively
Avoid Sending to Unengaged Contacts: The suppression list prevents messages from being sent to contacts who have unsubscribed, marked emails as spam, or been inactive.
Maintain Compliance: Using the suppression list helps meet legal requirements like GDPR and CAN-SPAM by ensuring communications only go to engaged contacts.
Analyze Suppressed Data: Even if contacts are suppressed, their historical engagement data can guide future segmentation and targeting strategies.
Conclusion: Ready to Remove Inactive Contacts in Klaviyo?
Removing inactive contacts in Klaviyo is a crucial part of maintaining a healthy email list and ensuring your campaigns reach the most engaged and interested audiences. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can effectively manage your contact list, improve deliverability, and boost engagement rates.
📩 If your email program is underperforming and you’re unsure how to optimize frequency, let’s talk.
At Dispatch, we help brands maximize revenue from email & SMS without damaging subscriber engagement.
👉 Connect with Dispatch today to optimize your email marketing strategy.
Comments