This article describes the Contacts List pages on which you manage the Contact records in your Higher Logic Thrive Marketing Professional (Thrive Marketing Professional) account. Contact records can be on one of several list pages, based on their "status."
This article describes how, on these list pages, you can:
- manually create a contact record,
- edit contact records,
- manage a Contact's interests, and
- unsubscribe and resubscribe Contacts.
Contacts are people who have subscribed to receive your organization's messages. They could be, for example, people who want to be sent your newsletter so that they can stay informed of your organization's activities. Contacts could also be members of your organization.
NOTE: Contacts differ from Users. Users are your organization's "staff" and their records are managed separately (see Manage Users). A Contact could also be a User.
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The Contacts lists
The Contacts List page is where Admins manage the contact records for their account.
To access your lists of Contacts:
- Access the Admin interface.
- Navigate to Contacts > List.
TIP: On list pages, click a column header to sort on that column; click again to reverse the sort order. Click the columns count below the list to add and remove columns in the current view. Refer to Contacts list columns, below, for information on how to customize the list display to maximize your work.
Lists of contact records
The Contacts list page defaults to a comprehensive listing of All of the contact records in the account.
Admins can click the down arrow to the right of the page title to access several other lists:
- Active - all of your non-administrator Contacts.
- Administrator - all Contacts in your account who have "Administrator" permissions.
NOTE: Admins cannot be unsubscribed from your mailings. On these list pages, you can only edit their Personalization, Message Categories, Interests, and Demographics.
Manage your Admin users on the Settings > Users > Manage page. See Manage Users.
- Unsubscriber - all Contacts who have unsubscribed from your mailings.
These lists display contact records alphabetically (by email address), along with details such as their status and subscribe dates. You can add and edit contact records, and perform other administrative actions to keep your contact records organized.
NOTE: A contact who is unsubscribed is not removed from your account. Rather, their email address is suppressed and the contact will no longer be sent email messages from your organization. You can resubscribe contacts who have been unsubscribed.
Contact records management options
You must select a contact record in order to enable the management options above the list.
These options are described in dedicated sections in this article. Note, however, that:
- The Unsubscribe button displays only when a Status = Active record is selected.
- The Resubscribe button displays (in place of the Unsubscribe button shown above) only when a Status = Unsubscriber record is selected.
Contacts list columns
The Contacts lists that you can choose from the dropdown have the same set of columns, and the following behaviors and conditions apply to the columns on all of the lists.
- An up arrow or down arrow in a column header (as shown in the Email Address column in the image below) indicates: the list is sorted on that column and the sort order.
- The "default" set of columns (spotlighted in the image below and described in the table) displays when you arrive on a list page, except:
- If you add or remove columns in a list; that customized display, on that list, persists until you change it (even if you navigate to a different page in Admin or end the current session).
- Changes to the columns on any Contacts list are not automatically applied to the other Contacts lists. For example, if you add columns on the Active list and then access the Administrator list and want those same columns to display, you have to "re-add" them.
- All columns, displayed and hidden, can be searched on, as described below in Search and filter the Contacts lists.
- Columns display in the column chooser in the following order:
- the "default" set of system fields (Email Address is hard-coded to always display),
- the Profile Fields that are in use in your account,
- the Demographics Fields that are in use in your account, and
- the names of "remote" personalization fields (if your account is integrated with an external AMS/CRM database).
Column | Description |
---|---|
Email Address | The email address of the contact. |
Status | These are out-of-the-box, system-generated statuses for each contact record. This value automatically updates to reflect the current status, such as an active contact being unsubscribed or being given Administrator permissions. Active, Administrator, and Unsubscriber are self-evident. Two other Statuses that you might encounter and which display only in the All list are:
|
Subscribed | The date on which the contact record was added to your account. |
Modified | The date on which the contact record was last modified. If the record has not been modified, the Subscribed date displays. |
Source | This indicates how the contact record was added to your account. The only possible values are the out-of-the-box values listed below, with the appropriate one being automatically assigned by the system when the record is created.
|
Create a contact record
NOTE: This process outlines how to create an individual contact record. If you want to bulk-upload contact records, see Upload Contacts.
- On the Active (or All) list, click the plus sign icon to the right of the page title.
- In the dialog:
-
- Specify the contact's email address; this is the only required field for this process.
- If this contact should be sent only text-only emails, check the corresponding box.
- Scroll down to manage the Personal Information profile fields; see Personal Information Profile Fields.
- Click the Message Categories tab to manage the Contact's message opt outs, as described in Manage Message Categories.
- Click the Interests and Demographics tabs to manage these profile fields for the Contact, as described in Interests Profile Fields and Demographics Profile Fields.
NOTE: These field types must already be created for them to appear in their associated tab. See Profile Fields Overview for more information.
Edit a contact record
You can edit the contact records on any of the lists; the edit dialog is the same regardless of the list.
To edit a contact:
- Select a contact and click Edit.
- On the Edit dialog, you can manage the contact's personal information, message opt outs, and profile fields on the respective tabs.
- Click Save to apply your changes.
View a Contact's History
On any of the Contacts lists, select a contact and click History.
The selected Contact's activity history displays in the Contact History overlay dialog, which has two sections:
- Upper section - has dashboard-type widgets that provide an up-to-the-minute snapshot of the Contact's activity.
- Lower section - has information about the Contact's overall activity and engagement with Campaigns, Messages, Surveys, and more.
See Manage Contact History for more information.
Manage a Contact's Interests
You can manage a Contact's Interests on any of the lists.
To manage a Contact's Interests:
- Select a contact and click Interests.
- On the Edit dialog, check/uncheck boxes to add/remove the items as Interests for the selected Contact.
- Click Save to apply your changes.
Unsubscribe a Contact
NOTE: This process outlines how to unsubscribe an individual contact record. If you want to bulk-unsubscribe contact records, see Upload Contacts as Opt-Outs, Unsubscribes, or Resubscribes.
You can unsubscribe contacts:
- on the All and Active lists and
- only if the Status is Active.
NOTE: A contact who is unsubscribed is not removed from your account. Rather, their email address is suppressed and the contact is no longer included in mailings from your organization.
To unsubscribe a contact on the All and Active lists:
- Select a contact to enable the management options above the list.
- Click Unsubscribe.
- In the dialog, provide a reason and click Unsubscribe.
The contact record:
- remains on the All list but the Status is now Unsubscriber,
- now displays on the Unsubscriber list, and
- can be managed on both of these lists.
NOTE: The Unsubscriber list shows all contacts whose email addresses have been unsubscribed (suppressed). An unsubscribed contact will no longer be sent email messages from your organization. This can be the result of an administrative action (e.g., too many unread emails) or at the request of the contact (e.g., they have voluntarily unsubscribed).
To access the dedicated list of unsubscribed contacts, click the down arrow to the right of the page title and select Unsubscriber.
Resubscribe a Contact
NOTE: This process outlines how to resubscribe an individual contact record. If you want to bulk-resubscribe contact records, see Upload Contacts as Opt-Outs, Unsubscribes, or Resubscribes.
You can resubscribe contacts:
- on the All and Unsubscriber lists and
- only if the Status is Unsubscriber.
A resubscribed contact will be included in future mailings from your organization.
To resubscribe a contact on the All and Unsubscriber lists:
- Select a contact to enable the management options above the list.
- Click Resubscribe.
- Click Resubscribe in the dialog to confirm the action.
The contact record:
- remains on the All list but the Status is now Active,
- now displays on the Active list, and
- can be managed on both of these lists.
Search and filter the Contacts lists
At the top right, you can use the search and filter features to quickly find contacts.
TIP: Searching and filtering apply only to the list you're viewing, so be sure to select the appropriate list (Active, Administrator, or Unsubscriber) before performing these actions.
Search
The search function on the Contacts List page is a single-column search that is based on the column that is selected in the Search dropdown; the Search dropdown defaults to Email.
The dropdown presents the searchable columns, alphabetized, in the following order:
- the "default" set of system fields,
- the Profile Fields that are in use in your account,
- the Demographics Fields that are in use in your account, and
- the names of "remote" personalization fields (if your account is integrated with an external AMS/CRM database).
All of the list-page columns, visible and hidden, can be queried via the Search dropdown.
Search for Contacts
If the column that you plan to query is hidden, use the column chooser to unhide it so that your search results display.
- Click the magnifying glass icon to expand the search field.
- Click the dropdown to select a column (other than Email, the default) to query.
The list automatically updates with each typed character and displays all records (visible and hidden) that contain a match. Each additional character refines the list more.
- Click the X to clear the search field and restore the original list.
Filter
- Click the filter icon to open the Filter dialog. Click the dropdown to select a Source by which to filter and click Apply. The filter icon now displays as "filled in" (orange) which indicates that there is an active filter.
- Clear an active filter: Click the filter icon and click Clear Filter and then Apply to restore the original list.
Upload Contacts
You can jump to three of the upload pages (Contacts > Upload) right from the Contacts lists.
- Click the Upload icon above the list and choose an upload option.
You can also bulk-upload contact records that you're prepared in .CSV files. To learn how, see Upload Contacts and Upload Contacts as Opt-Outs, Unsubscribes, or Resubscribes.
Export a list of contact records
You can export (as a .CSV file) the list of contacts for any of the list pages.
- If you export from the All list, all contact records are included.
- If you export from the Active, Administrator, or Unsubscriber list page, only those contact records are included.
- All of the list columns are included in the exported file, regardless of whether they are hidden when the export is initiated.
To export a list to a CSV file:
- Access the list of contact records that you want to export.
- In the upper right, click the down arrow icon.
- Your browser should indicate when the download is complete.
Before you leave the page, navigate to and open the file to verify the contents are as expected.
Manage the exported file
The name of the exported file is Export.csv, regardless of which list you export. Consider giving the file a unique name so that its contents are obvious.
You can customize the file (e.g., move and delete columns and rows, adjust the alignment, apply bold) to suit your needs.
Create a Target Group
You can create a Target Group right from the Contacts List page by performing a search and then clicking the Create Target Group icon at the top right.
NOTE: This icon does not display on the Unsubscriber list.
On the dialog that displays:
- give the Target Group a name,
- choose the folder in which to save it,
- optionally, provide a description, and
- click Save.
This process:
- creates a Target Group that is based on the contacts in your search results and
- stores the Target Group on the Contacts > Groups page.
To learn more, see Create an OTF Target Group from a Contact Search.