This article...

Describes the Contacts list pages where you manage your contact records.
Details how to create, edit, unsubscribe, and resubscribe individual contact records.
Explains how to manage contacts' Interests, Message Categories, and Personal Information profile fields.
Describes how to search and filter the lists, and how to export lists of contact records.
Explains how to create Target Groups directly from search results.

Contacts are people in your Higher Logic Thrive Marketing Professional (Thrive Marketing Professional) account who have subscribed to receive your organization's messages. They could be, for example, people who want your newsletter sent to them so that they can stay informed of your organization's activities. Contacts could also be members of your organization.

Contact records can be on one of several list pages, based on their "status."

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.

Watch the video

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: Repeated Bouncer: Unsub - messages to the email address have repeatedly bounced so the Contact has been unsubscribed. Repeated Bouncer: Active - messages to the email address have repeatedly bounced but the Contact has not been unsubscribed.
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. Administrator: The contact record was added in either of two ways: i) an Admin manually created the contact record via the Create option on the Contacts > List page or ii) via a Landing Page. NOTE: This Source is distinct from the Administrator Status; a contact record could have Administrator as the value for both. Integration: The contact record was added via an integration with a third-party system. Orphaned (integration records only): An "orphaned" contact record has been deactivated in the origin third-party system and no longer syncs data to your account. These records have lost their Remote ID (Contact ID) from the origin system, meaning they are no longer attached to the original record in that system. "Orphaned" records are no longer in any integrated Target Groups. Upload: The contact record was added via a manual upload. Completed Form: This is a legacy Source that was applied when a contact subscribed via a Data Input Form (the precursor to Landing Pages). This Source is not applicable to most customer accounts.

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.

Click Create to save the new contact record.

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 record 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 record 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 record 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 contact records, 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 record 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 individual contact records or several records that have something in common.

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.

The Search function

The search function on the Contacts lists 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 contact records by column

If the column that you want to query is hidden, use the column chooser (below the list) 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.

NOTE: If you refine the list to a set of search results and then navigate away from the Contacts List page (within Admin or you end the session), the original list is automatically restored. Consider exporting the refined list if you want to preserve the results.

Filter

The filtering functionality on the Contacts lists makes it easier to refine the list to a subset of contact records that have something in common, such as their status or the date on which they were subscribed.

You can filter the lists by one of the following contact record "properties," or you can filter on multiple properties for more precise results.

Filter	Refines the list based on...
Source	The method by which the contact record was added to your account.
Status	The current status of the contact record.
Target Group	A Target Group in the folder that you've selected.
Subscribed	When the Contact was subscribed to your organization's mailings. This can be a single date or a date range.
Unsubscribe Method	The method by which the Contact was unsubscribed from your organization's mailings.
Unsubscribe Date	When the Contact was unsubscribed from your organization's mailings. This can be a single date or a date range.
Modified	When a change was made to the contact record. This can be a single date or a date range.

Filter notes

As you work with filters to refine and manage your contact records, consider the following limitations and behaviors.

Each property (e.g., Status) in the Filter dropdown can be selected only once. A selected property will not display in subsequent Filter dropdowns when you click + Add filter.
You can set only one value (e.g., Unsubscriber) per filtering property (e.g., Status). For example, you cannot simultaneously filter on two Status values, Active and Administrator.
The date-based filters (Subscribed, Unsubscribe Date, and Modified) present two date fields in which you can click the calendar icons to set a date range. To set a single day, you must select the same date in both fields.
You can type or paste a date into the date fields, but your input must:
- use a slash ( / ) as the field separator and
- be in the MM/DD/YYYY format.

Filter the list

Click the filter icon to open the Filter overlay dialog.

Click the Filter dropdown to select a property on which to filter. Refer to the table above for descriptions of the filters.

Click the filter's dropdown to set a value.
Optionally, click + Add filter to apply additional filters to the list.
When you have set the filters you want, click Apply.

The list refreshes and displays the contact records that align with the selected filters, and the filter icon above the list displays as "filled in" (orange) which indicates that there is active filtering.

NOTE: If you filter the list and then navigate away from the Contacts List page (within Admin or you end the session), the filtering that has been applied is removed. Consider exporting the filtered list if you want to preserve the results.

Clear the filtering

To clear an active filter and restore the original list:

Click the filter icon to open the Filter overlay dialog.
Click Clear Filter and then click Apply.

The list refreshes and displays the original list of contact records, and the filter icon above the list displays in its default state which indicates that the list is not filtered.

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 the list of contact records for any of the list pages.

The list exports as a .CSV file, Export.csv.
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.
The export:
- includes any list columns that currently display and
- honors any filters and sorting that are in effect on the list.

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 "on the fly" right from the Contacts List page.

NOTE: The create process validates Target Group names in order to prevent duplicate names. If you specify an existing Target Group name, you will be prompted to specify a different name.

Perform a search to refine the list to a preferred set of contact records.
Click the arrow-target icon (Create Target Group) at the top right.

NOTE: This icon does not display on the Unsubscriber list.

On the dialog:

- Give the Target Group a name.
- Choose the folder in which to save it.
- Optionally, provide a description.
- Click Create.

This process:

creates a Target Group that is based on the contact records 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.

Manage Contacts