List Management FAQs - Online Help | Zoho Campaigns

List Management FAQ

List Management

1. Can you import contacts into a mailing list from an Excel file? 

Yes. You can import an Excel file containing your contacts directly to the mailing list by following these steps:
  1. Navigate to Audience -> Lists.
  2. Click a list you've created.
  3. There are two kind of steps involved.
    1. If no contacts are present in the list: After clicking the list, click the Add Contacts drop-down and select the Import from File option.
    2. If contacts are already present in the list: After clicking the list click the Import Contacts button at the top-right.
  4. After this, the standard import procedure is followed for importing the contacts.
This imports contacts into a mailing list from an Excel file.

2. How do you add a contact to the mailing list? 

  1. Navigate to Audience -> Lists.
  2. Click a list you've created.
  3. There are two kind of steps involved.
    1. If no contacts are present in the list: After clicking the list, click the Add Contacts drop-down and select various options such as Import from File, New Contacts, Add using Filter. Or, you can use the Import form Zoho CRM and Signup Form options.

      Different ways to add contacts to a list.

    2. If contacts are already present in the list: After clicking the list click the Import Contacts button at the top-right or the drop-down beside it to reveal the same options.
[OR]

For associating lists to a contact, the steps are below:
  1. Navigate to Audience -> Contacts.
  2. Select the contacts using the checkbox present to the left of their email address.
  3. Click the Actions button at the top.
  4. Click Add to Lists option. You can create or search for a list here, select it, and click Save.
This adds contacts to the mailing list.

3. Can you automate adding contacts to a mailing list? 

Yes. You can automate the addition of subscribers to a mailing list in Zoho Campaigns. This can be achieved through sign up forms, integrations with third-party applications, or by syncing contacts from Zoho CRM and other supported platforms.

4. Can you remove the contacts from a list but not delete the list? 

Yes, you can use the Clear List option to clear the contacts from a list.

Follow these steps for clearing contacts from a list:

1. Navigate to the Audience module.
2. Click Lists and hover over the desired list.
3. Click the More Actions  (the three-dotted icon) button at the far right of the list.
4. Choose Clear List.
5. Click Clear Contacts in the pop-up that appears.

When using the Clear List option, contacts won’t be deleted from your Zoho Campaigns organization. The contacts will remain in All Contacts and can still be part of other mailing lists or segments.

NotesNote: Contacts cannot unsubscribe from a mailing list. Every campaign you send from Zoho Campaigns includes an unsubscribe link that allows them to opt out of specific topics but not from the entire mailing list.

5. How many contacts can you have per mailing list in the free edition? 

You can manage up to 2,000 contacts in your organization or mailing lists in the Forever Free edition of Zoho Campaigns. Contact management is not on a per list basis, but on an overall basis for your organization.

6. How do you export contacts that aren’t associated to any list? 

You can achieve this either by creating a segment and exporting the contacts from it or by creating a custom view in contacts and exporting contacts from that view.

A. By creating a segment.

  1. Navigate to Audience -> Segments.
  2. Click the Create New button at the top right.
  3. Provide a name for the segment at the top left.
  4. Choose the criteria as List membership is empty.

    Creating a segment to find contacts not associated to any list.

  5. Click Preview and Save at the top right.
  6. Once the contacts get fetched, click Save Segment.
  7. Then, inside this segment, go to the Contacts tab. Select the contacts using the checkbox present to left of the Contact Email column.
  8. Click the Actions button at the top.
  9. Select Export Contacts and proceed exporting them by providing file name, extension, the fields you want to export.

B. By creating a custom view.

  1. Navigate to Audience -> Contacts.
  2. Click the More Actions button in the top bar.
  3. Click Create Custom View option.
  4. Provide a name for the view. Specify the criteria as List membership is empty.

    Creating a custom view to find contacts not associated to any list.

  5. Click Create View. 
  6. Access this view, and select the contacts using the checkbox present to left of the Contact Email column.
  7. Click the Actions button at the top.
  8. Select Export Contacts and proceed exporting them by providing file name, extension, the fields you want to export.

7. Is there a limit to the number of lists you can create?

No, there isn't a limit to the number of lists that can be created in Zoho Campaigns.

8. Can you set up email triggers based on list activity? 

Yes. You can use the Workflow feature to set up email triggers based on list activity in Zoho Campaigns.

For example, if you want to send emails to your contacts after they're added to a list, you can do that by creating a workflow. You need to use the List Entry component under the Trigger section and Send Email component under the Actions section. Refer to our documentation on workflows here.

9. How do you tag contacts in a mailing list? 

To assign tags to existing contacts in a mailing list, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Audience module.
2. Click Lists and open the desired list by clicking it.
3. Click the Contacts tab at the top of this list.
4. Click the checkbox next to the contacts' email address to select them.
5. Click the Tags icon, then either assign an existing tag or create a new one and assign the tag.
6. Click Save.

This tags contacts in a mailing list.

10. Can Zoho CRM contacts be synced into a mailing list in Zoho Campaigns? 

Yes. Zoho CRM contacts can be synced directly into a mailing list in Zoho Campaigns. When you're setting up a sync in Zoho Campaigns, you'll see the Add to List option. You can associate a list so that the contacts synced from Zoho CRM to Zoho Campaigns have this list associated automatically to them.

11. Can lists be made private or restricted? 

In Zoho Campaigns, mailing lists cannot be marked as private. However, you can restrict access and control user permissions for lists through the Roles and Permissions option in the settings ranging from completely restricting access for the Lists module to providing view-only access to the lists.

12. How do you export a mailing list? 

To export the contacts from a particular mailing list, you can follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Audience module.
2. Click Lists and hover the mouse on the desired list.
3. Click the More Actions (the three-dotted icon) button at the far right of the list.
4. Choose Export.
5. Fill in the necessary information and proceed with the export.

This exports a mailing list.

13. Is there an API to manage mailing lists? 

Yes. Zoho Campaigns provides an API to manage mailing lists programmatically. You can use the List Management APIs to create, update, delete, and retrieve mailing lists as well as manage a list's contacts. You can access the APIs for lists by clicking this link.

You can also access the APIs related to segments in the List Management API document.

14. Why use the Add using Filter option to add contacts to a list?

The Add using Filter option is mainly useful if you want to add a particular set of contacts to a list. For example, if you want to add only the @zylker.com and @zylker.org contacts to a list, you can use this optiont o quickly filter them.

15. Can you track open rates by mailing list? 

Zoho Campaigns allows you to track open rates by mailing list. This will show the open rates of the contacts of a list based on the campaigns you've sent to them and the campaigns they've opened. Here are the steps:
  1. Go to Audience -> Lists.
  2. Click a list to go inside it.
  3. Click the Overview tab at the top.
  4. Under the Engagement Summary section you can view the Open Rate for this list.

16. What is the opt-in method used in mailing lists? 

Zoho Campaigns supports both single and double opt-in methods. Using the single opt-in method, subscribers are added to your mailing list immediately upon submitting their email address. When using the double opt-in method, subscribers must submit their email via a signup form and click a confirmation link sent in a verification email to verify. Once verified, they’re added to the mailing list.

17. How do you delete a single contact from a list? 

There isn't a straightforward way available to delete a single contact from inside the list. As a workaround, you can follow the below steps to delete a contact associated to a list:

1. Navigate to the Audience module.
2. Click Contacts. 
3. Click the Filter icon beside the Import Contacts button at the top-right.
4. Search 'list' and select the criteria as List membership is equal to any of and select the list name.
5. Click Apply.
6. Select the contact by clicking the checkbox next to their email address.
7. Click the Delete button at the top.
8. Click Delete Contacts in the pop-up that appears.

If you follow these steps, the contact will not only be deleted from this list but also from your Zoho Campaigns organization and cannot be retrieved. In this case, you have to add this contact again.

18. Can you see how many contacts are in a list? 

Yes. When you go to Audience -> Lists, you should see the Contacts column under which the number of contacts for each list will be displayed.

19. How do you determine which list a contact belongs to? 

You can find which list a contact belongs to on a contact's profile page. The steps are:

1. Navigate to Audience and select Contacts.
2. Click the contact’s email address or search for the contact using the Search icon.
3. Click the contact's email address to access its detail view.
4. In the Overview tab, you should see the Associations card under which you can click the number displayed against the Lists. 

Click a contact -> click the lists -> see the lists associated

5: You'll be taken to the Lists sub-tab under the Associations tab where you can find the lists associated to this contact.

This determines which list a contact belongs to.

20. How often should you clean your mailing lists? 

Cleaning a mailing list involves removing (deleting) inactive, bounced, or the least interactive contacts to ensure that your campaigns reach only those who want to receive them. You should clean your mailing lists at least once every 3 to 6 months to maintain a good sender reputation.

Creating separate lists is also recommended to make it easier to target the right audience and deliver more personalized communication.

21. Can you send a campaign to multiple mailing lists at once? 

Yes, you can send a campaign to multiple mailing lists at once. When you're creating an email campaign, you can select more than one list during the recipient selection step of campaign creation process.

22. Can you segment inactive contacts from a list? 

Yes, you can create a segment with the list as one of the criteria. But, kindly note that this is applicable only for the users in Professional plan. Follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Audience and click Segments.
2. Click Create New.
3. Provide a name for the segment at the top left.
4. Choose the criteria as List membership → is equal to any of → Choose the list name.
5. Click the + button to add another criteria.
6. Choose the criteria as Email Activity →
 Any Campaign -> hasn't been opened -> choose any one of the options, such as Last Month, Last 3 Months, Last 6 Months.

Creating a segment to get inactive contacts of a list.

8. Click Preview and Save to fetch the contacts satisfying this criteria.
9. Click Save Segment.

This segments inactive contacts from a list. If you do not want to use a segment for this purpose, you can simply use the Filter option in the Contacts module and apply the same filter options described above.

1. Navigate to Audience → Contacts. 
2. Click the Filter icon before the Import Contacts button at the top right.
3. Choose the criteria as List membership → is equal to any of → Choose the list name.
4. Choose another criteria as Email Activity →
 Any Campaign -> hasn't been opened -> choose any one of the options, such as Last Month, Last 3 Months, Last 6 Months.

Filtering contacts to get inactive contacts of a list.

5. Click Apply to list the contacts satisfying the selected criteria.

23. How do you find the campaigns sent to a specific mailing list? 

1. Navigate to the Audience module.
2. Click Lists. 
3. Click the desired list to open it.
4. Click the Associations tab at the top.
5. Under the Email sub-tab you can find the campaigns in which this list is associated along with details like sent, delivered, opened, clicked and CTOR stats.
6. If needed, you can filter using the date filter at the far right to further narrow down your search.

This locates the campaigns sent to a specific mailing list.

24. What is a List key? 

A List key is used to add contacts to a mailing list via API method. It’s used as an authentication parameter and represents the mailing list you're trying to access.

You cannot view the list key directly in your Zoho Campaigns organization. You can only copy it.

1. From the Navigation toolbar, choose Audience. 
2. Select Lists.
3. Click the the required list.
4. Click the More Actions (3-dotted) button at the top-right.
5. Click Copy List Key.

The list key will be copied.
Alert
We suggest to not store the list key anywhere vulnerable and keep it as secure as possible.

25. Where can you view the contacts from your city, region, and country?

You can view the contacts by location inside a list by:

1. Navigate to Audience -> Lists.
2. Click a list to go inside it.
3. Click the Overview tab.
4. Scroll to the bottom to find the Location Breakdown section where you can find the contacts from various countries along with the open and click performance metrics for each country

26. What are the field limits for lists? 

Here are the field limits for lists:
  1. The list name can have a maximum of 70 characters.
  2. List's description can be a maximum of 300 characters.
  3. There's no limit to the:
    1. number of lists you can create
    2. number of lists you can associate to a contact
    3. number of lists you can associate at a time to multiple contacts
  4. You cannot associate lists to unsubscribed contacts.

27. How can I remove a particular contact from a list?

If you're looking to remove only a single contact or a group of contacts from a list, then the Clear List option wouldn't be suitable as it'll remove all the contacts from the list. Instead, you can simply go to the list, click the Contacts tab at the top, select the contacts, and use the Remove from List option under the Actions drop-down. 

28. How can you view all the marketing contacts in a list?

To view all the marketing contacts in a list, you can access that list, click the Contacts tab, and filter to the Marketing Contacts view.

1. From the Navigation Toolbar click Audience.
2. Select Lists.
3. Click the list for which you want to view the marketing contacts.
4. Under Contacts tab at the top click the All Active Contacts view and change to Marketing Contacts.

Accessing marketing contacts in a particular list.

29. Can I group similar lists in a single place?

Imagine you have a steady set of contacts to whom you send email campaigns every Thanksgiving. And, every year, the contacts are new contacts, so you don't send campaigns to the existing contacts alone.

Assuming you create a list for each Thanksgiving, such as "Thanksgiving 2022", "Thanksgiving 2023", etc., you would feel that it is better to access all the lists related to Thanksgiving in a single place as you feel it to be a cumbersome process to search for these lists. In such scenarios, you can create Folders. You can create a folder, add these Thanksgiving lists to the folder, and access them in a single place.

To create a folder inside lists:
1. From the Navigation Toolbar click Contacts.
2. Select Lists.
3. Click All Folders at the top-right.
4. Click the Create Folder option.
5. Provide a name for the folder and click the Create button.

The folder is created.

To move the lists to this folder:
1. Select the lists using the checkbox present to the left of each list.
2. Click the Move to Folder button that appears at the top.
3. Click the name of the folder that you just created to move these lists.
Notes
Notes:
  • If you delete a folder, the lists inside it will not be deleted; only the folder will be deleted.
  • When creating email campaigns, you cannot choose the folder itself during recipient selection process. You can only choose individual lists.