Manage your mailing lists - Online Help | Zoho Campaigns

List management - New Version

Lists or mailing list is numerous contacts of similar or different interests grouped under a single, specific umbrella. You can create and access lists under the Manage Lists section of the Contacts module.

Assume you're creating or importing 1,000 contacts into Zoho Campaigns and you want to send them all an introductory campaign. During the import or creation process, you can associate a common list to these contacts so that it is easy for you to simply select this list when creating the introductory campaign. Zoho Campaigns allows you to select multiple lists as recipients during campaign creation.

In Manage Lists, you can create, edit, and delete lists. You can assign topics to the contacts of the list, export the contacts, assign default signup forms, and view list summary statistics. Workflow automation can be performed based on lists.

Create list

Once you create your Zoho Campaigns account, you'll be redirected to our welcome page, where you can start creating your first list or email campaign. You can then create lists under the Contacts module.

To create a list:
  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.



  2. Click Create List in the top-right corner of the screen.



  3. Provide a name for your list; this is for internal reference. Click Save.
  4. In the next screen you can add contacts manually or import your contacts or use a signup form to collect contacts.



  5. If you choose to import contacts, you have to first select the file for importing. 
  6. After the file is chosen, select the Subscription Type.
  7. Associate the contacts with one or more suitable topics. This step is applicable if you choose Marketing as the subscription type.



  8. Map the fields and click Import.
Notes
Note:
Notes
  1. If you have chosen GDPR compliant email marketing, you'll have to associate all the new list that you create, with a lawful basis for communication (purpose of email marketing).
  2. It is recommended to associate your new lists with a topic/purpose, so that all your lists are categorized.
  3. You can send newsletters to only categorized lists.
  4. Segments created before November 17, 2021 will be listed under the respective lists until September 30, 2022. You cannot edit these segments, however you can clone them.
Once your list has been created, you can use multiple methods to add contacts:
  1. Add Contacts – Manually add contacts.
  2. Import Contacts – Import contacts from your computer, Zoho CRM, or Google Sheets.
  3. Add Signup Form – Create your own signup form to add contacts directly from various sources.
Once you have added your contacts, you can filter them based on when they were added.

 filter based on status

Edit list

You can edit the lists to enable or disable a signup form, adjust the details in the lists.
  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Mouse over a list you wish to edit.
  3. Click the More icon and then click Edit List.



  4. A pop-up will appear where you can edit the name of the list.
  5. Click the Save button to confirm.

Assign Topics

You can associate topics with a list.
  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.



  2. Mouse over the list you wish to assign topics to.
  3. Click the More icon and then click Assign Topics.



  4. A pop-up will appear where you can choose topics.
  5. Click the Save button to confirm.

Delete list

In email marketing business, you may feel a list is absolutely useless and might want to get rid of it. Well, though you can delete a list, you don't have to necessarily delete the contacts in the list. You can delete just the list and still maintain the contacts associated to the list. To delete a list:
  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Mouse over the list you wish to delete.
  3. Click the More icon and then click Delete List.



  4. A pop-up will appear where you can delete the list.
  5. Click the Delete button to confirm.
  6. You'll have the option to delete the contacts associated to this list. Also, if you've created Campaigns, SMS Campaigns for the contacts in the list, they'll be inactivated once the list is deleted.


Note: You can select the checkbox to delete the contacts that are associated with this list. This is an irreversible process. The contacts will get deleted from your Zoho Campaigns organization itself irrespective of whether they're present in other lists as well.



Export contacts of a specific list

You can export the contacts of a specific list to create a backup data. You can choose the fields, file format that you want to export. To export contacts of a list:
  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, choose Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Mouse over the list that you want to export.
  3. Click the More icon and then click Export Contacts.



  4. A pop-up will appear where you need to fill out the following information:
  5. Filter by Date – Select date and time and choose if you want to export all contacts or based on added/updated time.
  6. Select Fields – Choose the fields you wish to export.
  7. File Name – Give a suitable name and choose the file format you wish to use.
  8. Click Export as <required format>.
Notes
Note: Zoho Campaigns does not include any kind of harmful information or data into your exported files. However, as a precautionary measure to safeguard yourself from unknown security threats, it is recommended that you look for warnings about executable operations when you open an exported file in MS Excel. Please refrain from updating any commands in the CSV file exported from Zoho Campaigns.

Mass update fields

You can update a specific field for bulk contacts in simple and quick way.
To mass update contacts of a list:
  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.



  2. Mouse over the list you wish to mass update the contacts.
  3. Click the More icon and then click Mass Update.



  4. A pop-up will appear where you need to fill out the following information:
    1. Select the field from drop-down menu, you wish to update.



    2. Specify a value for the field to be updated.
  5. Click the Proceed button and then Update to confirm changes.
Notes
Note: You can also select contacts through global and advanced search and mass update the fields.
Notes

Mass update a new custom field

Yes, you can mass update a new custom field for bulk contacts. To mass update contacts of a list:
  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, choose Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Mouse over the list you wish to mass update the contacts.
  3. Click the More icon and then click Mass Update.



  4. A pop-up will appear. Click Add New Custom Field option to create a new custom field.



  5. From the left box, choose the type of the custom fields from various types that are available. 
  6. Specify name for the custom field in the Display Label field.
  7. Provide other necessary information that appears based on the field type you've chosen. Click the Add button to add the custom field.



  8. The custom field will now be chosen in the mass update window. Specify value for this custom field to mass update it to the contacts of this list. Click Update to confirm changes.

Clear List

You can delete the contacts of a list while keep the list intact.
To clear contacts of a list:
  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Mouse over the list that you want to clear.
  3. Click the More icon and then click Clear List.



  4. A pop-up will appear. Click Go Ahead to clear the contacts from this list.



Note: 
The Clear List option will only clear the contacts from the list but won't delete the contacts from your Zoho Campaigns organization itself. 
But, if you choose the Clear contacts associated to this list option, the contacts will get deleted from your Zoho Campaigns organization in addition to getting cleared from the list. It is an irreversible process.



Merge lists

If you feel the same set of contacts from two different lists are interested in the same product/newsletters, you can combine both lists to create a new one. This could also be for maintaining a master list for your contacts, getting rid of duplicate or to maintain a backup for your contact details. To merge the lists:
  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Click the More button at the top-right corner of the screen and select Merge Lists.



  3. In Merge Lists page, click the From List to select the lists you want to merge.
  4. Now, click the To option to select the list to merge your contacts to an existing list. You can also click Add New Mailing List option to add a new list there and merge your contacts to that list.



  5. Click Merge to confirm.
Notes
Note: You can enable Delete "From Lists" after merging checkbox to delete the lists chosen in the From List field.



In the above screenshot, the lists named Sample Data List and Demo SMS will be deleted if the checkbox is chosen.

Notes

Export contacts

You can export your contacts so that it provides a backup for your database. Apart from this, if you’ve sent a campaign to a list, you can easily track the active contacts. While exporting the list, we’ll give the option to filter only active contacts. Thus, you can maintain a clean list by importing the active contacts to a new list. To export the lists:
  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Click the More button at the top-right and select Export Contacts.



  3. In Export List page, do the following:
    1. Export – Choose the type of contacts to be exported.
    2. Added by – select the users whose contacts you’d like to export.
    3. Filter by Date – Select a time to export contacts based on activity
    4. Arrange by – Opt on how you want to arrange the contacts.
    5. Select fields to be exported – Select the checkbox fields to include additional information.
    6. File Name – Give a name to the file to be exported.
    7. Click the format (CSV, TSV, XLS, JSON, etc.); you want to export the file.


Notes
Note: Based on GDPR guidelines and to maintain data security, the exported document will be password protected. You can open the document by entering the first four characters of your email address and the last four numbers of your Zoho user ID.

Import History

The Import Overview page contains all of your imported contacts' details. You can view a generated report on your contacts after the import is complete. Zoho Campaigns makes it easy to view the entire history of imported contacts in a single step. To view the import history:
  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Click the More button at the top-right and select Import Overview.
       


  3. In the Import Overview page, you can view the number of newly added contacts, duplicate contacts, and ignored contacts. Just click one of the numbers to view the related contact details. To know more about the import overview page, click here.


Why are some of my contacts ignored?

There are a few reasons why you may see some contacts excluded from your list:
  1. Bounced - Mail was undeliverable to the contacts or the email address doesn't exist.
  2. Blocked - Contacts blocked by Zoho Campaigns.
  3. Do-Not-Mail - Contact has been moved to do-not-mail registry.
  4. Role-based email addresses - Contact address is generic. E.g., info@, administrator@, careers@, service@, support@, etc.
  5. Duplicate entries - Contact is present more than once in the file.
  6. Invalid Pattern - Contact has an email address in an invalid format. E.g., "johngmail.com", "jane@aol", "ted@zylkercom"
  7. Empty Email - Contact's email address field is empty.
  8. Other Errors - Contacts categorized as miscellaneous and don’t fall into the above-mentioned categories.

What is the difference between delete, unsubscribe, and do not mail?

There's a subtle difference between these three operations, let us take a look.


Delete
Unsubscribe
Do-not-mail
 What does it do?
 Contacts will be removed from the list. You can add them again if necessary.*
 When a contact unsubscribes, they would either be removed from that list or the organization depending upon their choice. You can unsubscribe a contact from a  list if you want.
  You can move the contact to do-not-mail registry if you do not want to send emails further to that user or if they unsubscribe from the organization, they'll be moved to do-not-mail registry.
 Who and when can you   perform this operation?
 You can delete any contact provided you have the necessary privilege.
 Contacts who have signed up or imported via other products can unsubscribe either from a list or the organization. You can unsubscribe a contact if you do not want to send them campaigns.
 You can move any contact to do-not-mail registry provided you have the necessary privilege.

 A contact can unsubscribe from the organization if they want to.

 How can this operation be reversed?
 You should add the contact in the list manually.
 Contact can either sign up again or click the resubscribe button in the unsubscribe confirmation email.
 Contacts can be added back to list by the user who moved the contact to do-not-mail registry. If they've unsubscribed from the list, they should subscribe again.
* Re-adding deleted contacts is not advisable. Please try to avoid this.

Why aren't group email addresses accepted while importing?

Zoho Campaigns restrict the import of group email addresses such as info@zylker.com, support@zylker.com, admin@zylker.com,and help@zylker.com. These email addresses have a high probability of email getting landed in the spam folder.

Archive sent email campaigns on website

You can make your sent email campaigns public by embedding the campaign archive code on your website or social media account. This will make your contacts or public members to have an instant access of sent campaigns, newsletters and updates. You can consolidate the past campaigns and make it viewable on your website so that anyone can view as well as share on social media.

To generate the campaign archive code:
  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Click on the list that you wish to archive the campaigns that were sent.
  3. Click the More button and select Campaign Archive in the top-right corner of the screen.



  4. If you've specified your email campaigns to be listed in the campaigns' archives, you'll get redirected to the Archive Code page.
  5. In the Archive Code page, click Archive Settings button.



  6. Customize your Archive Display by selecting the options below.
    1. Click the Show drop-down menu to select the maximum number of campaigns to be displayed.
    2. Click the Sort drop-down menu to select your chronological preference.
    3. To show or hide the Campaign Sent Date, choose the related radio button.
    4. To show the campaign in the same or separate window, select the related radio button.
    5. Select campaigns, you wish to show, in the section.
    6. Click the Generate Archive Code button.
    7. In Archive Code page, copy the generated code displayed in the box. Paste this code into your website to embed the sent campaigns.


Notes
Note:
Notes
  1. You can click Preview My Archive button to view how your campaign archive would look on your website.
  2. You can change the maximum number of campaigns displayed by changing the number in the embedded code.

Edit Archive Code

You can edit your archive code and select the options to show the campaign sent date, select your preferences such as chronological order, open in separate tab.
To edit your Archive code,
  1. In the Archive Code page, click Archive Settings button.



  2. Customize your Archive Display by selecting the options below.
  3. Click the Show drop-down menu to select the maximum number of campaigns to be displayed.
  4. Click the Sort drop-down menu to select your chronological preference.
  5. To show or hide the campaign Sent Date, choose the related radio button.
  6. To show the campaign in the same or separate window, select the related radio button.
  7. Select campaigns, you wish to show, in the section.
  8. Click Generate Archive Code.
  9. In Archive Code page, copy the generated code displayed in the box. Paste this code into your website to embed the sent campaigns.
Notes
Note:
Notes
  1. You can make a campaign visible or hidden on your website by choosing the campaign under Display section.
  2. Alternatively, in the final stage of sending an email campaign, click the Campaign Archive button. In the drop-down box select the check box to make your campaign visible.

Add contacts to a list

To add contacts to an existing list:
  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Mouse over the list in which you want to add contacts.
  3. Click Add Contacts icon.

    add contacts to list

  4. Now, you can use multiple methods to add contacts:
    1. Add Contacts – Manually add contacts.
    2. Import contacts – Import contacts from your computer, Zoho CRM, or Google Sheets.
    3. Add Signup Form – Create your own signup form to add contacts directly from various sources.

Create campaign for a list

To create campaign from a list:
  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Mouse over the list for which you want to create and send an email campaign.
  3. Click Create Campaign icon, select the type of campaign you want to create and proceed further.

    Create campaign

List Setup

Zoho Campaigns lets you customize your lists according to their specific purpose. To view list setup:

  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Click on the list.
  3. Select the Setup tab at the top to view the list details.


Listed below are the various details you can use to identify your lists.

Signup Forms

Associating your list with signup forms lets you decide if new contacts can join the list through their signups. To choose this option:

  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Click on the list to enable signup forms.
  3. Select the Setup tab at the top to view the list details.



  4. Enable signup forms to allow new contacts to join this list.


List Key

To access list management API methods, you need a mandatory parameter list key. The list key displayed represents the list you're trying to access. The purpose of this key is to add contacts to a list and is used to access the list using API.

To view the list key for a list:

  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Click on the list for which you wish to view the list key.
  3. Click the Setup tab at the top.
  4. Copy the list key displayed under List Key.


List Notification

You can setup a notification email that provides the daily report on the number of new contacts joining the selected list. The report will be sent on daily basis and will provide detailed information about the newly added contacts joining your lists via Sign-up form or through APIs.


To setup list signup summary:

  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Click on the list for which you wish to receive a notification email.
  3. Click the Setup tab at the top.
  4. Click the Edit button at the right side of List Notification.
  5. In List Sign-up Summary page, do the following:
    • Choose the frequency of notification email.
    • Select the timing and time zone details
    • Select Lists.
    • Click Save Preferences.


Note:
  • You have 8 Time slots to schedule the Sign-up summary email.
  • Every user can configure their own List Sign-up summary email that can include other user's list (if they are shared).

List Summary

List summary provides a detailed view of all the contacts you have in your lists. To view list summary:

  1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Contacts and select Manage Lists.
  2. Click on the list you wish to see the list summary.

List Growth

A time based graph highlights the number of contacts added to your lists over a period. You can view the list growth chart for a specific time period by selecting the particular time frame from the drop-down in the top-right corner and clicking Apply. Mouse over the dots to view the number of contacts added on a specific day.



Last Five Campaigns Stats

This graph represents the number of contacts who have unsubscribed and its respective percentage. It also displays the number of contacts to whom the email campaign was delivered.


Campaign Count

Displays the number of regular and advanced campaigns associated to this list.


Unsubscribe Feedback

This bubble chart represents the various reasons that contacts have unsubscribed from this list.

Signup Form Stats

If you click the Forms tab at the top of the list, you can see a list of signup forms associated to this list.



Clicking a signup form will show details like number of contacts who have viewed the form, submitted the form for sign up and email confirmations for sign ups.

User Agent Statistics

This statistic gives you information regarding all the devices and software used by the user to open your email campaign. It can further be classified into:

Devices and Operating Systems – It provides information about the various gadgets (Computer, Tablet and Mobile) and operating systems (Android, Linux, Windows, and Apple) used to open your email campaigns.


Email Clients – It lists out the different email clients such as Outlook, Lotus Notes, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, etc. used by contacts to receive your email campaigns.


Web Browsers - It lists out the different web browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, etc. Used to access your email campaigns.