FAQ: Inactive vs Unsubscribed (DND) vs Invalid contacts

Inactive contacts vs Unsubscribed contacts (DND) vs Invalid contacts

We categorize inactive contacts as those with valid email addresses but low email engagement. Essentially, when you send an email to these contacts, it gets delivered successfully, but they do not open the email. 

On the other hand, DND implies that the contacts have unsubscribed and will no longer receive your emails. They may have unsubscribed on their own, were unsubscribed manually or automatically through the system.

Invalid contacts are contacts with incorrect, outdated or invalid email addresses. They result in a hard bounce when you send them emails.

What to do with invalid contacts and inactive contacts?

A high hard bounce rate can negatively impact your domain reputation which is why we recommend unsubscribing contacts that result in hard bounces.

To help you identify these contacts that are invalid and likely to hard bounce, we recommend activating email validation for your account. This feature automatically detects invalid contacts when you send an email or when new contacts are added, excluding them from email send-outs.

However, we don’t recommend deleting these contacts from the system, as doing so might cause them to lose their unsubscribed status. If re-added, they could bounce again.

While keeping inactive contacts in the system won’t contribute to the hard bounce rate, they will lower your email engagement rate. A high email engagement rate tends to positively influence delivery rates and improves your sender reputation, while a low engagement rates may lead to email deliverability challenges. Unsubscribing inactive contacts will boost your delivery rate and increase the likelihood of your emails reaching the recipient’s inbox.