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You are here: Home / Marketing / How to delete Mailchimp Unsubscribed & Cleaned Contacts

How to delete Mailchimp Unsubscribed & Cleaned Contacts

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is now in force and I’m getting many queries regarding how to delete Mailchimp contacts that have unsubscribed or where email addresses have a status of cleaned.
In the past it hasn’t been possible to delete from a list those people that have unsubscribed or where the status of an email address is cleaned.
Mailchimp have very recently changed a few things so that their customers may comply with the GDPR. Deleting unsubscribed and cleaned contacts is something that is now possible.

Instructions for deleting Mailchimp ‘unsubscribed’ contacts

Deleting a contact that has unsubscribed or has a status of cleaned is as simple as:

  1. In your list, click the name of the person that you want to delete.
  2. Click Actions.
  3. Click Delete.
  4. TYPE DELETE (all uppercase).
  5. Click the Delete button.

Using the steps above you will delete the contact from your list. The only way that the deleted contact will be able to be added again as a subscriber is if the contact signs-up using a Mailchimp signup form or landing page or via a Shopify integration.

Please leave a comment below if you have questions regarding deleting contacts from your Mailchimp list.

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Related

  • Delete multiple Mailchimp unsubscribed contacts
  • How to bulk unsubscribe contacts in Mailchimp
  • How to delete a Mailchimp Segment and Subscribers

Filed Under: Marketing

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Abby says

    May 27, 2018 at 1:42 am

    Hi Gary,
    How do I delete multiple contacts who have unsubscribed from a list? I need to delete thousands of contacts in Mailchimp, surely I don’t have to do it one at a time?
    Thanks,
    Abby

    Reply
    • Gary says

      May 27, 2018 at 10:50 am

      Hi Abby, please see https://organicweb.com.au/24477/email-marketing/mailchimp-delete-many-unsubscribed/

      Reply
  2. Camilla Lund Mikkelsen says

    May 31, 2018 at 7:59 pm

    Hi Gary. Is it possible to bulk-delete cleaned contacts? My list has hundreds of them, and it would be a tough job deleting them all one at a time 🙂 I looked at the link you posted for Abby, but I only seem to be able to make this work for the unsubscribed contacts.
    Best Camila

    Reply
    • Gary says

      May 31, 2018 at 8:07 pm

      Hi Camilla,
      Unfortunately there isn’t a way to mass delete contacts with a status of ‘cleaned’

      Reply
  3. Cass says

    June 3, 2018 at 5:42 am

    Thank you for this! I’ve been trying to figure out how to mass delete cleaned contacts for a few hours. Now I can just get to deleting the 300 of them one by one :/

    Reply
  4. Kasper Egeberg says

    June 25, 2018 at 7:54 pm

    Hi Gary. What I need is a function where users who unsubscribe are deleted automatically. Is that possible?

    Reply
    • Gary says

      June 25, 2018 at 8:00 pm

      As far as I’m aware there is no means of automatically deleting unsubscribed contacts within Mailchimp

      Reply
  5. Camilla Lund Mikkelsen says

    June 25, 2018 at 8:31 pm

    @Kasper Egeberg I have made a segment in our list that filters unsubscribed and cleaned contacts. That way it becomes easier to isolate and bulk delete them, I find. Just an idea (would love the automatic delete function, though!).

    Reply
  6. Paul Cavey says

    June 28, 2018 at 12:16 am

    hello Gary. I have cleaned my list but have 3 contacts which i cannot delete. They are showing in my subscribed list, but there is not action button to allow me to delete them. I also cannot delete them by ticking the box next to their name and deleting that way either – any ideas please?

    Reply
    • Gary says

      June 28, 2018 at 9:01 am

      @Paul, is there anything different about those specific three contacts?

      Reply
  7. Paul Cavey says

    June 28, 2018 at 7:24 pm

    Hi Gary, in the source column, one entry shows ‘mailchimp for shopify’, and the other 2 entries in the source column show ‘mycompany,mycompany’ (i have put a generalized title in here as opposed to my actual company name). These 3 entries do not show the action button.
    All other entries show the action button and allow me to delete and just show in the source column ‘mycompany’
    Does this shed any light?
    Thanks
    Paul

    Reply
    • Gary says

      June 29, 2018 at 9:38 am

      Paul,
      That helps. Unfortunately without spending some time on this I don’t know the solution. It seems however that the three contacts are being added by an external source (which means that even if you delete from Mailchimp they may be added again from the external source). Just having a guess, I imagine that you aren’t able to delete from Mailchimp because of the action (e.g. delete) being meaningless in Mailchimp because of the feed from the external sources. You may also find that there is no value (empty) in the ‘Email Marketing’ column of your list; this signifies that the email addresses are available for transaction emails only (and not email marketing).

      Reply
  8. Claudio says

    July 27, 2018 at 7:21 pm

    Hi Gary,
    i imported a list through Google Sheets, but somethings went terribly wrong there, as it merged the first column as number to the list of emails. Result high rate hard bounce.

    Now i have almost 800 email address as cleaned and i can’t import anymore. Now i’d like to import the correct 800 emails addresses. Any ideas please?

    Thanks

    Reply
    • Gary says

      July 30, 2018 at 10:07 am

      @Claudio,
      Depending on the error message that Mailchimp have given you, you may be able to create a new list and import the correct addresses into the new list.

      Reply
  9. Claudio says

    July 30, 2018 at 7:05 pm

    This is it: “Imports are disabled for this account
    Please use our double opt-in forms to add subscribers to this list.”

    Is there a way to re-enable the import?

    Thanks Gary

    Reply
  10. mrlagon says

    August 6, 2018 at 1:42 am

    I am having the same experience with not being able to delete a contact. They are spam, but when I mouse over the check box, it gives the circle with the line through, as if checking the box is not an option. Any ideas?

    Reply
  11. Gary says

    August 8, 2018 at 9:49 am

    @Claudio, please see https://organicweb.com.au/24629/email-marketing/mailchimp-imports-disabled/

    Reply
  12. Jodi Theisen says

    August 21, 2018 at 12:29 pm

    Hi Gary, thanks for this great information! If I delete a contact – do they get notifed or is a ‘silent’ delete? Many thanks 🙂

    Reply
    • Gary says

      August 21, 2018 at 1:34 pm

      @Jodi, the contact will not be advised that their contact record has been deleted.

      Reply
      • Jodi says

        August 21, 2018 at 1:49 pm

        Excellent! Thanks so much for your help. Much appreciated!

        Reply
  13. lee says

    October 7, 2018 at 2:14 pm

    hi Gary,is cleaned contact part of the 2000 quota for the free Mailchimp account ?
    if i cleaned say 200 email, i can add another new 200 email addresses ?

    Reply
    • Gary says

      October 7, 2018 at 2:38 pm

      Hi Lee, Cleaned and Unsubscribed email addresses in your list do not count towards the 2,000 on the free account.

      Reply
      • Lee says

        October 10, 2018 at 3:41 pm

        noted with thanks, Gary !

        Reply
  14. Bryan says

    October 17, 2018 at 5:27 am

    I tried deleting unsubscribed accounts from my list using the segment | delete options. The message returned says the accounts are at first queued for deletion and then deleted. Yet, they remain in the list.

    Reply
  15. Arnie rosen says

    November 12, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    Are spam complaints automatically deleted from a campaign email list

    Reply
    • Gary says

      November 16, 2018 at 4:21 pm

      No. They are marked as unsubscribed.

      Reply
  16. Libby Squires says

    March 5, 2019 at 11:58 am

    I have an address in my List that is “cleaned” but i have confirmed that the address is correct. Should I delete and re-enter? I’m afraid it won’t let me re-enter the same address if I do that. The contact is requesting to be added back on the list. Any ideas?

    Reply
  17. Paul M says

    March 11, 2019 at 11:29 pm

    I have a campaign (call it CAMPAIGN 1) that uses a particular list (call it LIST 1). Let’s assume a small proportion of unsubscribes occur when I send out this campaign.

    Now I have a new campaign (call it CAMPAIGN 2) that uses a particular list (call it LIST 2).

    If any of the unsubscribes from CAMPAIGN 1 are also present in LIST 2, will they be deemed as unsubscribes in LIST 2?

    I want my LIST 2 to all be classified as subscribes because CAMPAIGN’s 1+2 have no relation with each other. They are very different topics.

    Please confirm. Thank you. Paul.

    Reply
    • Gary says

      March 13, 2019 at 1:36 pm

      Hi Paul,
      Unsubscribes are at the list level. If you have the same email address in two lists and a person unsubscribes from a campaign sent from one list, they won’t be unsubscribed from the second list.

      Reply
  18. Paul M says

    March 13, 2019 at 2:56 pm

    Thanks Gary for your prompt reply. That behaviour is what I was hoping for. You’re a gentleman. Thanks mate.

    Reply
  19. Chris says

    June 25, 2019 at 10:13 am

    I use the free account. If I re-add a previously unsubscribed email, will mail chimp automatically realize it’s previously unsubscribed and block it from becoming subscribed? I am adding both newly corrected and already correct emails to my list through the copy and paste function after I correct wrong email addresses. Just want to make sure the folks who previously unsubscribed don’t start getting emails again. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Gary says

      June 25, 2019 at 3:37 pm

      Hi Chris, importing people as Subscribed won’t override the Unsubscribed status.

      Reply
  20. Anthony Giacona says

    September 18, 2019 at 5:57 am

    Hello Gary, Just to clarify, If I archive mass unsubscribers so they dont count towrad my total contact count, and they get re added from an imported sheet for whatever reason, they will still be displayed as unsubscribers correct? Thanks.

    Reply
    • Gary says

      September 18, 2019 at 7:32 am

      Hi Anthony. You are correct. More details are here: https://organicweb.com.au/marketing/mailchimp-import-unsubscribed/

      Reply
  21. Roberta Stellini says

    November 11, 2019 at 8:25 pm

    Hi, ‘Delete’ is not showing. Any ideas, please?

    Reply
  22. James King says

    January 16, 2020 at 10:59 am

    Hi Gary. I’m looking for a simple solution to what appears to be a complicated problem highlighted in the self-published community. Mailchimp charges are based on subscribers plus unsubscribers. So, logically I would think, delete unsubscribers. But, as I understand it, you have to keep unsubscribers on your Audience as it is illegal to delete the records. It sounds nonsense to me. What is your view?

    Reply
    • Gary says

      January 16, 2020 at 11:17 am

      James, you are correct that Mailchimp calculates billing based on Subscribed, Unsubscribed and an “Empty” value in the “Email Marketing Status” field. To avoid paying for Unsubscribed contacts there are two options: delete or archive the Unsubscribed contacts (details may be viewed at https://mailchimp.com/help/delete-contacts/).
      The “elephant in the room” with data (in this case) is that there are so many privacy and marketing laws out there. In Australia for example I am not aware of any circumstance where one has to store the data for Unsubscribed contacts (I could be wrong however). GDPR, CASL, CCPA and other recent statutes may well vary in their requirements.
      If you are concerned that you may need to store data of Unsubscribed contacts however don’t want them to count towards billing then archiving contacts may suit your needs.

      Reply
  23. Antonio Fernandes says

    February 5, 2020 at 10:18 pm

    Hi Gary, than you for the information. When I archive a contact, next time I select the same audience, I can be sure that person won´t receive the newsletter right? I am always concerned if a contact that has unsubscribed gets bothered again with my newsletter could tag my email as spam. Rephrasing the question: when someone unsubscribes, do I need to take action, delete or archive the contact? If let them be, will they continue to receive the newsletter? Thank you

    Reply
    • Gary says

      February 6, 2020 at 12:45 pm

      Antonio, best practice is to leave unsubscribed contacts in your Audience. Mailchimp won’t send to contacts that have unsubscribed from an Audience.

      Reply
  24. Antonio Fernandes says

    February 6, 2020 at 7:09 pm

    Great, many thanks Gary!

    Reply
  25. Francesca says

    March 3, 2020 at 4:09 pm

    I am trying to delete some unsubscribes and cleaned addresses, but when I tick their email addresses, there is no ‘delete’ option under actions. What can I do please? I am using a free 2000 account.

    Reply
    • Gary says

      March 7, 2020 at 3:43 pm

      Hi Francesca.
      Mailchimp have changed the way that contacts may be removed. Please see https://organicweb.com.au/marketing/tutorial-archive-mailchimp-contacts/

      Reply
  26. WILLIAM J VAUGHT says

    March 19, 2020 at 1:29 am

    I have some subscribers that were using (county) government computers to receive emails. It appears the IT Systems Administrator tightened the server up or there was a temporary server issue that cause a hard bounce and the emails were cleaned. Is there any way to make them subscribers again? They signed up to receive the info. I saw where they can sign up using a form, but how do I direct them to do that? When they signed up, they just put their email address on a form we had on the table.

    Reply
    • Gary says

      March 19, 2020 at 10:20 am

      You’ll be able to find the URL for the signup form per the instructions at https://organicweb.com.au/marketing/resubscribe-unsubscribed-mailchimp/

      Reply
  27. Günter says

    March 28, 2020 at 6:14 am

    Dear Gary,
    I have deleted about 40 contacts from my audience list.
    Now it says: “This audience has 91 contacts. 91 of them are subscribers.
    But in Recent Growth and Tags it counts 131. Why does it also count the deleted contacts?
    How can I fix that?

    Reply
    • Gary says

      March 28, 2020 at 10:31 am

      Gunter, it can take a short while sometimes for the data to reflect across Mailchimp. Is all ok now?

      Reply
  28. Neal Greenspan says

    April 17, 2020 at 5:35 pm

    Hi Gary!
    When I click on an name, then click action, there is no delete choice. Is this only on the paid versions? Thanks for your very helpful videos!

    Reply
    • Gary says

      April 18, 2020 at 10:04 am

      @Neal, you should definitely have the option to delete with a free plan. Maybe try a different internet browser or clear your browser cookies?

      Reply
  29. Zoltan Szogyenyi says

    May 4, 2020 at 10:39 pm

    That is quite a shame actually… would be really great to have that feature 🙁

    Reply
  30. Maira says

    May 16, 2020 at 12:30 am

    It seems there’s no more DELETE button in Segments. I don’t have that option either, in any of my clients accounts.

    Reply
    • Gary says

      May 16, 2020 at 7:26 am

      Yes, MailChimp appear to have removed the option

      Reply
  31. Hinoj says

    May 28, 2020 at 10:05 pm

    Hi Gary i just wanted to know one thing that, in case if we approved the email ids for to unsubscribe due to abuse rate issue. Is it possible to make that email ids as subscribed in the same audience list !!!

    Reply
    • Gary says

      May 29, 2020 at 8:40 am

      Hi Hinoj, this method may work – https://organicweb.com.au/marketing/mailchimp-reverse-unsubscribe/

      Reply
  32. Kim says

    June 2, 2020 at 7:40 am

    If I am not seeing DELETE as an option on the ACTIONS tab is that a permission issue?

    Reply
  33. Morendo says

    March 16, 2021 at 4:05 am

    I think for MailChimp to keep charging for people in the list who have explicitly unsubscribed is a grossly unethical business practice.

    Reply
    • Gary says

      March 16, 2021 at 8:13 am

      If you’re just using Mailchimp for email marketing then I understand your concern. Keep in mind that you can archive your unsubscribed contacts and then not ‘pay’ for them.
      You can target unsubscribed contacts with other types of campaigns (e.g. Ads) therefore I understand why Mailchimp continue to charge for unsubcribed contacts.

      Reply

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