Maintaining a clean and engaged contact list is essential for better deliverability, higher open and click rates, and a strong sender reputation. A responsive list reduces bounces, unsubscribes, and spam complaints—helping your emails land in the inbox instead of the spam folder. 

Clean your list after each campaign

After each send, review your campaign metrics and take action:

• Bounced or blocked addresses: From the Non-delivery tab, use Manage contacts to remove these addresses from your list.
  
  Select the types of messages you want to remove, followed by the action ‘Remove from a list’. Select the contact list used for the campaign and then click the ‘Remove Contacts’ button.
  
  

• Unsubscribes and spam complaints: In the Activity tab, use Manage contacts to remove unsubscribed or “marked as spam” contacts.
  
  Select 'Unsubscribed from the campaign' or 'Marked as Spam' from the dropdown menu 'Export contacts who'. Then choose 'Remove from a list' and select the list from which to remove the contacts (the list to which the campaign was sent).
  
  

👉 To learn more about keeping your contacts organized, visit Managing your Contact Lists.

Use Mailjet’s Bulk Validations 

Mailjet’s Bulk Validations feature lets you validate large numbers of email addresses quickly and accurately. This proactive step can safeguard your sending reputation by identifying problematic addresses before you send.

👉 Learn more in our Bulk Validations guide.

Use Mailjet’s contact list management tools

You can keep your lists up to date directly from the Contacts → Contact Lists section:

• Add, update, or remove contacts manually or with a file upload (CSV, XLS, TXT).

• Delete or unsubscribe contacts in bulk.

• Export contacts for further analysis or backup.

Maintain deliverability and consent

• Double opt-in: Use Mailjet’s Subscription Form Builder, or your own subscription forms, to require contacts to confirm their subscription before they are added to your list. This helps prevent invalid or mistyped email addresses from being collected.

  • A single opt-in option is also available, but we recommend using double opt-in to improve list quality, confirm consent, and support stronger engagement. For more information about both options, please refer to the following article.

• Remove role-based addresses: Exclude generic addresses such as info@ or admin@, which often generate complaints and low engagement.

• Authenticate your domain: Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. This increases trust with inbox providers and improves deliverability.

Re-engage or remove inactive contacts

• Identify inactive subscribers: Use segmentation to find contacts who have not opened or clicked your emails in the past 3–6 months.

👉 Learn more about Segmentation.

• Send re-engagement campaigns: Try winning them back with targeted emails (for example, “We miss you!”).

👉 Learn more about How to send a re-engagement campaign.

• Apply a sunset policy: If contacts remain inactive after a final attempt, remove them from your active lists. This helps protect your engagement metrics.

👉 Learn more about Sunset policy.

Long-term list management practices

• Schedule regular cleanings: Depending on your sending volume, clean lists monthly, quarterly, or at least twice a year.

• Include clear unsubscribe options: Make it easy for users to opt out, reducing spam complaints and building trust.

• Review contact properties: Keep your custom properties accurate and up to date to improve segmentation and personalization.