Age a contact list using date added information

Use segmentation to filter your contacts by the date they were added to help ensure your longest contact relationships are healthy

"Aging your list" means periodically looking through your contact list for contacts that have been on your list for a long time, and making sure they're still engaged with your email and SMS message content. This helps you to keep your list current, reduces spam complaints, and helps improve your open rate too.

Here's how to find your oldest contacts:

• Create a segment based on Date Added
• Sort your contacts by Date Added

The data shows: It's easier to re-engage contacts that aren't reading your emails with targeted content that is short and personalized, than it is to add new contacts to your list!

Create a segment based on Date Added

One of the benefits of using our segmentation tools to filter your contacts is that each segment can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be. In this case, you can filter your contacts by date added and engagement level simultaneously, allowing you to identify which of your oldest contacts requires the most attention.

1. Create a new segment and give it a unique name so you can identify it in your account later.
2. Click the + Add Criteria button.
   
   
   
   
3. From the Criteria overlay, select "Sources and providers" and then select "Created."
   
   
   
   
4. Choose an operator and enter a date or date range for the criterion.
5. (Optional) Click + Add Criteria button and select additional criteria to help narrow your segment results.
   Note: Engagement criteria are a quick and easy option, so you don't have to make your segment too complicated with open and click criteria.
6. Click the Save segment button.
   
   
   
   

Sort your contacts by Date Added

A quick way to check the age of your list is by sorting your contacts by the date you added them. This gives you a good idea of how old your list actually is so that you can better plan your email and SMS marketing efforts.

1. From the Contacts page, click the Settings (gear icon) button.
   
   
   
   
2. In the Table settings panel, click on the System section to expand it.
3. Select the "Date added" option. The option is added to the list at the top of the panel, where you can re-order the columns.
4. Click the X in the upper right-hand corner of the panel to close it.
   Note: Clicking anywhere outside of the panel returns you to the Contacts page and saves your selections.
   
   
   
   
5. Click on the Date Added column to sort your contacts in ascending or descending order by date.
   
   
   
   

Now that you know how old your list is, you can work on cleaning up the contacts. Our segmentation tools can help you filter your contacts into different groups based on their interests or behavior so you can decide how to best re-engage with them.

Did you know? When you export all of your contacts into a spreadsheet, you can include the "Date added" information too!

Questions?