Email contact management: a list that stays clean
Contact management in 2Mail means you import, clean and organise your addresses into lists and segments, while the platform processes bounces and unsubscribes automatically. That way you only send to addresses that exist and are allowed to receive you, and your domain reputation stays intact.
A good campaign does not start with the template but with the list. This page shows how you bring contacts in, how 2Mail keeps them clean and what the GDPR asks of you.
What you do with contacts and lists
Four actions you carry out in the dashboard, from the first import to the day a customer asks for their data.
Import from a file
You upload your addresses as a CSV file, for instance an export from your webshop, your CRM or your invoicing software. Alongside the email address, bring the fields you will need later: name, language, customer type, last order. Those fields become the basis for your segments.
Record consent
Store per contact when and where consent was given: the form, the date, the IP address or the order number. You need that evidence when someone asks why they receive your newsletter. Include it in the import or add it in the dashboard.
Clear out duplicates and invalid addresses
A list from several sources always contains duplicates and typos: a missing dot, a wrong domain, a stray space. Check the import for invalid addresses and duplicate entries before you send. Every faulty address is a bounce you could have avoided.
Export whenever you want
Your contacts remain yours. You export a list or a segment to CSV to sync it with your CRM, for an audit or to leave. Unsubscribed and bounced addresses stay recognisable so you do not re-import them by accident.
List hygiene that takes care of itself
The maintenance that costs the most time, 2Mail does for you. Bounces and unsubscribes come in automatically and are applied to the contacts straight away, without you having to download and re-upload a file.
Why this matters: mailbox providers judge your domain by what you send them. Keep mailing addresses that do not exist or have unsubscribed and your domain reputation drops — and your order confirmations and invoices feel it too.
Lists and segments
A list is a collection of contacts with a shared source or purpose: newsletter subscribers, webshop customers, event attendees. A segment is a selection within such a list based on the fields you supplied: language, customer type, last order, or behaviour in previous campaigns.
Segmentation is the simplest way to mail more relevantly and get fewer unsubscribes. How you build segments and which criteria work in practice is covered on the separate page about list segmentation.
Managing contacts under the GDPR
An email address is personal data. That places four obligations on you, and for each of them contact management offers a practical answer.
Retention period
Do not keep contacts longer than needed for the purpose you collected them for. Agree on a period, for instance for subscribers who have opened nothing in two years, and clean up periodically. A smaller, active list performs better anyway.
Data subject requests
Anyone may ask which data you hold on them, have it corrected or have it erased. Look the contact up in the dashboard, export or delete it and note the date. You must respond within a month.
Legal basis and evidence
A newsletter requires consent; an order confirmation does not. Record per list on which basis you mail and keep the opt-in evidence with the contact, so you can show it immediately when asked or audited.
Processor inside the EU
2Mail processes and stores your contacts on its own servers in Belgium. You remain the controller, we are the processor. A data processing agreement is available on request.
From import to first send in four steps
This is how you move an existing address list to 2Mail safely, without putting your reputation on the line in the first week.
Export and clean your current list
Pull the addresses from your webshop, CRM or previous platform as CSV. Remove duplicates and obvious errors, and set aside addresses that had already bounced or unsubscribed there. Those you do not import.
Import with the fields you need
Upload the file in the dashboard and map the columns: email address, name, language and the consent data. The more useful fields you bring along, the finer you can segment later.
Check your domain and authentication
Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC from the dashboard before the first send. Without authentication even a perfect list ends up in the spam folder. At onboarding we check this together with you.
Send to a small, active segment first
Pick your most engaged contacts for the first campaign, for instance those who ordered in recent months. Watch the bounces and complaints in the statistics and only expand the volume when they stay low.