Every subscriber has a status that decides whether they receive your email. Statuses protect your deliverability: the platform enforces them on every send, so you can never accidentally email someone who opted out or whose address bounces.
The statuses
| Status | Meaning | Receives email? |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Opted in and deliverable | Yes |
| Pending | Signed up but has not clicked the double opt-in confirmation yet | No |
| Inactive | Manually deactivated | No |
| Unsubscribed | Clicked unsubscribe or was imported as unsubscribed | No |
| Blacklisted | On your account blacklist | No |
| Complained | Marked one of your emails as spam | No |
How statuses change
- Signup: forms and API signups become active, or pending when double opt-in is on
- Confirmation: pending becomes active when the confirmation link is clicked
- Unsubscribe: every email contains an
{{unsubscribe}}link; one click sets the status account-wide. The same email also contains{{preferences}}, a signed link to the preference center where the person can change lists and the profile fields you have chosen to show. That link expires after 180 days. Unsubscribe does not. - Bounces: when a mailbox provider permanently rejects an address (hard bounce), sending to it stops automatically and the address goes on your suppression list. Typo domains such as gmail.con count as hard bounces even when the provider reports them as temporary. An address that soft bounces three times in a row (full mailbox, server unreachable) without opening or clicking anything in between is set to bounced as well
- Complaints: spam button presses come back through the feedback loop and set the status to complained
- Manually: you can set a status when adding or editing a subscriber, and imports can map a status column
What you should and should not do
- Do keep unsubscribed and complained statuses when importing from another platform - map the status column
- Do not flip unsubscribed or complained people back to active without a fresh, documented opt-in. It is illegal in most markets and mailbox providers notice immediately.
- Do not delete unsubscribed subscribers to "clean up" - the record is what prevents accidental re-adding on your next import
Where you see them
Statuses are shown on the subscriber list with filters, on each profile, and in campaign statistics where bounces and unsubscribes from a send are counted. The blacklist has its own page under the dashboard for addresses and domains you never want to email.