Contact Statuses

SureContact assigns every contact a status that represents their current state of communication eligibility and deliverability. These statuses help you understand whether a contact can receive emails, has opted out, or is invalid.

Currently, SureContact includes four contact statuses:

• Active
• Invalid
• Unsubscribed
• Bounced

Each status plays a critical role in ensuring healthy email deliverability and complying with communication standards.

Active

Definition:
Contacts marked as Active are fully valid and eligible to receive your email campaigns and communications.

When a contact becomes Active:

• When successfully added or imported with a valid email address
• When manually updated to Active
• When no issues occur with email delivery

What you can do with Active contacts:

• Send email campaigns
• Add to lists and tags
• Use in automations
• Track engagement normally
  

Notes:
This is the default and desired status for any contact you plan to communicate with.

Invalid

Definition:
A contact is marked Invalid when the email address format is incorrect or unusable.

When a contact becomes Invalid:

• Email address is incomplete or contains errors (e.g., missing domain or @ symbol)
• Manually marked as Invalid
• Imported with incorrect formatting

What happens to Invalid contacts:

• They cannot receive emails
• They may cause errors if used in campaigns
• Should be corrected or removed to maintain deliverability quality

Notes:
It’s recommended to fix the email address or delete the contact if the correct address cannot be recovered.

Unsubscribed

Definition:
Contacts marked as Unsubscribed have opted out of receiving marketing emails.

How a contact becomes Unsubscribed:

• The contact manually clicks “Unsubscribe” in any email footer
• You manually set the status to Unsubscribed
• The contact requests removal from email communication
  

What happens with Unsubscribed contacts:

• You cannot send promotional or automated marketing emails to them
• They remain in your CRM for record-keeping
• You may still send transactional or account-related emails (depending on your compliance settings)

Notes:
This status helps maintain compliance with GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and email marketing laws.

Bounced

Definition:
A Bounced status indicates that SureContact attempted to send an email but was unable to deliver it.

Types of Bounces:

• Hard Bounce:
  Permanent delivery issues, such as:
  
  • Email address does not exist
  • Domain no longer valid
• Soft Bounce:
  Temporary issues such as:
  
  • Mailbox full
  • Server down
  • Temporary provider issue

When a contact becomes Bounced:

• When SureContact receives a bounce notification from your SMTP provider
• Repeated soft bounces that get classified as permanent

What happens with Bounced contacts:

• System stops sending emails to them to protect your sender’s reputation
• They may affect your email deliverability if not managed properly

Notes:
It’s recommended to review bounced contacts and update or remove invalid ones.

Summary Table

Status	Description	Can Receive Emails?	Typical Cause
Active	Valid, reachable, engaged contact	✅ Yes	Normal, successful addition
Invalid	Incorrect or malformed email	❌ No	Wrong formatting, incomplete email
Unsubscribed	Contact opted out of communication	❌ No	User request or unsubscribe action
Bounced	Email delivery failed	❌ No	Invalid email, server issues, mailbox full