Manage contacts in Xendy

Introduction

Managing your contacts is one of the most important parts of good email marketing software. Xendy offers several options to manage, import, edit, and delete your contacts. Xendy also provides multiple options to segment your contact list and keep it clean.

View and manage all contacts

Managing your contacts starts in the left menu under ‘All contacts’. This central place contains all contacts of your organization in Xendy. Here you can view, edit, and delete them.

Top options

• Search contacts: easily search via the search bar by first name, last name, or email address of your contacts.
• Select segment: click in the top right corner on ‘All contacts’ to create a new segment or navigate to one of the existing segments.
• Add contacts: choose ‘Add contacts’ in the top right corner to view all options for adding contacts to your list.

List of all contacts

Under ‘All contacts’ you’ll find all your contacts in Xendy, including the following data in the columns per contact:

• Status: there are four possible contact statuses within Xendy:
  • Active: all contacts that are active and being emailed from Xendy.
  • Unsubscribed: the contact has unsubscribed and indicated they no longer wish to receive emails.
  • Excluded:the contact is excluded from receiving emails because it was uploaded under ‘Blocked contacts’ or meets one of the rules of a dynamic blocklist.
  • Bounced: a hard bounce occurred. The contact is therefore automatically excluded from future emails.
• Emails: the number of emails the contact has received from Xendy.
• Revenue:the total amount the contact has ordered through Xendy. Only visible for webshops with an active webshop integration.
• Created on: the date you added the contact to Xendy.

Manage individual contacts

You can manage each individual contact by clicking on it. A sidebar will open showing all known details about the contact. In this sidebar, the following information is visible:

• Email, first name, last name: the basic contact details
• Segments: all segments this contact appears in.
• Created on: the date the contact was added to Xendy.
• Status: the contact’s status. Only contacts with the status ‘Active’ receive your emails. Others do not receive emails because they unsubscribed, bounced, or were excluded manually or by rule.
• Emails: the number of emails the contact has received from Xendy.
• Revenue:the total amount the contact has ordered through Xendy. Only visible for webshops with an active webshop integration.
• Custom fields: all custom fields created in addition to the basic contact details.
• Received emails: an overview of all emails this contact has received, including the received date and whether the email was opened or clicked.

Edit custom fields

In the sidebar, click ‘Edit’ next to the pencil icon to modify a contact’s details. Adjust the desired fields and choose ‘Save’ to update the contact with the new information.

Unsubscribe a contact

Go to ‘All contacts’ in the left menu and search for the contact you want to unsubscribe using the search bar. Once you’ve found the contact, click the ‘3 dots’ on the right. Choose ‘Unsubscribe’. The contact’s status will now change to ‘Unsubscribed’ and they will no longer receive emails from Xendy.

Delete a contact

Go to ‘All contacts’ in the left menu and search for the contact you want to delete. Once you’ve found the contact, click the ‘3 dots’ on the right. Choose ‘Delete’. Confirm this action and the contact will be removed from your Xendy account.

Note: if you use a webshop integration, don’t forget to also delete the contact and its order(s) in the webshop. If you delete it only in Xendy, it will be re-imported during the next import.

Create and manage segments

Segmentation largely determines the success of your email marketing strategy. That’s why Xendy offers extensive options for creating different contact lists, both static and dynamic based on rules.

What are segments?

Segments are subsets of your total contact list, found under ‘All contacts’. Good segmentation ensures you can send more relevant emails to your contacts, targeting their interests. This increases engagement (open and click rates) while reducing unsubscribes.

Types of segments

Within Xendy, there are two types of segments: static segments and dynamic segments. The difference lies in how contacts are added to the segment:

• Static segments:a static segment contains contacts you explicitly add, either by uploading a file, using a webhook, or adding them manually.
• Dynamic segments:a dynamic segment is automatically updated based on set filter rules. These rules act as a filter over the ‘All contacts’ view. Only contacts matching the rules appear in this segment and receive your email when you send it.

Create a segment

Go to ‘All contacts’ in the left menu and then click on ‘All contacts’ again in the top right. Choose ‘Create new segment’. Select ‘Static’ or ‘Dynamic’ depending on your needs and click ‘Next’. Enter a name for the segment and click ‘Create segment’ to save it.

Edit segment properties

Open the segment you want to edit via ‘All contacts’ in the top right and choose the desired segment. Then click ‘Properties’ to edit the name and description of the segment.

Delete a segment

Open the segment you want to delete via ‘All contacts’ in the top right and choose the desired segment. Then click ‘Properties’ and then ‘Delete’ to remove the segment.

Important notes

• Contacts: deleting a segment only removes the contacts from that segment. They remain under ‘All contacts’.
• Email automations: if you have an email automation linked to this segment, it will also be deleted when you delete the segment.

Static segment

A static segment is a list of contacts you explicitly add. You can populate a manual segment using the same methods available for adding contacts to your ‘All contacts’ list.

Create a static segment

Go to ‘All contacts’ in the left menu and then click on ‘All contacts’ again in the top right. Choose ‘Create new segment’. Select ‘Static’ and click ‘Next’. Enter a name for the segment and click ‘Create segment’ to save it.

Add contacts to a static segment

There are several ways to add contacts to a static segment.

1. Add contacts manually

If you only need to add a small number of contacts, manual entry is a quick option.

1. Go to ‘All contacts’ in the left menu and then click ‘Add contacts’ in the top right. Select ‘Add manually’.
2. Enter the contact’s email address and fill in any other desired fields (e.g. first name, last name, custom fields).
3. Click ‘Save’ to add the contact.

2. Add contacts via upload

If you want to add more than a few contacts, adding via a CSV or Excel upload is the best option.

1. Go to ‘All contacts’ in the left menu and click ‘Add contacts’ in the top right. Select ‘Upload contacts’.
2. Drag the CSV or Excel file containing your contacts, or browse your computer to select it.
3. Xendy will read the file. In the next step, you’ll see all fields from your file and can specify which to import. For each field you import, indicate what type it is (e.g. first name or email address).
4. After mapping the fields, click ‘Add contacts’ to start the import.

3. Use of webhooks

Webhooks allow you to automatically add contacts from an external app, service, newsletter form, or pop-up to Xendy.

1. Go to ‘All contacts’ in the left menu and click ‘Add contacts’ in the top right. Select ‘Via webhook’.
2. You’ll now see the webhook URL, Authorization token, and all fields in your database. Ensure you send a JSON where the field names match those in your database. There are some standard values:
   • The email address must always be sent in the JSON as ‘email’
   • The first name must always be sent in the JSON as ‘first_name’
   • The last name must always be sent in the JSON as ‘last_name’
3. Contacts sent to the webhook will automatically be added to the selected segment.

Remove contacts from a static segment

Go to ‘All contacts’ in the left menu and click on ‘All contacts’ again in the top right. Choose the segment from which you want to remove a contact. Then search for the contact using the search bar. Once found, click the ‘3 dots’ on the right and choose ‘Delete’.

Confirm this action and the contact will be removed from your segment. Note: removing a contact from a static segment does not delete it entirely from Xendy. To delete a contact completely, remove it from the ‘All contacts’ overview.

Dynamic segment

A dynamic segment is automatically updated based on set filter rules. These rules act as a filter over the ‘All contacts’ overview. Only contacts matching the rules appear in this segment. Using these filters means you have little to no maintenance on dynamic segments.

What are dynamic segments?

Dynamic segments are automatically populated with contacts that meet the filter rules you’ve set. They are therefore a subset of your ‘All contacts’ overview.

Create a dynamic segment

Go to ‘All contacts’ in the left menu and then click on ‘All contacts’ again in the top right. Choose ‘Create new segment’. Select ‘Dynamic’ and click ‘Next’. Enter a name for the segment and click ‘Create segment’ to save it.

Add contacts to a dynamic segment

Adding contacts to a dynamic segment works by setting ‘Filter rules’ for the segment. If a contact matches the set of rules, it will be added to the dynamic segment.

1. Go to ‘All contacts’ in the left menu and click on ‘All contacts’ in the top right, then select the dynamic segment for which you want to set the filter rules. Click ‘Filter rules’ in the top right to open this menu.
2. Click ‘New rule’ to add a new rule.
3. Select one of the database fields to create a filter. Then configure the rest of the filter rule.
4. After setting the correct filter rules, click ‘Update rules’ to save them.
5. Under ‘Contacts’ you’ll now see everyone who matches your filter rules. Review this to ensure the right people are selected.

A dynamic segment updates automatically. This means it checks again which contacts meet the set filter rules. This happens at three moments:

• When you open the dynamic segment
• When a newsletter is sent
• When emails for an email automation are prepared

Available filter rules (general)

• All contact fields: create a filter on contact fields such as first name, last name, email address, or for example city name.
• Created on:select all customers added to Xendy within the last X days or outside this period.
• Appears in static segment:select all customers included in a specific static segment.
• Customer received email:select an email and automatically see the people who received it. Select ‘did not receive’ to view contacts who didn’t receive it.
• Customer opened email:select an email and automatically see the people who opened it. Select ‘did not open’ to view contacts who didn’t open it.
• Customer clicked email:select an email and automatically see the people who clicked a link. Select ‘did not click’ to view those who didn’t click a link.
• Customer opened last X emails:shows contacts who did or didn’t open the last X (adjustable) received emails. Use this to exclude inactive contacts.
• Customer clicked last X emails:shows contacts who did or didn’t click a link in the last X (adjustable) received emails. Use this to exclude inactive contacts.

Available filter rules (for webshops)

• Total revenue:select all customers who generated more or less than a specific revenue amount in your webshop.
• Number of orders:select all customers who placed X number of orders.
• Order status: select all customers whose most recent order has a specific order status.
• Payment method:select all customers who paid with a certain payment method.
• Order period:select all customers who placed an order within or outside the last X days.
• Last order:select all customers who placed their last order within or outside the last X days.
• Customer abandoned cart: select all customers who filled their cart but (not yet) placed an order (WooCommerce only).
• Customer bought product X or Y: select all customers who ordered a specific product within the last X days.
• Customer bought product from category X or Y: select all customers who ordered a product from a specific category within the last X days.

Remove contacts from a dynamic segment

Contacts are automatically removed if they no longer meet the filter criteria. No manual action is required.

Frequently asked questions