What Does "Cleaned" Mean in Mailchimp?

If you use Mailchimp for sending emails, you might have seen some of your contacts marked as “cleaned.” This can be confusing, so let’s talk about what “cleaned” means and what you should do about it.

When Mailchimp labels a contact as “cleaned,” it means that the email address has bounced. Email bounces happen when your email can’t reach the person’s inbox. There are two main types of bounces:

Hard Bounce: This is when the email address is not valid anymore. Maybe it was typed wrong, or the email account doesn’t exist. Mailchimp will stop trying to send emails to this address after a hard bounce.
Soft Bounce: This happens when there’s a temporary problem, like a full inbox or a server being down. Mailchimp will try to send the email again for a few days. If it keeps bouncing, then the address gets marked as “cleaned.”

When an email address is “cleaned,” it’s removed from your active list because Mailchimp can’t deliver emails to it. This is good because it helps keep your email sender reputation strong. A high bounce rate can make email services think you’re spam, which hurts your chances of getting into inboxes.

Here’s how you can manage cleaned contacts:

Viewing Cleaned Contacts:

First, go to your Mailchimp account and click on “Audience,” then “All contacts.” Look for the “Email Marketing” column; cleaned contacts will have a “Cleaned” badge next to their email address. This helps you see which emails aren’t working anymore.

Exporting Cleaned Contacts:

If you want to keep a record or see if there are patterns with your cleaned contacts, you can export them. Click on “Audience” and then “All contacts.” Use the “Create new segment” option and set the segment to show only cleaned contacts. Once you’ve previewed this segment, you can export it as a CSV file.

Adding Corrected Email Addresses:

If you know an email was cleaned due to a typo, you can’t change the old contact. Instead, you need to add the correct email as a new contact. Go to “Audience,” click “All contacts,” then choose “Add a single contact.” Enter the correct email, make sure to check the permission box, and add them as a new contact.

Deleting Cleaned Contacts:

Cleaned contacts don’t count towards your contact limit, so they won’t cost you anything. But if you want to clean up your list, you can delete them. Go to the “Data Management Tool” under “Manage Contacts.” Create a segment for cleaned contacts, select them, and then choose “Permanently delete.” Remember, once deleted, these contacts are gone for good unless you add them back with a new email.

Conclusion

Understanding what “cleaned” means in Mailchimp helps you keep your email list healthy. It’s about making sure your emails go to real people who want to hear from you, improving your chances of successful email campaigns. Keep an eye on your email list quality to avoid issues with email deliverability and to maintain a good relationship with your subscribers.