How do I delete contacts?

Program and Account Admins

Programs Tab

Keeping contact data clean and accurate is a top priority all around. While we can delete contacts from the platform, it's not recommended for both compliance purposes and in order to maintain contact histories. The good news is that deleting isn't your only option! Below are a few methods to keep your contact data clean and organized. 

Creating an “Archived” Group

When you’re looking to remove a large group of contacts, we recommend creating an “ARCHIVED” group list. This is helpful for both maintaining message histories and for having the option to easily opt contacts back into texting.

To create this group of archived contacts, you can update existing contacts by following the process outlined here. Moving forward, these contacts won’t be included in the group lists they existed in previously. 

This means users with permissions to those group lists will no longer message these contacts and only admins or users with updated access will see this subset. If you’d like an archived contact to receive messages again in the future, you can update their group list and move them out of “ARCHIVED”. 

Keep In Mind: This does not stop contacts from texting in, so make sure that someone is monitoring this new group every so often.

Setting Contacts as Inactive 

All contacts that are able to receive Message texts are set as “active = TRUE”. When a contact opts out of messaging, they are automatically set as “inactive” and cannot receive messages unless they are manually opted back in.

If you’d like to ensure a group of contacts is unable to receive outbound messages but want to maintain their records on the platform, you can set contacts in bulk as “active = FALSE”, which prevents these contacts from receiving any messages moving forward. 

Keep In Mind: This could adjust your overall metrics by providing false "opt outs". Additionally, the system doesn't currently track a contact that was a true opt out vs a contact that was manually opted out for "clean up" purposes, so opting contacts back into messaging is not recommended.

Marking Phone Numbers as Invalid

The Message platform is always looking at the contact phone number to make sure it can receive texts. When the system finds that a device cannot receive a message, that record is automatically marked as "phone invalid". This field can also be repurposed to prevent messaging to these contacts without impacting your overall metrics. 

If you’d like to ensure a group of contacts is unable to receive outbound messages but want to maintain their records on the platform, you can set contacts in bulk as "phone_valid=FALSE”.  This method doesn't impact your analytics dashboard and since our system will constantly monitor the phone validity of the contacts, there's no harm in updating contacts data to "phone_valid=TRUE" if you want to message them again. 

Keep In Mind: This method, in combination with the new group, is the recommended approach to cleaning up your data, while keeping clear records. 

Deleting Contacts from the Platform

If the above options are truly not options, the Message team can assist you in permanently removing contacts from the system. To make this happen, reach out to your Message account team with the list of contacts you want to remove, and the team will work with you to complete the process. 

Keep In Mind: Once a contact is deleted from the system - it is permanent. It removes their record as well as their message history for that program.