Managing Your Contacts

“Create categories and tracking tags before adding contacts so they are available when you are ready to add contacts and subscriptions”

All of the options for managing your contacts are available from the Contacts option on the menu bar.

The Contacts List

Click Show List in the Contacts menu to display your list of contacts.

The total number of contacts and the number of contacts matching the current filter appear at the top left of the list screen.

  • Total – the total number of contacts in your system.
  • Matching – the number of contacts that match the current filter in place. Filters allow you to find a smaller group of contacts that meet a specific criteria.

The list may be sorted using the options available on the Order by dropdown menu at the top left of the list table.

Contact Filter

You can quickly filter your contacts list using over 20 predefined criteria by selecting a filter from the Filter dropdown menu at the top right of the list table.

You can remove the filter and return to a list containing all your contacts by choosing [No filter] from this menu.

List Paging

If your list contains more items than can be shown on one screen, the page selector appears at the top right. Use this to navigate through the pages of your list.

You can set the number of items that appears per page in your personal preferences by going to Setup / Personal Settings / Preferences.

On the Contacts list screen…

… for each contact, you can see:

  • Email address – the contact’s email address.
  • Name – the contact’s name.
  • Company – the contact’s company name, if provided.
  • Date/time added – the date/time the contact was added to the system.
  • Subscriptions – the number of subscriptions the contact has.
  • Emails sent – the number of emails sent to the contact.

Clicking on the number of subscriptions or the number of emails sent takes you to the Subscriptions or Send Log screens for the contact.

Choose action… Menu

Every contact has an action menu where you can view or change information for the contact.

  • View detail – to view detailed information about the contact.
  • View send log – to view detailed information about every email sent to the contact.
  • Edit – to edit the contact’s information.
  • Subscriptions – to manage the contact’s autoresponder subscriptions.
  • Clear logs – to clear the send logs for the contact.
  • Delete – to delete the contact and all related information. Use this with caution, there is no undo!

“List items such as subscriptions and emails sent are clickable and drill down into the contact’s information”

I want to… Menu

The I want to… menu for the contacts list has options for adding and deleting contacts and working with contacts that match the filter currently selected from the Filter dropdown menu.

“Check the I Want To… menu to see what else you can do on the current screen”

  • Refresh this page – to update the number of subscriptions and the number of emails sent.
  • Find a contact – to find a contact by partial name or email address. This is the same as choosing Contacts / Quick Find from the menu bar.
  • Add a contact – to add one contact. This is the same as choosing Contacts / Add a Contact from the menu bar.
  • Edit matching contacts – to make changes to all the contacts currently selected by the filter you chose from the Filter dropdown menu.
  • Export matching contacts – to export in text format all the contacts currently selected by the filter you chose from the Filter dropdown menu.
  • Delete matching contacts – to delete all the contacts currently selected by the filter you chose from the Filter dropdown menu.
  • Clear logs for matching contacts – to clear the email send logs for all the contacts currently selected by the filter you chose from the Filter dropdown menu.
  • View segment list – to jump to the segments list where you can manage your segment definitions. This is the same as choosing Contacts / Segments / Show List from the menu bar.

Add/Edit a Contact

The screens for adding or editing a contact are the same. The options available are split across five tabs, some with multiple sections. Click on the blue section to expand and see your options.

  • Details – basic info of the contact.
    — Email address and name
    — Preferences
  • Contact info – more detailed info of the contact.
    — Company
    — Address
    — Alternative email address
    — Phone numbers
    — Mobile phone numbers
    — Fax numbers
  • Segmentation – categories and/or tags to assign to the contact.
  • Custom fields – covered in the Custom fields section.
  • Notes – freeform text with notes on the contact.

Important Note: When you make any changes, always remember to click the Save Contact button. You can switch between tabs and open and close sections within those tabs, but you must click the Save Contact button before you leave the page.

Clicking the Cancel button returns you to the list screen without saving any of your changes.

“Create/add and edit screens are laid out the same for easy management”

Quick Add

From the menu bar, choose Contacts / Quick Add:

Here you can paste a list of email addresses to be added to the contact list. There should be one email address per line.

Email addresses that already exist in the contacts list or those that are on your list of banned email addresses or domains (see Setup / Ban Lists) will be ignored.

Providing you have created Contact Tags and/or Categories prior to attempting to add contacts, you can also select how to segment the contacts you are adding by checking the appropriate boxes for contact tags and/or categories. As an example in the image above, you could add one batch of “Customers” who “Bought Jackets“. You could also add a different batch of “Prospects” who “Like Shoes” or “Like Jackets” or both.

Remember to click the Save Contacts button to save the process.

Quick Remove

By pasting a list of email addresses, you can quickly remove contacts from your contacts list. This facility is available from the menu bar by choosing Contacts / Quick Remove:

Paste the list of email addresses that you want to remove in the Email addresses box and choose the desired Remove action from the dropdown menu. There should be one email address per line.

  • Unsubscribe – the contacts remain in the contact list but all their autoresponder subscriptions are cancelled.
  • Delete permanently – the contacts and all related information are removed entirely from your arpReach system.

“Choose Quick Find from the Contacts menu when you need to find a contact quickly”

Quick Find

You can quickly find one or more contacts if you have a full or partial name or email address. To use the facility, from the menu bar, choose Contacts / Quick Find:

As you start to type into the email address or name box, arpReach will offer possible suggestions in a dropdown box. If the contact you are looking for appears in the dropdown box, select it and click the Find Contact button to go to the Contacts list screen with only that specific contact on the list. Note that the Filter dropdown menu has changed to Quick find result.

However, as you are typing, if the contact you are looking for does not appear in the list of suggestions, enter as much of the name or email address as you know. Ignore the suggestions dropdown box and click the Find Contact button. You will be taken to the contact list screen and all contacts matching the partial name or email address you entered will be shown. You can then manually look for the contact you seek in the list displayed.

Contacts Reports

To view your contacts reports, from the menu, choose Contacts / Reports:

Available data type are:

  • New contacts today
  • New contacts yesterday
  • New contacts this week
  • New contacts last week
  • New contacts this month
  • New contacts last month
  • New contacts this year
  • New contacts last year

Available graph types are line chart and bar chart.