How to manage email suppressions and delete profiles in bulk

You will learn

Learn how to suppress a group of profiles in Klaviyo in bulk, remove suppressions in bulk, or delete profiles in bulk. 

Deleting vs. suppressing profiles

Klaviyo gives you the option to either delete profiles from your account entirely, or suppress them, in which case they remain in your account but cannot receive marketing messages. Depending on your use case, you may want to either delete or suppress profiles. 

Deleting

When you delete profiles in Klaviyo, they are removed from your account entirely along with their profile data. You will no longer be able to view these profiles or their engagement with your brand or messages. Deleted data cannot be recovered. 

Note that because a deleted profile’s data is also deleted, they can potentially enter your Klaviyo account as a new profile if they engage with your website after their profile has been removed from your account (e.g., submitting a sign-up form). 

You should delete profiles in your account when you are certain you no longer need their profile data, or a profile has requested that their data is deleted.

Suppressing

When you suppress profiles in Klaviyo, they remain on your account but are no longer considered active. In the suppressed state, profiles cannot receive marketing emails and do not contribute to your account’s plan limits. A suppressed profile cannot receive marketing messages, even if they have provided consent and indicated they want to receive emails.

You should suppress profiles in your account when you no longer want them to receive any marketing emails, but would still like to use their profile data for analysis and to maintain a complete picture of your customer base.

Bulk suppress profiles 

In Klaviyo, you can bulk suppress the profiles in a list or segment. To bulk suppress a group of profiles:

1. Navigate to the Lists & segments page under the Audience tab in Klaviyo. 
2. Next to the list or segment you’d like to suppress, open the action menu.
3. Select Suppress current members to suppress all the members of the group.

This action applies to all the profiles within the list or segment at the time of suppression, and does not impact profiles that join after. If a profile in the group is already suppressed, their status is not be impacted. 

Suppress using a CSV upload

If you want to keep a group of contacts in your account and suppress them so that they stop receiving emails from you, you can also upload them to your account's suppression list.

1. Create a list or segment of those you want to suppress.
2. Export this list or segment to a CSV file.
3. Remove all columns in the spreadsheet except for the column with the header Email.
   
4. Navigate to the Profiles tab. 
5. Click the View suppressed profiles button in the upper right of that page.
6. Select Import. 

Bulk unsuppress profiles 

You can also bulk unsuppress the profiles in a list or segment. To bulk unsuppress a group of profiles:

1. Navigate to the Lists & segments page under the Audience tab.
2. Next to the list or segment you’d like to unsuppress, open the action menu.
3. Select Unsuppress current members to unsuppress all the members of the group.

This action applies to all the profiles within the list or segment at the time of unsuppression, and does not impact profiles that join after. If a profile in the group is already unsuppressed, their status is not be impacted. 

Bulk delete profiles 

When you delete people, these profiles are completely erased and no history is kept. Generally, you should aim to suppress rather than delete profiles.

To permanently remove a group of people from your account:

1. Create a list or segment that contains these contacts.
2. Select your Account dropdown in the bottom left corner of your screen and click Settings.
   
3. Navigate to Other > Profile maintenance.
4. In the Remove Profiles section, choose the list or segment you wish to delete from the dropdown menu.
5. Click Delete People
6. On the confirmation modal that appears, confirm the number of profiles that you would like to delete by typing the value in the field. 
   
7. Select Delete. 

Outcome

Once you suppress a list or segment, all the profiles in the group will be in the suppressed state. Suppressed profiles are not reachable by email, and do not contribute towards your Klaviyo billing plan. A suppressed profile cannot receive marketing messages, even if they have provided consent and indicated they want to receive emails.

When you unsuppress a list or segment, all the profiles in the group will be able to receive emails unless they have previously opted-out. Unsuppressing a profile will not impact their consent status, so if a profile has previously unsubscribed they will still not be able to receive emails because they have opted out.

If you delete profiles, they are completely erased and no history is kept. This is a permanent action, and cannot be reversed. 

Additional resources

Understanding suppressed email profiles

Understanding explicit vs. implicit consent