How to clean SMS lists

You will learn

Learn about list cleaning for SMS, including why list cleaning is important, how to list clean, and when to clean your lists. 

Before you begin

List cleaning involves removing SMS consent from a profile. This means that you won’t be able to text someone until they decide to opt back in, such as through a form or at checkout. 

Because of this, it’s important to give your contacts the opportunity to re-engage with you before they’re completely removed from your list. 

Also note that all the segment conditions and flow setups are recommendations. They are good foundations, but ‌adapt them to fit your needs. 

How to list clean

The best way to list clean is: 

1. Group all of the SMS contacts who you want to win back using a segment
2. Create a re-engagement flow based on this segment
3. Create a sunset segment for anyone who
   
   1. Has gone through the entire flow
      and
   2. Continues to not engage with you 
4. Bulk unsubscribe your sunset segment

Create a winback segment of SMS contacts

Your winback SMS segment should vary based on how many campaigns you usually send in a week or month. 

1. Navigate to Lists & Segments.
2. Click Create List/Segment.
3. Choose Segment.
4. Name the segment (e.g., Winback SMS subscribers).
5. Add in the following conditions:
   • If someone can or cannot receive marketing > can receive > SMS marketing
     AND
   • What someone has done > Received SMS > is at least 7 in the last 60 days
     AND
   • What someone has done > Clicked SMS > zero times in the last 180 days
     AND
   • What someone has done > Placed order > zero times in the last 180 days
     AND
   • What someone has done > Started checkout > zero times in the last 60 days
6. Click Create Segment.

After you create this segment, exclude it from most of your SMS campaigns. 

While you may still want to send customers information about big events, such as product launches or holiday sales, we don’t recommend sending them your regular content. 

Re-engage subscribers via flows

Next, you can create a flow to try to win back your subscribers. 

1. Navigate to Flows > Create flow > Create from scratch.
2. Name the flow (e.g., SMS winback).
3. Choose Segment as the trigger type.
4. Select the segment you just created from the dropdown (e.g., SMS winback subscribers).
5. Click Flow Filters > Add a Flow Filter.
6. Set the condition as:
   What someone has done (or not done) > Clicked SMS zero times since starting this flow
   
   • Note: flow filters are checked at the start of the flow as well as before every action; if someone clicks a link in any SMS, they'll automatically be removed from the flow.  
7. Recommended for those with a branded sender ID: add a conditional split after the trigger to separate out your UK, German, French, Austrian, Spanish, Swiss, Irish, or Australian recipients that states:  
   • Properties about someone > Phone Number country code in US
     OR
   • Properties about someone > Phone Number country code in CA

Use keyword responses

With keyword responses, you can find out what messages your subscribers want to receive so that you can keep them engaged.

Keyword responses are available for: 

• US
• Canada
• New Zealand
• UK long codes and short codes
• Australian, Irish, and Belgium long codes

To set up a winback flow for these number types, follow these steps: 

1. Add an SMS message on the Yes path after the conditional split. 
   
2. Create a message that asks subscribers to text back a keyword to either indicate the type of content they want to receive or how often they want to be texted.
   • Example for type of content:
     [Your brand name]: Only want certain news? Text back the keyword(s) for the info you want
     NEW - new products
     SALE - sales
     HOLIDAY - holiday deals
     [LINK to your site]
     Text STOP to opt out
     
   • Example for frequency:
     [Your brand name]: Want fewer texts? Reply and tell us how often we should text you:
     WEEKLY
     BIWEEKLY
     MONTHLY
     QUARTERLY
     [LINK to your site]
     Text STOP to opt out
3. Click Save Content > Done.
4. Add a time delay and set it for at least 5 days.
5. Add a conditional split and place it after the time delay.
6. Set the condition to:
   What someone has done (or not done) > Sent SMS at least once since starting this flow.
   
   
7. On the No path, add another SMS message.
8. Click Configure Content in the left side panel.
9. Create a text message that asks subscribers what type of content they want to receive.
   • Example:
     [Your brand name]: Is it time to say goodbye? Reply MORE to continue to get text messages. Text STOP or don't reply to opt out. [LINK to your site]
     
10. Click Save Content > Done.
11. Place another time delay directly after that message and set the delay for 5 days.
12. Add another conditional split after the new time delay, using the same condition as before.
    What someone has done (or not done) > Sent SMS at least once since starting this flow.
13. On the No path, drag an Update Profile Property action.
    
14. In the left sidebar under Configuration, open the dropdown menu.
15. Choose Create New Property.
16. Add in a property to indicate people in this path are unengaged and should be cleaned from your list.
    • Here, we use a boolean property and set Sunset as True.
      
      
17. Click Save on the bottom left to save the property.
18. If you only are sending:
    • With a branded sender ID, head to the next section.
    • Only to the US, Canada, or New Zealand, click the Review and Turn On button in the top right.

Branded sender IDs

Branded sender IDs, which are the default option for the UK, Germany, France, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, and Australia, cannot receive text messages. Thus, we use the metric Clicked SMS rather than Sent SMS to determine if the winback series is successful, or if we need to sunset the subscriber.

Note that we don't need to add any splits like we do for the above section. This is because of the flow filter we already added to the trigger (i.e., Clicked SMS 0 times since starting this flow). 

1. Add an SMS message on the No path.
2. Click Configure Content in the left side panel.
3. Create a message and ask if they want to continue receiving text messages.
   • Example:
     [Your brand name] Hey friend! Do you want to still receive exclusive news via text? If so, click this link and visit our store [LINK].
     
   • Recommendations: 
     1. Create and link to a manage preferences page.
        • Example
          [Your brand name] Hey friend! Do you want to still receive exclusive news via text? If so, let us know what type of texts you want [LINK]
        • Note that the manage preferences page should include options for the type of message (sales, new products, etc.) and how often your subscriber wants to receive texts (weekly, monthly, etc.)
     2. Include a coupon to encourage people to buy.
        • Example
          [Your brand name] Don’t go! Enjoy 10% your next order with coupon SAVE10 [LINK]
        • If you include a coupon, you may want to add a filter to this message to exclude anyone who’s already been in this flow
4. Click Save Content.
5. Place a time delay directly after that message and set the delay for 5 days.
6. Drag in another SMS message.
   
7. Click Configure Content in the left side panel.
8. Create a message that informs people that they will be opted out of SMS if they take no action.
   • Example:
     Is it time for goodbye? Click here to stay subscribed [LINK]. If you don’t, no worries, we’ll stop texting you.
     
9. Click Save Content > Done.
10. Add a time delay below this message and set it for 5 days.
11. Below the time delay, add an Update Profile Property action. 
    
12. In the left sidebar under Configuration, open the dropdown menu.
13. Choose Create New Property.
14. Add in a property to indicate people in this path are unengaged and should be cleaned from your list.
    • Here, we use a boolean property and set Sunset as True.
      
      
15. Click Save on the bottom left to save the property.
16. Click the Review and Turn On button in the top right.

Create a segment for list cleaning

Next, group everyone who has the property you set (e.g., Sunset = True). 

1. Navigate to Lists & Segments.
2. Click Create List/Segment.
3. Choose Segment.
4. Name the segment (e.g., SMS sunset).
5. Add the following conditions:
   • Properties about someone > Sunset is true
     AND
   • What someone has done (or not done) > Clicked SMS zero times in the last 195 days
     AND
   • What someone has done (or not done) > Sent SMS zero times in the last 195 days
     
     
6. Click Create Segment.

Remove SMS consent 

You want to remove consent from your unengaged SMS subscribers on a regular basis; typically, 2 times a year. 

Note that if you follow this process, someone will be completely unsubscribed from SMS. You will not be able to message them unless they resubscribe. 

1. Navigate to Lists & Segments.
2. Open your sunset segment (i.e., SMS sunset).
3. Click Manage Segment.
   
   
4. Select Export Segment to CSV.
5. In the export wizard, check only the following 2 fields:
   1. Phone Number
   2. Country
      
6. Click Start Export.
7. In the top right, click your brand name.
8. Choose Settings > Other > Profile maintenance.
   
9. Scroll to the Import SMS Unsubscribes section. 
10. Click Browse Files and upload your CSV file of SMS contacts to unsubscribe.
11. Click Unsubscribe Phone Numbers.
12. Confirm your selection in the modal by clicking Unsubscribe Phone Numbers.
    

It may take a few minutes for this process to complete.

Outcome

After you finish unsubscribing your unengaged contacts, you’ll be left with only those who are interested in hearing from you. This likely means that you’ll see higher engagement rates for future campaigns. 

As a next step, consider creating flows based on your customer’s SMS responses. For instance, if someone tells you ‌that they are only interested in new products, you can set up a flow to add this as a profile property. You can then create segments of people with these properties so that you can send these groups relevant content. 

Additional resources

• SMS marketing strategies for all levels [+12 Pro tips]
• Find out how to create flows to respond to customers’ SMS messages
• Check out examples of SMS engagement segments