The blocklist is the list of email addresses your campaigns will never email. Do not contact is a setting on one contact that blocks all their addresses. A contact is a person you added yourself, by hand or from a CSV file.
Use the blocklist for any email address, including journalists from the JournoFinder database. Use do not contact for a person on your Contacts tab.
The blocklist and do not contact compared
This table lists how the two settings differ.
Blocklist | Do not contact | |
What it blocks | One email address per entry | Every email address saved on one contact |
Who it works for | Anyone: journalists, contacts or any other address | Contacts only |
Where you set it | Outreach > Settings > Blocklist | On the contact's edit page, in the Do not contact card |
Added automatically | Yes. Addresses that bounce because the mailbox does not exist are added for you. So are people who report your email as spam. | No. You turn it on yourself. |
How many at once | Paste many addresses in one go | One contact at a time |
Who it applies to | You and your team | You and your team |
How it shows | The address is listed on the Blocklist page | A red “DNC” label in the contacts list, and “Do not contact: excluded from all campaigns” on the contact |
How to undo it | Click the bin icon next to the address, then click Remove | Turn the switch off and click Save changes |
Both settings stop every campaign from emailing the address, including campaigns that are already sending.
When to use the blocklist
Use the blocklist when you know the email address you want to stop. This works for journalists from the JournoFinder database, who cannot be marked do not contact.
In the sidebar, under Outreach, click Campaigns.
Go to the Settings tab.
Next to Blocklist, click View list.
Click Add emails.
Paste the addresses, separated by commas or one per line.
Click Add to blocklist.
The Blocklist page shows a message such as “2 addresses added to your blocklist”. The number shows your own count.
Stop emailing someone with the blocklist covers what gets added automatically and how to remove an address.
When to use do not contact
Use do not contact when a contact asks you to stop, or when a client tells you not to email someone on your Contacts tab. It blocks all of that contact's email addresses at once.
In the sidebar, under Outreach, click Campaigns.
Go to the Contacts tab.
Click the contact, then click the pencil icon (Edit contact).
In the Do not contact card, turn on the switch.
Click Save changes.
The contact now shows “DNC” in the contacts list. Its email addresses also appear on your blocklist, with the reason “Added by you”. When you add recipients to a campaign, this contact's Add button is greyed out.
You can only turn on do not contact for a contact you have already saved. It is not on the new contact form.
Note: Do not contact blocks the addresses the contact has when you save. If you add an email address to the contact later, turn the switch off and save, then turn it on and save again.
Turning do not contact off removes all of the contact's addresses from the blocklist. This includes an address you added to the blocklist yourself. It also includes an address that bounced or reported your email as spam before you turned do not contact on. After you turn it off, go to the Blocklist page and add back any address you still want blocked.