Removing bounced email addresses

[jpajillc]

Hi,

I'm trying to remove the email addresses that bounced in our last marketing campaign (sent through Vertical Response, not ACT).  In order to match up the records that need to be changed, I imported a list that contains the contact name "BOUNCE" and the email address.  I have the entire database (now 14k+ records) sorted by email address, and have started going through and manually removing the email address from the record that matches a "BOUNCE" record.  The problem is, there were over 1800 bounces and this is going to take quite some time.  I'd love to run a query that says E-mail="same as e-mail of contact named BOUNCE", but I'm not sure it's possible or how I would go about doing it.  Do any of you have any suggestions or ideas on how to do this more efficiently?  

Thanks very, very much!

Jill

[gmartin · Accepted solution]

Since you are familiar with the import process, here is one option you could try:

- set duplicate checking for 'email' only

- designate an unused field in your database as your target field

- import  your file using the merge option,  with 'Bounce' going to the target field (assuming 2 columns in file: email and Bounce)

- this should update the matching contact records (not create new ones) with Bounce in the target field

- then perform Lookup on target field for 'Bounce'

- use Edit/Replace option to blank out the email field for all contacts in Lookup results

Note: I highly recommend trying this in a copy of your database before performing it in your main database.  To create a copy of your database use the File > Save Copy As option.  Also, be sure to backup your database before performing the steps above in the main database.  Can't be too cautious.

[mossy]

If you have imported a list that says "bounce" in a certain field, you should theoretically be able to search on that field that contains the word bounce to bring up a list of the matching emails that you have created.  This list will now be your current lookup.

After you have your lookup of the bounced email addressed, perform a backup of your database, then use the "Replace" option from the edit menu and use the space bar to create a space, which will replace all the old email addresses with that space

.  Another way is to use swap.  If you also imported the correct email address to either a 2nd email field or user field, Swap will take your current lookup and literally swap the data from one field to the other. 

Once it's been swapped, either use replace to kill the values in that 2nd field, or even delete the field itself.   Important, make sure you have an active backup of your database before you do this!

[jpajillc]

Thanks for such a quick reply, I guess I wasn't subscribed right and never got notification of it.  My problem isn't that I want to get rid of the emails in the contacts named "bounce", it's that I want to get rid of the emails of the contacts who match the bounced emails.  So, for example, when my lookup contains all contacts, it looks like this:

John Doe john@doe.com

BOUNCE john@doe.com

James Dean james@dean.com

Jane Doe jane@doe.com

BOUNCE jane@doe.com

I want to remove just the email addresses of John & Jane Doe (not the entire record) by somehow matching them to the email addresses of the contacts named BOUNCE.  Or if there was some way to just import a CSV list of bad emails and have them removed, that would work, too.  It's seeming like maybe just the find/replace with a space in the email field is my best bet?  I'm just hoping there's a faster way, since I have 2,000 of them.

Thanks again for any ideas you might have!

Jill

P.S.  I'm going to back up my database right now, just for kicks.  Thanks for the reminder!

Note:  The list of bad emails contains only that - the email addresses.  The records in my ACT database contain all sorts of other info, so I can't just tweak the "Bounce" list and use it in the database.

[dshaw111]

Jill,

This is a classic situation that proves how valuable ACT! E-Marketing (aka SwiftPage) is. Here you can search for bounced etc and easily and quickly perform the updates you want.

[gmartin · Accepted solution]

Since you are familiar with the import process, here is one option you could try:

- set duplicate checking for 'email' only

- designate an unused field in your database as your target field

- import  your file using the merge option,  with 'Bounce' going to the target field (assuming 2 columns in file: email and Bounce)

- this should update the matching contact records (not create new ones) with Bounce in the target field

- then perform Lookup on target field for 'Bounce'

- use Edit/Replace option to blank out the email field for all contacts in Lookup results

Note: I highly recommend trying this in a copy of your database before performing it in your main database.  To create a copy of your database use the File > Save Copy As option.  Also, be sure to backup your database before performing the steps above in the main database.  Can't be too cautious.

[jpajillc]

Greg & David,

Thank you so much for your help!  I ended up using suggestions from both of you and got things cleared up in no time.  I imported the list with BOUNCE in an unused target field, and after pulling up everyone with a spouse named BOUNCE in the lookup, did Edit/Replace and replaced all their email addresses with a single space.  Your help has saved me an unbelievable amount of time.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Jill

P.S.  I just started working here and am trying to streamline, and I've been pushing the ACT e-mail marketing.  I'll use this as another bit of evidence for my case!

[brianutley]

Hey, trying to do an import/merge so that I can remove bounced emails.  But I'm not sure how to "set duplicate checking for 'email' only".

I don't see this option only.  I only see mapping the fields, not merging based on matching fields....

Help?

[pbuchtmann]

There is an easy solution to this from Exponenciel addons that allows you to build a list of bounced emails and then do a lookup on the list. Go to www.exponenciel.com and look for his email tool. This is a FREE tool can be found at http://www.exponenciel.com/actaddons/actaddon.aspx?ID=134

Good Luck

[ronbor1017]

Sorry, just came across this thread and had to add .02.

I completely agree with the suggestion above.  I use that free email lookup addin often. 

I copy the bounced email addresses from the exported report to my clipboard and drop them into the addin.  I then create a lookup of those addresses. From the Edit menu I select "Replace Field".  Select "E-mail"  in the "Replace contents of:" field.  Leave the "Value" field blank.  After confirming the change every email field in the lookup will be deleted.  End result is that your Contacts with bounced address no longer have anything in their E-Mail field.