Deleting contacts and handling data requests

You can delete contacts in Letterhead, one at a time or in bulk, and handle privacy requests such as GDPR export and erasure requests. Before you delete anyone, it’s worth knowing why unsubscribing is usually the better choice.

Unsubscribe rather than delete

Email regulations like CAN-SPAM require you to keep honoring an unsubscribe. When someone unsubscribes, Letterhead keeps them in your audience as Unsubscribed, and that record is what stops them being added back by a later import or by someone on your team. See Letting contacts unsubscribe.

Deleting a contact removes that record along with everything else. So delete when you genuinely need the data gone, such as a privacy request or a list you imported by mistake, and unsubscribe people who simply don’t want your newsletter.

Remove one contact

Administrators can remove a single contact from their profile:

1. Open the contact’s profile from the Audience page.
2. Open the More options (three dots) menu and choose Remove user.
3. Confirm with Remove.

The contact’s profile is removed and their identifying details are erased. Opens, clicks and other activity that feed your newsletter metrics are kept, but anonymized, so your reports still add up.

Delete many contacts

How you delete in bulk depends on which audience you’re on.

On your company-wide Contacts, administrators can delete a selection from the Contacts tab:

1. Narrow the list with a search or filters, then select rows, or choose Select all to take in every contact matching your filters. Delete always needs at least one filter or selection, so it can’t act on your whole audience at once.
2. Choose Delete from the bar above the table.
3. Check the number of contacts shown, then confirm.

Deleted contacts are removed from your audience for good and can’t be brought back. See Change many contacts at once for the other bulk actions.

On a classic per-channel audience, there’s no bulk delete, but you can replace your whole list with an import. If importing a CSV asks you to choose an Import Type, you’re on the classic audience:

1. Go to the Audience tab.
2. Open the dropdown next to Add contact and select Import CSV.
3. When asked for the Import Type, choose Delete & Overwrite rather than Add & Update.

This removes all existing contacts and replaces them with the list you import, so double-check the file first. See Importing your audience for the full import flow.

To delete a large set of contacts on a classic audience without replacing the whole list, contact support and the team will handle it.

Data requests and privacy (GDPR)

Privacy laws such as the GDPR give people the right to see the data you hold about them, to correct it, and to have it erased. Letterhead gives you three ways to answer those requests, and every request is completed within 30 days or less, as GDPR and similar laws require.

Handle it yourself from the contact’s profile

If you’re an administrator, open the contact’s profile and use the More options (three dots) menu:

• Export data generates a file with their profile details and full engagement history and emails it to you, ready to pass on to the person who asked.
• Remove user erases their identifying information (the right to erasure). See Remove one contact.
• To correct their details, edit the fields on their profile and save. See Viewing and editing a contact.

Submit a data request to our team

For anything you can’t do from a profile, administrators can send us a request from inside Letterhead:

1. Open Help at the bottom of the left menu and choose Submit Data Request.
2. Pick a Request Type: Delete and anonymize, Export data, or Other (Specify below). Updates to someone’s details go under Other.
3. Add the details and email addresses in the message, then click Submit.

We verify the request, carry it out, and email you when it’s done.

If you’re not an administrator, or you’re a reader

If you don’t have administrator access, or you’re a reader asking about your own data on a newsletter sent with Letterhead, contact support and include:

• The email address the data is associated with.
• The type of request: delete and anonymize, export data, or something else such as an update.
• Any context that helps us find the right records.

Our Customer Experience team verifies the request and acts on it in line with the privacy laws that apply.

For more on unsubscribe obligations, see the FTC’s CAN-SPAM compliance guide.