Marketing with Custom Contact Lists: A Step-by-Step Guide

There are benefits of marketing with custom contact lists. Building your contact lists helps you keep a continuing cycle of prospective customers or clients who receive emails or information from you. Strategically building your contact lists helps improve your click-through and email open rate and lets you understand what works and does not work for your customers.

In this article, we will discuss: 

• What are Custom Contact Lists in Marketing?
• How to Add a Custom List
• How to Edit a Custom List
• How to Add Contacts to Your Custom List
• How to Remove Contacts from Your Custom List
• How to Delete a Custom List
• Review

What are Custom Contact Lists in Marketing?

You can create custom lists to categorize individuals who sign up for your emails. These lists allow you to target your email campaigns to specific groups based on certain criteria, like their location or shared interests.

How to Add a Custom List

Learn how to create custom contact lists for marketing by following the steps below:

1. Log in to your account via https://www.web.com/my-account/login.
2. On your Account Manager homepage, click Websites on the left menu:
   • If you only have one eCommerce package, you will be automatically redirected to your eCommerce dashboard. If you have multiple packages, click Launch next to the eCommerce product you want to manage.
   • If you have a Website plan, then click on Launch Website Builder for the plan you want to manage.

3. Choose Customers from the options, then select List:

   

   
   
4. By default, you will be taken to the Custom Lists tab. Click on the Create List button.

   • If this is your first time accessing this section, you need to click on the Get Started button first:

     

5. The Create New List pop-up opens. Select Custom, then enter a name for your custom list:

   

   
   

6. Click the Create List button.

   Please Note: If you do not click the check box to immediately assign contacts to your list, you can still assign contacts to your custom list later. For instructions on adding a contact to your custom list, please see How to Add Contacts to your Custom List.

You have successfully created a custom list.

How to Edit a Custom List

Learn how to edit custom contact lists by following the steps below:

1. Log in to your account via https://www.web.com/my-account/login.
2. On your Account Manager homepage, click Websites on the left menu:
   • If you only have one eCommerce package, you will be automatically redirected to your eCommerce dashboard. If you have multiple packages, click Launch next to the eCommerce product you want to manage.
   • If you have a Website plan, then click on Launch Website Builder for the plan you want to manage.

3. Choose Customers from the options, then select List:

   

   
   

4. By default, you will be taken to the Custom Lists tab. Click on the vertical ellipsis for the custom list you would like to edit, then choose Edit:

   

   
   

5. The Edit List pop-up opens. Enter a new list name, then click Done:

   

You have successfully edited or updated the name of your custom list.

How to Add Contacts to Your Custom List

Follow the steps below for adding contacts to custom lists for marketing:

1. Log in to your account via https://www.web.com/my-account/login.
2. On your Account Manager homepage, click Websites on the left menu:
   • If you only have one eCommerce package, you will be automatically redirected to your eCommerce dashboard. If you have multiple packages, click Launch next to the eCommerce product you want to manage.
   • If you have a Website plan, then click on Launch Website Builder for the plan you want to manage.

3. Choose Customers from the options, then select List:

   

   
   

4. By default, you will be taken to the Custom Lists tab. Click on the vertical ellipsis for the custom list you would like to edit, then choose Add Contact:

   

   
   
5. The Add Contacts to List pop-up opens. Click the drop-down menu on the top-left, which lists the types of contacts you have, such as:
   • Contacts – all your contacts
   • Subscribed – subscribed contacts
   • Unsubscribed – unsubscribed contacts
   • Not in Any List – contacts not part of any list
   • Lists - contacts in existing lists
   • Never Emailed – contacts that did not receive any emails from you
   • Manual – contacts added manually
   • First Time Buyers – contacts who are first time buyers

   • Booking – contacts with appointment bookings

     

     
     

6. Once you have selected the type of contacts you want to add to your custom list, click on the check box(es) for the name(s) you want to add:

   

   
   

   You can use the magnifying glass icon to search for the name of a specific contact quickly. Also, you can use the Show drop-down to display the number of contacts you want to be listed in the pop-up.

   
   
7. Next, click on the Add button.

You have successfully added or updated contacts to your custom list.

Once you have added contacts to your custom list, you can send campaigns to the contacts on your list. Click on the vertical ellipses for the list to which you want to send campaigns, then select Send Campaign. For more information on creating an email campaign, check out Creating an Email Campaign:

How to Remove Contacts from Your Custom List

Follow the steps below to remove contacts to custom lists:

1. Log in to your account via https://www.web.com/my-account/login.
2. On your Account Manager homepage, click Websites on the left menu:
   • If you only have one eCommerce package, you will be automatically redirected to your eCommerce dashboard. If you have multiple packages, click Launch next to the eCommerce product you want to manage.
   • If you have a Website plan, then click on Launch Website Builder for the plan you want to manage.

3. Choose Customers from the options, then select List:

   

   
   

4. By default, you will be taken to the Custom Lists tab. Click on the vertical ellipses for the list you want to update, then select Remove Contacts:

   

   
   

5. You will then be taken to the Contacts page. Click on the checkbox(es) for the name(s) you want to remove from the selected custom list, then click on the trash icon:

   

   
   

6. A pop-up will show asking if you want to delete the selected contact(s). Click on the Delete Contact button to proceed:

   

The selected contacts will automatically be removed from your custom list.

How to Delete a Custom List

Follow the steps below to delete a custom list:

1. Log in to your account via https://www.web.com/my-account/login.
2. On your Account Manager homepage, click Websites on the left menu:
   • If you only have one eCommerce package, you will be automatically redirected to your eCommerce dashboard. If you have multiple packages, click Launch next to the eCommerce product you want to manage.
   • If you have a Website plan, then click on Launch Website Builder for the plan you want to manage.

3. Choose Customers from the options, then select List:

   

   
   

4. By default, you will be taken to the Custom Lists tab. Click on the vertical ellipses for the list you want to update, then select Delete:

   

   
   

5. A pop-up will show asking if you want to delete the selected custom list. Click the Delete button to proceed:

   

You have successfully deleted the selected custom contact list.

Review

The benefits of using a custom contact list include improved click-through and email open rates and a better understanding of customer preferences. Custom contact lists allow for targeted email campaigns by categorizing individuals based on criteria like location or interests, enhancing marketing effectiveness. Learn how to manage your custom list. Strategically build your contact list to maintain a cycle of prospective customers through targeted and effective email marketing campaigns.