How to Export Circle Members to an Email List (Using the Marketing Preference)

To get an email list from Circle, export the member CSV from Audience, then keep only members whose email marketing preference is subscribed. In Circle that's Audience > Audience > More > Export CSV, and the file arrives by email. Drop invited people who never joined, set unsubscribed members aside for your suppression list, merge repeats with their tags, and check the addresses before the first send from Kit, Mailchimp or another tool.

The free Circle members to email list tool does the sorting in your browser. Here is each step.

Step 1: export the members

Circle's knowledge base article Export a CSV of your members (read 2 November 2026) gives the path:

1. Click Audience in the left sidebar and open Audience (Manage audience).
2. Choose a tab. All with no filters gives everyone; a filtered tab gives part of the community.
3. Add filters if you only want some members, for example a tag or a space.
4. Click More > Export CSV.
5. Open the email Circle sends to your admin address and download the file.

Step 2: know what's in the file

Circle's help lists the columns: an ID, first and last name, email, join date, active status, tags, profile and avatar links, post, comment and like counts, profile fields including custom ones, last active date, whether the person is a member, invitation status and date, an activity score, and the email marketing preference (subscribed or unsubscribed).

Two columns matter for a mailing list:

Column	Values	Use
Email marketing preference	Subscribed / Unsubscribed	Keep subscribed for marketing; suppress unsubscribed
Member	Yes / No	Drop no: those are invites who never joined

Step 3: apply consent

Joining a community means agreeing to its notifications: new posts, replies, event reminders. A launch email or weekly newsletter sent from another platform is a different kind of email, and the marketing preference is the member's answer to it. Rows marked unsubscribed go into your email tool's suppression list so a later import doesn't add them back. Rows with no preference are unknown; leave them out of marketing until they opt in.

The rules differ by country. The FTC's CAN-SPAM guide covers US commercial email, including the postal address and opt-out every message needs; UK, EU and Canadian rules expect consent first. Our post on what a CAN-SPAM footer needs lists the footer items.

Step 4: merge repeats and keep tags

If you combine exports from more than one tab or community, the same person appears twice. Keep one row per address, let an unsubscribe on any copy win, and combine tags into one column so you can rebuild segments (paid members, cohort, course) in the next tool.

Step 5: check the addresses

Community sign-ups attract throwaway inboxes, especially where there's a free tier, and members who joined two years ago may have left that job and that address. A first send that bounces hard counts against your sending domain.

1. Download the subscribed list from the Circle tool.
2. Optionally flag throwaway domains with the bulk disposable email checker.
3. Upload the list on the verify page. Every address gets a live mailbox check, and valid, risky and invalid download as separate files.
4. Import the valid file into your email tool.

A check confirms that a mailbox exists, not that the member opted in. Risky means unconfirmed: catch-all business domains and Microsoft's consumer domains (outlook.com, hotmail.com, live.com) often can't be confirmed either way. Running a second community elsewhere? Our post on exporting Mighty Networks members covers that export.

Where SimpleVerifier fits

Sorting and merging are free and run in your browser; nothing is uploaded. For the mailbox check, upload the list on the verify page; the first 100 checks are free with a Google sign-in. Starter is $9 a month for 2,500 checks; Pro is $39 a month with the first 100,000 checks a month at full speed, then slower, never cut off. See pricing.