Constant Contact contacts to email list: permission read, unsubscribes set aside
In short: Reads a Constant Contact contacts export, sorts each contact by its email permission status (explicit, implicit, pending, unsubscribed), sets aside unsubscribes and bounces, merges repeats and keeps name, company, lists and tags. Limit: Constant Contact doesn't publish its export column names; columns are found by name (an inferred list), so check the notes above the result.
Export from Constant Contact's Contacts page (select all contacts, then Actions > Export selection) and tick the email permission status field if your account shows it. Upload the CSV here: explicit and implicit permission count as subscribed, pending confirmation as unknown, unsubscribes are set aside, repeats merge, and you download a list ready for the next tool.
Price: this tool is free. Checking a whole email list is from $9/mo, and the first 100 checks are free with Google, no card. See pricing
Sample result
6 Constant Contact rows: 4 in the email list, 1 unsubscribed set aside, Ana merged.
- Contacts
- 4 to email
- Subscribed
- 3
- Unknown
- 1
What this means for you
Pending confirmation is kept as Unknown; tick subscribed-only to set it aside too.
- Explicit and implicit kept
- Pending confirmation marked
- Unsubscribes set aside
- Lists and tags kept
- Constant Contact
- Contacts
- CSV
By SimpleVerifier Team · Last updated · Runs in your browser; nothing you paste is sent to us
How do I check the Constant Contact list before the first send elsewhere?
- Download the email list here.
- Upload it at /verify. Every address gets a live mailbox check, and valid, risky and invalid download as separate files. The first 100 email checks are free with a Google sign-in, no card.
- Import the valid file into the new platform, and the set-aside file as its suppression list.
How do I turn a Constant Contact export into a clean email list?
- In Constant Contact, open Contacts. Select a contact, then the Select all contacts link (or filter to one list first).
- Click Actions > Export selection, tick the fields to include (email, names, permission status, lists) and click Export.
- Download the CSV from your import/export activity and upload it here, or paste it.
- Choose: set aside unsubscribes (on to start), or keep only contacts with permission. Download the email list and the set-aside file.
Example
- You enter
- A Constant Contact export with 6 rows and an
Email permission statuscolumn: Ana twice (Explicit), 2 Implicit, 1 Pending confirmation and 1 Unsubscribed. - You get
- 4 in the email list (Ana merged into one row, the 2 Implicit as Subscribed, the pending contact as Unknown) and 1 set aside as unsubscribed. Ticking subscribed-only moves the pending contact to the set-aside file too.
- Limits
- Runs in your browser with no row cap; an uploaded file can be up to 25 MB.
What do implicit and explicit permission mean?
Constant Contact records how each contact agreed to hear from you. Explicit permission means they asked to join, for example through a sign-up form. Implicit permission means an existing relationship, such as a customer you imported. Both are kept as subscribed here; check that implicit permission is enough under the rules where your contacts live before a marketing send.
Pending confirmation (double opt-in not finished) and not set are kept as Unknown, and move to the set-aside file if you tick "keep only subscribed". Unsubscribed contacts are set aside by default and belong in the new platform's suppression list.
Why don't I see a permission column?
Constant Contact's help says permission status appears in an export only when Advanced Email Permissions is turned on in the account. Without it the export has no consent column; every contact is then kept and the notes above the result say so. Exporting the unsubscribed contacts separately (filter by email status first) gives you the suppression file.
Who uses this tool, and for what?
- Small businesses switching platforms
- Move to Mailchimp, Kit or MailerLite without re-adding people who unsubscribed.
- Nonprofits
- Pull a donor or volunteer list with lists kept as labels for a separate tool.
- Agencies
- Clean a client's Constant Contact export before importing it into their new account.
What can’t this tool tell you?
- Constant Contact doesn't publish its export column names; columns are found by name (an inferred list), so check the notes above the result.
- Implicit permission is not the same as asking to join; check the rules for your contacts before a promotional send.
- Contacts with no permission column in the file are all kept.
- It can't tell which addresses still have a working inbox.
Common questions
- Does it move my lists?
- List and tag names are combined into one labels column, so you can rebuild the same lists in the next tool.
- What happens to contacts who appear twice?
- They merge into one row. If any copy is unsubscribed, the merged contact is unsubscribed.
- Is my contact list uploaded?
- No. The file is read in your browser. Nothing is sent unless you choose to check the addresses afterwards.
Sources
A tidy list can still be full of dead addresses.
Extracting, deduplicating and syntax checks all work on the text of an address. None of them can tell whether the mailbox exists. Only the server that hosts it can answer that, through an SMTP check, and that is what the paid product does.
- Upload the cleaned file as it is: CSVs up to 100,000 rows
- A real SMTP mailbox check on every row, with catch-all detection
- Small list? Starter at $9/mo covers 2,500 emails a month, cancel anytime
Plans from $9 a month, cancel anytime, no contract. Sign in with Google and your first 100 email checks are free, no card. The free tools stay free either way.