How to Automate the Process of Cleaning Up Your Contact List

A large list of inactive subscribers hurts open rates, spam scores, and inbox placement. Instead of filtering and deleting contacts by hand every month, systeme.io offers Automatic list cleaning in Settings → Emails. Help article 4216 explains how to turn on weekly rules that delete or unsubscribe contacts who have not opened any email for a period you define.

This complements—not replaces— manual list cleaning (article 139) and removing bounced contacts.

• Active systeme.io account.
• At least one contact list with email activity history.
• You have been sending campaigns or automations long enough to measure opens (inactive = no opens in X weeks).

• Deliverability: ISPs and Gmail/Yahoo/Microsoft reward engaged lists—see improve email deliverability.
• Pool reputation: Poor metrics can affect your sending pool on high-volume accounts.
• Time: Weekly automation replaces repetitive CRM filtering.
• Compliance: Stop mailing people who clearly ignore your content (reduces spam complaints).

1. Log in to systeme.io.
2. Click your profile picture → Settings.
3. Select Emails.
4. Scroll to the section Automatic list cleaning (article 4216).

systeme.io runs two separate automated rules (you can configure each):

Rule A — Never purchased

Delete or unsubscribe contacts who:

• Have not opened any email for your selected number of weeks, and
• Have never made a purchase on your account.

Typical choice: Delete weekly— these leads have little CRM value if they never engaged or bought.

Rule B — Past customers

Delete or unsubscribe contacts who:

• Have not opened any email for your selected number of weeks, and
• Have previously made a purchase.

Typical choice: Unsubscribe (not delete)— keep order history and customer data for accounting and win-back campaigns (aligned with article 139).

For each rule you enable:

1. Choose frequency (e.g. Every week).
2. Choose action: Delete or Unsubscribe contacts matching the rule.
3. Set inactivity window: number of weeks without any email open (examples in tutorials: 4–26 weeks depending on list size and send frequency).
4. Save email settings.

Example pairing:

• Never purchased → Delete every week if no open for 8–12 weeks.
• Past buyers → Unsubscribe every week if no open for 26+ weeks.

Adjust weeks to your sending cadence: weekly newsletters can use shorter windows; quarterly senders need longer periods before someone is truly “inactive.”

• Warm-up first: New accounts should follow deliverability guidelines for the first days before aggressive deletion.
• Re-engagement: Consider a final “Still interested?” campaign before enabling short delete windows.
• Bounces: Automatic cleaning targets no opens, not hard bounces—clean bounces separately.
• Double opt-in: Quality at signup reduces future scrub volume ( double opt-in).
• Review monthly: Check CRM counts and open-rate trends after automation runs.

Where is the feature?

Settings → Emails → Automatic list cleaning (4216).

Two rules?

Never purchased vs past purchasers—inactivity measured by no opens in X weeks.

Delete or unsubscribe customers?

Unsubscribe to retain purchase records.

How often?

Weekly when enabled.

Replaces everything?

No—still handle bounces and manual audits.

• How to Manually Clean Your Email List
• How to Delete Bounced Contacts
• How to Improve Your Email Deliverability
• How to Authenticate Your Domain Name for Email Sending

Turn on Automatic list cleaning on systeme.io, keep buyers as unsubscribed rather than deleted when possible, and pair automation with a healthy sending setup.