How to Merge ActiveCampaign Lists in 4 Easy Steps
In this video, you’ll learn how to merge ActiveCampaign lists and why you should never have to merge your lists in the first place for a clean and organized CRM.
If you’re currently using a ton of lists inside ActiveCampaign, don’t worry. I’ll show you how to set this up the right way without any more headaches.
Let’s check it out!
Key things to keep in mind when merging ActiveCampaign lists:
Only merge contacts with “Active” status in their original list.
Merging doesn’t remove contacts from their original list; you’d need to use the “Remove from list” action.
This action doesn’t duplicate contacts in a list, duplicate their data, or add it together. It just affects their list subscription status.
🚨 DO NOT DELETE the original list. You will permanently lose all data associated with that list.
How to Merge ActiveCampaign Lists
Click “Lists” in the left-hand menu to visit the Lists overview page.
Choose the list (original list) with the contacts you want to move to another list.
The contact “Status” dropdown will show “Active” by default. Click the “Edit All” button.
The Bulk Edit tool will open. Choose “Add to a list.”
Click the dropdown and choose the destination list you wish to add contacts to.
Click the "Add to list" button.
Apply a tag to these contacts in this same step by clicking “Add a tag” in the bulk edit tool and searching the name of the tag. This will help you distinguish them from the rest of the contacts on your destination list. Click “Add tag”.
Click the "Apply Changes" button.
A confirmation popup will appear. Click "Apply changes to contacts.”
Why You Should Never Have To Merge Your AC Lists
Remember: There is nothing you can achieve with lists that you cannot achieve with tags in ActiveCampaign.
Multiple lists make a mess
Best practices for a clean CRM are one Main List and segmenting by tags
How To Merge For List Optimization
Update all entry points so people are added to the main list with new tags. Contacts from all “entry/opt-in points” should now get added to the main list going forward.
🚨 This is the step that can affect your existing automations. If you are triggering automations based on current lists for these entry points, you’ll need to adjust each automation so they trigger off your new tags instead.
In all automations, you’ll now segment and tag using the tagging taxonomy. For future email campaigns, you can segment by these new tags or by using dynamic content in your emails that is shown using conditions based on these tags.
