Overview
Non-subscribed email addresses are contacts who haven't opted into receiving marketing emails from you. Unlike a fully suppressed contact, they're not completely blocked — they can still receive automation-triggered or transactional emails, just not regular marketing campaigns. Non-subscribed contacts don't count toward your SmartrMail bill.
Why do I have so many non-subscribed email addresses?
This most commonly happens when you first connect SmartrMail to your Shopify, BigCommerce, Neto, or WooCommerce store — a large number of contacts may show up as non-subscribed if your customers never opted into marketing when they originally signed up.
This can also happen by accident: some stores upload a CSV of subscribers who did opt in, but mistakenly mark "Accepts Marketing = No" in the file. This causes those contacts to appear as non-subscribed even though they should be receiving your marketing emails.
How to fix non-subscribed status in bulk
If this happened to you, re-upload your customers to your e-commerce platform with the "Accepts Marketing" column correctly set to "Yes" for anyone who's actually opted in. See Shopify's guide on importing and exporting customers for the mechanics of this.
How to fix an individual contact's status
If you know a specific contact has opted into email marketing, open their profile directly in your e-commerce platform and mark them as opted in.
Important: never mark a contact as opted in if they haven't actually agreed to receive marketing emails. Doing so violates laws like CAN-SPAM and GDPR, and can seriously damage your email deliverability.
If this doesn't resolve your issue, reach out to our support team for help.
FAQs
Can non-subscribed contacts still receive any emails from me?
Yes — non-subscribed contacts can still receive automation-triggered or transactional emails (like an order confirmation or an abandoned cart flow). They just won't receive regular marketing campaigns until they're opted in.
Is "non-subscribed" the same as "suppressed"?
No. Suppressed contacts are blocked from receiving any emails at all, due to things like a bounce, spam complaint, unsubscribe, or account deletion. Non-subscribed simply means a contact hasn't opted into marketing emails yet — they're a separate, independent status.
Do non-subscribed contacts count toward my SmartrMail bill?
No — non-subscribed contacts don't count toward your SmartrMail bill.