Glossary Prospecting
What is a do-not-contact (suppression) list?
Also called Suppression list
A do-not-contact list, or suppression list, is a list of people or addresses that must never be emailed again, usually because they unsubscribed, asked to be forgotten, bounced or complained.
Suppression lists are checked before every send, across every campaign and tool, so a person who opted out in one place is not emailed from another.
The safest lists store as little as possible, ideally a one-way hash of the address rather than the address itself.
Why it matters
- Laws such as CAN-SPAM require honoring opt-outs, and GDPR gives people the right to erasure.
- Emailing someone who asked you to stop is the fastest way to earn a complaint.
- One shared list stops new tools or teammates from re-contacting people by accident.
How Reach Crew handles it
A reply of "no", "stop" or "unsubscribe", or a one-click unsubscribe, puts the address on the do-not-email list. When a person asks Reach Crew to forget them, they go on a global list that no workspace's Scout or Checker will match again. That list stores keyed hashes only, never the address or name.
Related terms
- Unsubscribe. An unsubscribe, or opt-out, is a way for a recipient to tell a sender to stop emailing them, which the sender...
- GDPR and consent. Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you need a lawful basis to process someone's personal...
- CAN-SPAM Act. The CAN-SPAM Act is the US federal law, enforced by the FTC, that sets rules for commercial email, including...