Re-subscribing or Reactivating a Contact

This guide explains how to re-subscribe or reactivate an unsubscribed contact in Sender so they can receive your email campaigns again.

Where to Find This Feature

In the Sender dashboard, go to: Subscribers

Click Subscribers in the left sidebar to open your full contact list. You will see a table of all subscribers with columns for Subscriber, Status, Groups, First name, Last name, Phone number, Location, and Date added. At the top of the page, you will find the Filter subscribers search bar, the Email status filter dropdown, the SMS status filter dropdown, the Groups filter, the Advanced filter button, and the Actions dropdown for bulk operations.

Step 1 — Locate the unsubscribed contact

Go to Subscribers in the left sidebar. To find unsubscribed contacts quickly, click the Email status dropdown at the top of the page and select the Unsubscribed checkbox. The list will filter to show only contacts with an Unsubscribed status. You can also type the contact's email address in the Filter subscribers search bar to locate them directly.

Step 2 — Open the subscriber's profile

Click on the subscriber's email address in the list to open their Subscriber's profile page. You will see the Email campaign section displaying the current status as UNSUBSCRIBED in red. The page also shows the subscriber's email, source, profile details, group memberships, and a Subscriber activity log on the right side that records when the contact was unsubscribed.

Step 3 — Resubscribe the contact

Click the Actions dropdown in the top-right corner of the profile page and select Resubscribe. A Resubscribe subscriber confirmation dialog will appear asking "Are you sure you want to resubscribe?" with checkboxes for Promotional Email and Transactional Email — both are selected by default. Uncheck either option if you only want to resubscribe the contact to one channel. Click the Resubscribe button to confirm.

Step 4 — Verify the status change

After confirming, a green success notification will display "Successfully resubscribed to the selected channels." The Email campaign status on the subscriber's profile will change from UNSUBSCRIBED to ACTIVE. The contact will now receive future email campaigns sent to their groups.

Step 5 — Resubscribe multiple contacts in bulk (optional)

To resubscribe several contacts at once, return to the Subscribers list. Use the Email status filter to show Unsubscribed contacts. Select the contacts you want to reactivate using the checkboxes on the left side of each row. Click the Actions dropdown above the list and select Resubscribe. The same confirmation dialog will appear — choose your channels and click Resubscribe to reactivate all selected contacts.

Subscriber Status Reference

Active — The subscriber is opted in and will receive your email campaigns. Contacts enter this status when they are first added, imported, or resubscribed. Active subscribers count toward your subscriber limit.

Unsubscribed — The subscriber has opted out or been manually unsubscribed and will not receive promotional or transactional emails, depending on which channels were unsubscribed. Contacts enter this status when they click an unsubscribe link in an email or when you manually unsubscribe them through the Actions menu. Unsubscribed contacts remain in your account and can be resubscribed.

Bounced — The subscriber's email address could not receive your email due to a delivery failure. Contacts enter this status after a hard bounce (permanent delivery failure). Bounced contacts are automatically excluded from future sends.

Non-subscribed — The contact exists in your account but has not been subscribed to any email channel. These contacts do not receive campaigns until their status changes to Active.

Reported spam — The subscriber reported your email as spam. Contacts with this status should not be resubscribed, as sending to them again may harm your sender reputation.

Management Tips

Confirm consent before resubscribing — Always ensure you have the contact's explicit permission before reactivating their subscription. Resubscribing someone who opted out voluntarily without their consent may violate anti-spam regulations.

Choose channels selectively — When the resubscribe confirmation dialog appears, review the Promotional Email and Transactional Email checkboxes. Only select the channels the contact has agreed to receive.

Use filters to find unsubscribed contacts — Click the Email status dropdown and select Unsubscribed to quickly isolate all contacts that need reactivation, rather than scrolling through your entire list.

Check subscriber activity first — Before resubscribing, review the Subscriber activity log on the contact's profile to understand when and why they were unsubscribed. This helps you decide whether reactivation is appropriate.

Bulk resubscribe saves time — If you have multiple contacts to reactivate, use the checkbox selection on the Subscribers list and the Actions → Resubscribe option to process them all at once instead of opening each profile individually.

Common Issues

Resubscribe option is grayed out or missing → This happens when the selected contact is already Active. The Resubscribe option only appears in the Actions menu for contacts with an Unsubscribed status. Check the contact's current status before attempting to resubscribe.

Contact was resubscribed but still not receiving emails → The contact may be unsubscribed from only one channel. Open their Subscriber's profile and verify that the Email campaign status shows Active. Also confirm the contact belongs to a group that is included in your campaign's recipient list.

Cannot resubscribe a bounced contact → Contacts with a Bounced status cannot be resubscribed through the Resubscribe action because their email address has a permanent delivery failure. You would need to update their email address to a valid one or contact support for assistance.

Resubscribed contact does not appear in filtered list → If you are filtering by Unsubscribed status, successfully resubscribed contacts will no longer appear in that filtered view. Remove the status filter or switch to Active to see the reactivated contact.

FAQs

Can I resubscribe a contact who unsubscribed themselves? Yes. Open their Subscriber's profile, click Actions, and select Resubscribe. However, you must have the contact's explicit consent before reactivating their subscription. Resubscribing someone without permission may violate anti-spam laws.

Does resubscribing restore the contact's group memberships? Yes. Resubscribing changes the contact's email status back to Active but does not affect their group memberships. The contact remains in the same groups they belonged to before being unsubscribed.

Can I resubscribe a contact to only promotional emails but not transactional? Yes. When the Resubscribe subscriber dialog appears, uncheck Transactional Email and leave only Promotional Email selected, or vice versa. Click Resubscribe to apply your selection.

What happens when I resubscribe a contact? The contact's status changes from Unsubscribed to Active for the selected channels. They will begin receiving email campaigns again for those channels. The resubscription event is recorded in the Subscriber activity log on their profile.

Can I resubscribe multiple contacts at once? Yes. On the Subscribers list page, select multiple contacts using the checkboxes, then click Actions and choose Resubscribe. The confirmation dialog will apply to all selected contacts.

Can I resubscribe a deleted contact? No. Deleting a subscriber permanently removes their profile and data from your account. If you have a backup of your subscriber data, you can re-add the contact. To avoid this situation, use Unsubscribe instead of Delete when you want to stop sending to a contact without losing their data.

Is resubscribing reversible? Yes. If you resubscribe a contact by mistake, you can unsubscribe them again. Open their Subscriber's profile, click Actions, and select Unsubscribe. Both actions are reversible and are logged in the Subscriber activity timeline.