When a prospect bounces an email or sends an auto-reply indicating they've left their company, you may want to stop contacting that email address. However, you should consider whether you want to exclude just this person or anyone sharing the same name. Blacklisting by name can unintentionally block multiple people.
How Interceptly blacklists work
When you add someone to the blacklist or use "Exclude from Campaigns," Interceptly matches on first name, last name, and email address. If you blacklist "John Smith," the system excludes any prospect named John Smith from your campaigns, regardless of their company or email address.
This creates a problem: if multiple people share the same name, you may accidentally block prospects you intended to contact.
When to Use Blacklisting
Use the blacklist only when you want to permanently block a specific person across all their companies and email addresses. Remember: each workspace has its own blacklist. If you manage multiple workspaces, you'll need to add entries to each one separately.
Alternative: Use Unsubscribe Instead
If you want to block a specific email address across all campaigns without affecting name-based matching, add an unsubscribe button to your email templates. When someone unsubscribes, Interceptly prevents emails to that address across all campaigns without creating a name-based blacklist entry.
Best Practice: Remove From Campaign Instead
To avoid blocking people with the same name, remove the prospect from the campaign rather than excluding them.
To remove a prospect from a campaign:
Go to the "Prospects" tab.
Find the prospect you want to remove.
Select "Remove from Campaign" from the dropdown menu.
Result of removing a prospect:
That prospect won't receive campaign messages.
They won't be added to the blacklist.
You can add them to other campaigns later if needed.
Other people with the same name won't be affected.
FAQ
Q: Will removing someone from a campaign block them from future campaigns?
A: No. Removing a prospect from a campaign only stops them from receiving messages in that specific campaign. You can add them to other campaigns later.
Q: What's the difference between removing from a campaign and blacklisting?
A: Removing from a campaign stops outreach to that person in one campaign only. Blacklisting prevents outreach across all campaigns and also blocks anyone with the same name.
Q: Can I undo a blacklist entry?
A: Yes. You can remove entries from your workspace blacklist at any time.
🚀 Success! You can now exclude prospects without unintentionally blocking people who share the same name.