An ActiveCampaign export carries tags, custom fields and automation history, and the tags are doing most of the organizational work. A contact might sit in one list and be driven by six automations, so the file understates how many ways that address gets mailed.
Getting the addresses out of ActiveCampaign
Contacts, apply your filter, then the Export option in the actions menu. ActiveCampaign emails a CSV of the filtered set.
Before import, and before switching on any new automation that targets an older cohort. Automations reach contacts months after they arrive, so a stale segment keeps generating failures long after the campaign that revealed them.
What ActiveCampaign does with the file you bring back
The import rules decide what a re-import actually changes, which is worth knowing before you upload.
The short version
- Imports match on email and update the existing contact, adding tags and custom fields rather than duplicating.
- A contact with Bounced status stays bounced through an import.
- Tags applied at import are the cleanest way to carry a source and a verification verdict, since automations can filter on them directly.
- Billing counts unique contacts across all lists, so the same address on several lists costs once.
The mistake to avoid
Some addresses come back unresolved, and that is a fact about the receiving server rather than a gap in the check. We label those and never bill for them. What that means, and why roughly 28% of business addresses land there, is set out on our page about catch-all domains.
22,000 contacts on an account opened in 2026
Say you opened your ActiveCampaign account in January 2026 and you're moving 22,000 contacts over from an older tool. The opening date matters more than you'd think. ActiveCampaign's help center says accounts created on or after November 3, 2025 count every contact toward the limit whatever its list status, while older accounts count only active ones. On a newer account, a bounced contact keeps its seat in your tier.
Suppose the check comes back with 1,760 invalid, 3,100 on catch-all domains and 540 unknown. Leave the 1,760 out and you import 20,240. If your tier boundary sits at 25,000, that changes nothing on this month's invoice. With a boundary at 20,000 you're 240 over, and the real question becomes whether 540 unknowns deserve a tier jump. Park them in a spreadsheet, mail everyone else, and bring them in later if the results justify it. Our 50,000 pack covers the whole file for $89, and unknowns and duplicates aren't charged.
Status belongs to the list, so check which list you mean
An ActiveCampaign contact doesn't carry one status. It carries one per list: active on the newsletter, unsubscribed from product updates, and so on. That's how a re-import into a different list can quietly mail someone who opted out of the first one.
Before uploading, look at two things on the import screen. One is the box that controls whether existing contacts get updated, because leaving it ticked overwrites custom fields with whatever your CSV holds. The other is the choice to bring a file in as unsubscribed or excluded instead of active, which is the right route for a suppression file from your previous platform.
Not sure which billing rule applies to you? Open the billing page, read the contact count you're being charged for, and compare it with your active total.
Questions people ask
Should I verify before or after import?
Before. ActiveCampaign bills per contact, and an unverified import raises both the bill and the bounce rate on the next automated send.
Can I use tags to hold verification results?
Yes, and it is the most useful place for them, because automation conditions read tags directly. A catch-all tag can hold an address out of a cold sequence without deleting it.
How often should a list be re-verified?
Business lists decay faster than consumer ones because people change jobs. Re-verify anything over six months old before a large send, and sooner for B2B.