A do-not-contact list that keeps your customers out

Why it matters

The fear we hear most from brands about finding stores is simple: "What if it emails my biggest stockist a cold pitch?" A store that already buys from you, getting an introduction as if you had never met, makes you look careless.

Your do-not-contact list solves that. Anything on it is left out of every campaign before a single email is written.

How it works

1. 1Add emails or whole domainsType them in, or upload a CSV. A domain blocks everyone at that business, so one line covers a whole store.
2. 2It applies everywhereYour account-wide list is checked in every campaign, including ones still being built. You can also leave extra stores out of a single campaign when you set it up.
3. 3It grows by itselfAnyone who clicks unsubscribe is added automatically. Their address is checked again at the moment of every send, so they are never emailed again.
4. 4Running campaigns need one extra stepAdding a store to the list keeps it out of new emails. If that store is already scheduled in a campaign that is running, remove it from that campaign too.

Private, and never shared

Your customer list is valuable. Your do-not-contact list, your uploads, your replies and your campaigns belong to your brand. They are never shared with other brands or used in anyone else's campaigns.

What else keeps the wrong people out

Beyond your list, a contact is held back from a new campaign if any of these is true:

• Another of your campaigns emailed them in the last 30 days, or has them queued.
• They have ever replied to you.
• Their address has ever bounced.
• They have unsubscribed.

Review before you start

You see every store on your list before you press Start, and you can remove any of them. Between your do-not-contact list and that review, nothing goes to a store you did not mean to email. Once a campaign is running, any store that replies stops getting follow-ups at once.

Want to check which stores near you would be new? See who would stock you from your website, then add your current stockists to the list before you launch.

Where it fits

The list works alongside store search and buyer contacts: we find new stores and the people who buy for them, and your list makes sure the ones you already know stay out. When your existing stockists live in Flow, they are your customers there, tracked for reorders. See Flow.

If you sell through a distributor, check our guide on how to find a distributor for how outreach and distribution work together without stepping on each other.

What to put on the list

A good do-not-contact list usually includes:

• Every store that already stocks you, by domain where you can.
• Stores you are already talking to, even if they have not ordered yet.
• Your distributors and wholesalers, and any store they supply on your behalf.
• Anyone who has asked not to hear from you, however they told you.

Account-wide or for one campaign?

Use the account-wide list for anyone you never want to cold email: your stockists, your distributors and anyone who has asked you to stop. It covers every campaign you run, now and later.

Use a campaign's own exclusions for something narrower. Say you are running a café campaign and a few cafés are already in talks through a friend. Leave them out of that campaign without blocking them from everything else.

Either way, add stores before you launch, when the check happens before a single email is written. If you are unsure whether a store belongs on the list, add it. Leaving out one store costs you nothing, while a cold pitch to an existing customer can cost you the account.