Contacts and replies
In short
Why is my Reply contact marked opted out?
A contact becomes excluded in one of three ways; they used the opt-out link, a reply was classified as an opt-out, or someone blacklisted them or their whole domain. All three are reversible, but reverse them deliberately: an opt-out that was genuine should stay.
Quick fix
- Open the contact and read its status. Opted Out is a status on the contact; a blacklist entry is a separate list.
- Check the blacklist for the address and its domain – a domain entry blocks everyone at that company, which is the surprising one.
- If it was genuine, leave it. Contacting someone who asked not to be contacted is a legal exposure, not just an annoyance.
- If it was a mistake, remove the status from the contact, or remove the entry from the blacklist.
- Confirm the contact can be added to a sequence again.
Didn't work? Contact Reply support; the team can check your account directly.
Symptom
A contact cannot be added to a sequence, was skipped when you added a list, or stopped mid-sequence. Sometimes a whole group from one company is missing at once.
The three routes in
| Route | What it looks like | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| The person opted out | The contact carries the Opted Out status | That person |
| A reply was read as an opt-out | Same status, but the person never clicked anything – their wording was classified that way | That person |
| Someone blacklisted it | The contact has no unusual status, but is skipped anyway | The address, or the entire domain |
The third is the one that surprises people: a domain on the blacklist silently excludes every contact at that company, including ones added months later.
Most likely causes
| Cause | How to recognize it |
|---|---|
| A genuine opt-out | The contact's activity shows the opt-out |
| A reply classified as an opt-out | The status appeared right after a reply that was not really a request to stop |
| The domain is blacklisted | Several contacts from one company are all excluded |
| The address is blacklisted | One contact, no unusual status, still skipped |
| A blacklist imported in bulk | Exclusions appeared suddenly across unrelated contacts after someone uploaded a list |
| The status survives across sequences | Opting out is account-wide, not per sequence – removing them from one sequence does not clear it |
Diagnostic checklist
- Check the status and the blacklist separately. They are two different mechanisms with the same visible effect, and checking only one wastes time.
- Search the blacklist for the domain, not just the address. This is the single most missed check here.
- Read the contact's activity to see when and how it happened: that distinguishes a real opt-out from a misclassified reply.
- Look for a pattern. Several contacts at once means a domain entry or a bulk import, not individual opt-outs.
- Decide before you reverse. Ask whether the person actually asked to stop.
Resolution
It was a genuine opt-out
Leave it. This is the correct behaviour and reversing it exposes you.
A reply was misclassified
Remove the status from the contact in the People tab, then continue the conversation from the thread rather than restarting the sequence; the person did reply, after all.
A domain is blacklisted and should not be
Remove the domain entry, then add back the individual addresses you actually want excluded. Blocking a domain to exclude one person is the mistake behind most of these.
A single address is blacklisted
Remove the entry. Then check whether it came from a bulk import, in which case others are probably affected too.
You want to exclude a whole company deliberately
A domain entry is the right tool; just be clear it applies to everyone there, now and in future.
Verification
Add the contact to a sequence and confirm it is accepted rather than skipped. For a domain removal, check two or three contacts at that company, not just the one you were looking at.
Prevention
- Blacklist addresses rather than domains unless you really mean the whole company.
- Review the blacklist before a bulk import, and keep a note of why entries were added.
- Treat opt-outs as final unless you have clear evidence of a misclassification.
- When migrating from another tool, import its opt-out list before any sequence starts.
FAQ
Does removing a contact from a sequence clear an opt-out?
No. Opting out applies across the account, not to one sequence.
Why are all contacts at one company excluded?
Almost certainly a domain entry on the blacklist. Search for the domain, not the address.
Can I re-add someone who opted out?
Technically yes. Whether you should depends on whether they genuinely asked to stop; if they did, do not.
Still stuck? Contact Reply support
If these steps didn't solve the problem, the Reply support team can look at your account directly. Open the Reply Help Center and send the team a message.
To get an answer faster, include:
- the contact, and its current status
- whether the address or its domain appears on the blacklist
- whether it affects one person or several at the same company
- roughly when it started
Don't send passwords, API keys, or access tokens.
Related
- Why was a contact not enrolled? – other reasons a contact never starts
- Statuses
- Why was an automatic reply counted as a reply? – the other classification surprise
Build with Reply
- REST API: Blacklist – read and write blacklist entries in bulk
- MCP: docs.reply.io/mcp – check why a contact is excluded, from an assistant