Marketing Studio

Contacts & Lists

Manage your subscribers—the readers who want to hear from you. View contact details, create lists, and keep your audience organized.

What are Contacts?

Contacts are the people who have signed up to receive emails from you. Each contact record includes:

  • Email address
  • Name (if provided)
  • Subscription status
  • Tags and lists
  • Activity history

Note

Contacts are stored in your FluentCRM installation. StorytellerOS displays and helps you manage them, but the data lives in your CRM.

Viewing Contacts

  1. Go to Marketing Studio → Contacts
  2. Browse the contact list
  3. Click any contact to see their full profile

Contact Profile

Each contact profile shows:

  • Basic info — Email, name, location
  • Tags — Labels attached to this contact
  • Lists — Which lists they belong to
  • Activity — Emails opened, links clicked
  • Notes — Your private notes
  • Subscription date — When they signed up

Finding Contacts

Search and filter your contacts:

  • Search by email — Find a specific person
  • Search by name — If you know their name
  • Filter by tag — Show only tagged contacts
  • Filter by list — Show list members
  • Filter by status — Active, unsubscribed, bounced

Email Lists

Lists group contacts for organizational purposes:

  • Newsletter list — General subscribers
  • VIP readers — Your super fans
  • ARC team — Advance readers
  • Genre-specific lists — Romance, thriller, etc.

Creating a List

  1. Go to Marketing Studio → Lists
  2. Click + New List
  3. Enter a name and description
  4. Click Create

Tip

Use lists for broad categories and tags for specific attributes. For example, use a "Romance Readers" list and tag specific interests like "billionaire" or "small town."

Adding Contacts

Contacts can be added several ways:

Signup Forms

The most common way — readers sign up through forms on your website, landing pages, or book back matter links. These go directly to FluentCRM.

Manual Entry

Add contacts one at a time:

  1. Click + Add Contact
  2. Enter email address
  3. Add name (optional)
  4. Assign to lists and tags
  5. Click Save

Permission Required

Only add people who have given you permission to email them. Adding people without consent violates email laws and can get your account suspended.

Import

Import contacts from a CSV file:

  1. Prepare a CSV with email, first name, last name columns
  2. Go to Contacts → Import
  3. Upload your file
  4. Map columns to fields
  5. Assign default tags and lists
  6. Import

Note

When importing, only include people who have explicitly subscribed. Purchased lists or scraped emails will damage your sender reputation.

Managing Contacts

Editing a Contact

  1. Find and click the contact
  2. Click Edit
  3. Update fields
  4. Save changes

Adding Tags

  1. Open the contact profile
  2. In the Tags section, click + Add Tag
  3. Select or create a tag

Adding to Lists

  1. Open the contact profile
  2. In the Lists section, click + Add to List
  3. Select the list

Contact Status

StatusMeaning
SubscribedActive and receiving emails
UnsubscribedOpted out of emails
BouncedEmail address is invalid
ComplainedMarked your email as spam
PendingWaiting for confirmation (double opt-in)

List Hygiene

Keep your list healthy:

  • Remove bounces — Invalid emails hurt deliverability
  • Clean inactive contacts — People who never open emails
  • Honor unsubscribes — Never re-add unsubscribed contacts
  • Update bad addresses — If someone tells you they changed email

Quality Over Quantity

A smaller, engaged list outperforms a large, inactive one. Focus on subscribers who actually want to hear from you.

Privacy Considerations

Protect your subscribers' privacy:

  • Never share or sell your email list
  • Keep subscriber data secure
  • Include an unsubscribe link in every email
  • Comply with GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and other regulations
  • Only collect information you need

Best Practices

  • Use double opt-in — Confirm subscriptions to ensure quality
  • Segment from the start — Ask interests during signup
  • Keep lists updated — Regularly review and clean
  • Add notes — Remember details about VIP readers
  • Respect preferences — If someone says email less, tag them accordingly