> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.reallyquickemails.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Contacts and segments

> Import your list, group it into segments, and understand what a suppression is.

A **contact** is a person in your project: their address plus whatever you know about them. A **segment** is a group of contacts, and it's what you pick as the audience when you send.

***

## Importing contacts

The importer takes a CSV or Excel file and lets you **map your columns** to contact fields. That step matters more than it looks.

<Warning>
  Map the name column. If you import bare addresses, `{{first_name}}` comes out empty in every email you send: the greeting reads "Hi ,". It doesn't fail and it doesn't warn — it just sends. See [Editor variables](/en/app/variables).
</Warning>

The importer deduplicates by address, so you can upload a list that overlaps with what you already have without creating duplicates. Imported contacts can go straight into a segment.

For a handful of contacts you don't need a file: create them by hand, or paste the list to the copilot and ask it to build the segment.

***

## Segments

There are two kinds, and the difference is who decides membership.

|                      | Static                                                                       | Dynamic                                                   |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| Who decides who's in | You                                                                          | A rule RQE evaluates                                      |
| When it changes      | When you edit it                                                             | On its own, as contacts start or stop matching            |
| Good for             | A concrete list: the 40 people signed up for an event, buyers of one product | "Opened the last campaign", "hasn't purchased in 90 days" |

A **static** segment is a list: you build it once and it stays put. A **dynamic** segment is a question: every time it's evaluated, it answers with whoever matches today.

Dynamic rules are built on signals RQE already has: campaign engagement (opened, clicked, didn't open), passage through an automation, custom events from your system, and Shopify data when your store is connected.

<Tip>
  When in doubt, go dynamic. A static segment ages quietly: people get added, nobody removes them, and one day a send goes to an audience that no longer fits.
</Tip>

***

## Suppressions

A **suppressed** contact receives no email, even when they sit inside a segment. It protects your sending reputation; it isn't a punishment for the contact.

| Reason      | What happened                                                             |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Unsubscribe | They clicked the unsubscribe link                                         |
| Bounce      | Their server rejected the message permanently (the mailbox doesn't exist) |
| Complaint   | They marked your email as spam                                            |
| Manual      | You suppressed them                                                       |

The first three are automatic. **Continuing to send to addresses that bounce or that flagged you as spam is the fastest route to the spam folder**, so suppression works in your favor: see [Deliverability](/en/concepts/deliverability).

Suppressed contacts stay in your list, visible, with their reason attached. Someone who unsubscribed can only come back by resubscribing themselves.