Contacts & preferences
Relationship status and email permission have different jobs
Use contact filters without confusing business context with sending eligibility.
Describe the relationship
Relationship status helps you organize who someone is to your business. An active client, an earlier customer, and a prospect may need different kinds of contact. That context is useful for planning, but it does not settle whether a particular email should be sent.
Inspect permission separately
The Contacts screen exposes email permission information as a separate concern. A person can remain important to your business while opting out of certain messages. Likewise, a broad status label should not be used to bypass Do Not Email restrictions or the preferences relevant to the message type.
Build an intentional audience
Before a reconnect campaign or holiday greeting, review both the business relationship and the email settings. In a fictional example, Jordan may be an earlier client who still welcomes holiday notes, while another current client prefers only relevant reminders. Let the record reflect those differences. A useful contact list preserves context rather than reducing every person to one active-or-inactive label.