When you move a list into ResultsAiX Mailer you want to be the one who decides when those people hear from you. The silent import lock makes sure of it. Every person created by an import or a sync carries a lock that stops automatic emails from starting for them, for good, until you lift it.
Safe Mode protects you while you are moving. The lock keeps protecting you afterwards, even once Safe Mode is off.
Why it exists:
Imagine you import a few thousand people into your Newsletter list. A month later you build a welcome automation that starts when someone joins the Newsletter list. Without the lock, any tool that touched those imported people could treat them as fresh sign-ups and start a welcome series for people who joined years ago. The lock means only real new sign-ups start those flows.
What the lock stops:
- Automations and sequences starting on their own for that person, from any trigger: joining a list, gaining a tag, confirming and the rest.
- The list's welcome email.
- Double opt-in confirmation emails.
What still works:
- Broadcasts. Sending a broadcast is a decision you make, so locked people receive broadcasts like anyone else.
- Enrolling by hand. Ticking people on the Subscribers screen and choosing Enroll in automation puts them in, lock or not.
Who gets the lock:
New people created by a CSV import, by the Add subscribers box on the Lists screen, by adding someone by hand on the Subscribers screen, and by the syncs from WP Conversion Tracker, Launch Manager and WP Sync. Someone who fills in one of your forms is a genuine new sign-up and is never locked.
The lock is set when the person is created. A later import or sync that updates an existing person never adds the lock to someone who did not have it.
When the lock lifts by itself:
- When a locked person fills in one of your forms. That is real, fresh consent, so they now behave like any other sign-up.
- When a locked person buys something. Their purchase follow-ups and purchase automations can then run.
Where to see it:
Delivery, then Safety. The box called Silent import lock shows how many people are locked out of your total, and View breakdown by source shows where they came from.
On the Lists screen (Audience, then Lists) a blue box at the top says how many subscribers are under the lock, and the Auto-flow lock column shows how many people on each list are locked.
Lifting the lock for one list:
- Open Audience, then Lists.
- Find the list in the table. The Auto-flow lock column shows, for example, 94 locked.
- Press Lift next to that number.
- Read the box that opens and press Lift the lock.
Lifting the lock for everyone:
- Open Audience, then Lists.
- In the blue box at the top, type the number of locked subscribers it shows into Type N to confirm.
- Press Lift the lock on all N.
This one also reaches locked people who are no longer on any list.
What lifting does and does not do:
Lifting sends nothing, and nobody is put into an automation that is already running. From that moment on, joining a list, gaining a tag or confirming starts automations and welcome emails for these people the same way it does for everybody else.
A real example:
Leafwise Gardening imported 320 people from an old autoresponder into the list Imported from old autoresponder. The Safety screen shows 323 locked subscribers, all from source import. Anna mailed that list with broadcasts for a few weeks, and once the replies and clicks showed the list was healthy she pressed Lift on Vegetable Growers, so anyone who now gets the vegetables tag starts her vegetable tips automation.
Tips:
- Leave the lock on while you are still sending your first broadcasts to a moved list. It costs nothing and keeps surprises away.
- To give a group of imported people one automation without lifting the lock, tick them on the Subscribers screen and use Enroll in automation.
- Run Verify Leads on an imported list before you lift anything. See Verify Leads: Clean An Old List Before You Mail It.
- For the full move, see Safe Mode: Moving A Real List Without Accidents and Importing Subscribers From A CSV.