# Understanding contacts https://help.circle.so/p/email-hub/audience-crm/get-to-know-contacts Category: [Email Hub](https://help.circle.so/p/email-hub) › [Audience CRM](https://help.circle.so/p/email-hub/audience-crm) --- _Last updated: August 26, 2025_ In the world of community-driven marketing, contacts serve as the backbone of your marketing efforts, allowing you to engage with a broad audience in a personalized and compliant manner. This guide will provide details about contacts and answer frequently asked questions. ## **About contacts** Contacts are individuals within your community who are subscribed to marketing emails.  The ability to have contacts within your community helps you streamline your outreach efforts, build stronger relationships, and create personalized campaigns that resonate with your audience. ## **Types of contacts** There are two types of contacts: members and non-members. ### **Members** Members are individuals who have access to your community and are subscribed to marketing emails. When new members join the community, they are automatically subscribed to marketing emails and added as contacts. This includes: - **Active members** : Members who have completed the onboarding journey and fully joined the community. - **Invited members** : Members who have started the onboarding journey but have not yet confirmed their profiles and are listed as [**invited**](https://help.circle.so/p/audience/onboarding/understanding-reasons-some-members-appear-in-the-invited-tab). Note that when you enable the Email Hub for the first time, all your current members and invited members will automatically become contacts. Members can manage their notification preferences, allowing them to opt in or out of receiving marketing emails anytime. Their preferences determine whether they remain active contacts for future campaigns. ### **Non-members** Non-members are people who aren’t part of your community but have opted in to receive your marketing emails. They might be potential leads, curious prospects, or simply fans of your content who want to stay in the loop. Unlike members, non-members don’t get an account. Meaning, they cannot log in, participate in discussions, or enjoy the perks reserved for members. However, they’re still valuable contacts you can nurture through email marketing and eventually encourage to join your community. While most member-specific actions are unavailable for non-members, **you** can still update their names and profile information, manage tags, or delete them from the audience. Growing your list of non-members is straightforward. Here are three simple and effective ways to bring them into your audience: - **Imports** : You can quickly add non-members by uploading a list of contacts directly into your community using an import file in a CSV or Excel file format. - **Forms** : Capture non-member information using customizable, embeddable [forms](https://help.circle.so/p/email-hub/audience-crm/create-forms). - **Zapier automation:** We’ve recently launched a Zapier action for creating contacts in Circle. If you'd like to convert a non-member into a full community member, you can: - **Invite** : You can directly invite a non-member to your community from the **Manage audience** page. Alternatively, you can send bulk invites to multiple non-members at once or share a unique invite link they can use to sign up. - **Share a paywall checkout URL** : Provide non-members with a direct link to purchase a membership. This is ideal if your community operates on a paid membership model. ## **What happens when contact unsubscribes from marketing emails** An individual only remains as a contact as long as they are subscribed to your marketing emails. Once they unsubscribe, they will no longer be a contact, and we will automatically remove them from the **Contacts** tab.  However, you can still view and manage their information from the **All** tab on the **Manage audience** page. On this tab, you can see the list of all individuals who are unsubscribed from the marketing email using the **Email marketing** filter. In the filter criteria, choose **Not subscribed** and click **Apply**. > ℹ️ **Note** : Once a member or non-member contact unsubscribes from the marketing emails, they will not receive any broadcasts or marketing emails via workflows going forward. ## **Frequently asked questions** ### Are invited members considered contacts? Yes, when you invite someone to your community, they will automatically become a contact. This approach allows you to nurture and engage potential members before they fully join the community. By sending targeted emails via [broadcasts](https://help.circle.so/p/email-hub/email-marketing/create-email-broadcasts) or [workflows](https://help.circle.so/p/email-hub/marketing-automation/set-up-email-workflows?locale=en), you can encourage them to complete their profiles and tease key features, community benefits, and valuable content. This pre-engagement helps create interest and excitement, making it more likely that they’ll join and participate actively. Just like non-members, invited members can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time using the unsubscribe link in the footer of the email. Additionally, at any time, if you want to [remove](/p/audience/member-management/removing-members-from-your-community) invited members from your community, you can do so from the **Invited** tab within the **Manage audience** page. ### **Why am I not seeing a particular individual in the contacts list?** A member or non-member only remains a contact as long as they are subscribed to marketing emails. If you don’t see a particular individual on the list, there is the possibility that they have unsubscribed or been removed from the community. If contacts decide to unsubscribe at any time, they will be removed from your contacts list. However, suppose they are not deleted or deactivated (in the case of members) from the community but only unsubscribed. In that case, you can still find their information on the **All** tab within the **Manage audience** page. ### **How can a contact unsubscribe from marketing emails?** Individuals can unsubscribe from marketing emails anytime using one of the following ways depending on whether they are members or non-members: - **Notification settings** : If the contact is a community member, they can navigate to their notification settings and clear the checkbox for **Offers, news, and updates** **via email** in the **Email preference** section. - **Via a marketing email:** Both members and non-members can go to any of the past marketing emails and click the **Unsubscribe** hyperlink from the footer. Then clear the **Offers, news, and updates** **via email** checkbox and click **Save changes**. ### **How can a contact resubscribe to marketing emails?** Individuals can resubscribe to marketing emails in the following ways depending on whether they are members or non-members: - **Notification settings** : Members can navigate to their notification settings, select the checkbox for **Offers, news, and updates** **via email** in the **Email preference** section, and save changes.  - **Via a marketing email:** Both members and non-members can go to any of the past marketing emails and click the **email preferences** hyperlink from the footer. Then select the **Offers, news, and updates** **via email** checkbox and click **Save changes**. - **Submitting a form** : Members and non-members can submit the form to resubscribe to the marketing emails. Resubscribing to marketing emails will make them contact again and add them back to the **Contacts** tab. ### **Can I remove a non-member from my community?** Yes, you can permanently remove the non-member from your community. Doing so will automatically remove them from your contact list as well. 📚 To remove them, follow our guide [here](https://help.circle.so/p/email-hub/audience-crm/manage-contacts?locale=en#delete-a-contact).