Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on Marketing Cloud Engagement Contact Deletion

How to Extract Contacts for Deletion

Q: How should I extract contacts targeted for deletion?

A: We recommend running a Data Extract Activity for [Contacts Without Channel Addresses] in the Parent BU (top-level Business Unit). For contacts with other channels, there is no universal criteria for deletion because it depends on your specific business requirements. However, here are some common criteria used in practical operations for the Email channel:

<Examples of Contacts Targeted for Deletion in the Email Channel>

• Contacts with no send history: Refer to the _Sent Data View to extract contacts with no send history over a certain period (e.g., the past 6 months).

• Undeliverable contacts: Refer to the _Subscribers Data View and extract contacts with a "Held" status. You may also consider including users who have been "Unsubscribed" for a long period.

• Low engagement contacts: Refer to the _Click or _Open Data Views to extract contacts who have not opened or clicked an email over a certain period (e.g., the past 6 months).

Important Considerations / Warnings:

When deleting contacts who have a channel address (such as an email address), please carefully consider the impact, as it can be extensive. We strongly recommend avoiding the deletion of active subscribers with valid addresses whenever possible.

• Irreversibility of Contact Deletion: Deleting a contact from MCE permanently removes all associated data, including send history. This data cannot be restored under any circumstances.

• Impact on Marketing Activities: Deleting subscribers with low engagement will inevitably reduce your overall reach.

• Data View Retention Period: MCE Engagement related Data Views such as _Sent, _Open retain data for only the past 6 months. If you need to use older data for your deletion criteria, you must regularly export and save it externally beforehand.

• Status Differences After Re-import: If a contact is deleted and then re-imported with the same contact key, the following differences in status handling will occur:
  
  * Held (Undeliverable): Since all past bounce history is completely erased, the contact will be registered as a new "Active" record in its initial state. This risks re-sending to an invalid address, which can contribute to degraded deliverability.
  Recommendation: Only consider re-importing and sending again if you can confirm that the email address is valid and the subscriber wishes to receive emails.
  * Unsubscribe: The status can be specified and imported as Unsubscribed, but be aware that if accidentally imported as Active, emails will be sent to users who have opted out.
  Recommendation: To avoid discrepancies with the user's actual subscription intent, import contacts with the latest subscription status managed in an external system (e.g., a core business system) as needed.

• Utilization in Other Channels (Crucial): If a contact targeted for deletion has channel addresses in channels such as GroupConnect or MobilePush, sending to those channels will also become impossible. In particular, for MobilePush, reinstallation of the app by the end user is required for the contact to resume communication with MCE and push send/receive (reference article). When performing a manual extraction, always verify that the targeted contacts do not exist in other channels, including child BUs (reference steps). Accidentally deleting active contacts in child BUs can result in a state that is difficult to recover from.

Processing Time and Status FAQ

Q: Why has the deletion process been stuck "Processing" for days without finishing?

A: Contact deletion is treated as the lowest-priority task in the system. If other activities like email sends or Journeys are running, the deletion process will be pushed to the background, and it may take anywhere from a few hours to several days or more to complete.

Q: Is it a problem if the processing status shows "Error" or "Cancelling"?

A: When higher-priority processes run, the system may temporarily cancel (suspend) the contact deletion process to reduce system load. The status might also show an error due to temporary issues. However, the system will automatically retry later. We recommend monitoring the situation for 3 to 5 days to allow the status to progress.

Q: Can I speed up the completion of the deletion process?

A: While there is no way to directly speed up the processing rate, the following methods can expedite the transition to hard deletion and mitigate delays caused by system load:

• Set the Suppression Period to "0 Days": In Contact Builder > Contact Configuration, set the suppression period to 0 days so the deletion request can be processed immediately.

• Delete Unnecessary "Sendable Data Extensions": The system scans all Sendable DEs in the account for matching records. The more unnecessary DEs you have, the longer this scan will take.

• Divide Requests and Execute Sequentially with Intervals: Although the system limit per request is 1 million records, we recommend dividing requests into smaller batches for stable processing. For example, instead of requesting 1 million at once, split it into 3 batches of 300,000. Rather than processing them simultaneously (in parallel), execute them sequentially with a set interval (e.g., 5+ minutes) between each. This distributes the system load and allows for more stable processing.

Q: When will the physical deletion (hard delete) finish?

A: Because this is a low-priority process, the timeline fluctuates significantly depending on the service load at the time. There is no exact timeframe, but since the contacts will be excluded from billing once the process is processed, you essentially just need to wait. If the status does not change after 1 to 2 weeks, please contact Support and include the corresponding "Operation ID." Note: You can find the Operation ID by navigating to [All Contacts] > Trash Can icon > [View Pending Deletions].

Using the Deletion Feature and Data Restoration FAQ

Q: The trash can icon does not appear in Contact Builder, or I cannot enable "Contact Deletion."

A: There are two main possible causes for this:

• Not operating in the Parent BU: Contact deletion and its enablement can only be performed in the Parent BU (top-level Business Unit) in an Enterprise 2.0 account. The feature is restricted in Child BUs.

• Insufficient User Permissions: You may not be assigned the appropriate role (such as Administrator or MC Administrator), or the "Delete Contacts" permission may be explicitly Denied.

Q: If I delete a contact by mistake, can I recover it?

A: Unfortunately, it cannot be recovered. Therefore, we highly recommend verifying your target list and testing the deletion process with test data beforehand. Once contact deletion is executed, you can re-import the record using the same Contact Key, but internally it will be treated as a completely different contact, and all past send history will be permanently lost. We strongly recommend backing up the list of targeted contacts to a DE before performing a deletion.

Warning: Not only contact information, but all corresponding records in Data Extensions configured as "Sendable" across the account will be deleted simultaneously. If you need to retain send history or analytical data, you must back it up in a Data Extension configured as "Used for Sending: No" (Non-Sendable DE). Because deletion is irreversible, exporting necessary data externally via CSV is also recommended to prevent accidental loss.

Q: Is there a feature to restore the system from a backup?

A: Unfortunately, such a feature does not exist. Furthermore, backing up (exporting) contacts beforehand is not intended for "restoring" the system to its previous state. Since deletion is irreversible, these backups serve as a "data safeguard" for auditing purposes (to identify who was deleted in case of a mistake) and for retaining past send history and analytical data of the deleted individuals.

Note: The contact deletion feature in MCE was implemented to comply with legal regulations known as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). This requires systems to meet the "Right to Erasure" (immediate response to a deletion/modification request) when a data subject requests the deletion of their data. To satisfy GDPR requirements, MCE permanently deletes all data related to the targeted contact, and as of this writing, no optional recovery functionality exists.

Q: I have backed up the list of deleted contacts as a CSV. Can I restore them by re-importing them as contacts after the deletion?

A: You can re-import them as contacts after the deletion process finishes, but even with the same Contact Key, they will be treated internally as completely new, distinct contacts. Please be aware that past send history will not be re-linked. Furthermore, the records deleted from Sendable DEs associated with that Contact Key are also gone and will not be restored.

*Contact backups do not enable a system-level "restore." Please consider backing up data strictly for retaining post-deletion analysis or keeping audit logs of deleted individuals.

Other FAQ

Q: After extracting contacts without channel addresses, can I automate the entire process up to contact deletion using Automation Studio?

A: It cannot be automated using only standard features (existing activities), but it is technically possible by custom-implementing a script that calls the Contact Deletion REST API. However, as stated in this article, contact deletion is irreversible. Skipping the manual review process of deletion targets through automation introduces a very high-risk operation, where a mistaken deletion would be unrecoverable. Therefore, please consider its implementation with extreme caution.