# Need help with creating a custom email list **URL:** \ **Category:** Email Marketing Tool\ **Tags:** email-deliverability\ **Created:** [March 17, 2023, 9:22am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/need-help-with-creating-a-custom-email-list/77413 "2023-03-17T09:22:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![VivekNair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c37758/32.png) [@VivekNair](https://community.hubspot.com/u/VivekNair)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 9:22am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/need-help-with-creating-a-custom-email-list/77413/1 "2023-03-17T09:22:30Z")
Hey team, I have curated a list of clients to whom I want to send the emails ( **Let the list be named “A”** ). The problem I face is that I want the emails to be sent to the maximum number of clients. -Keeping the don’t send to low-engaged contacts toggle _OFF_ reduces the open rate. -Turning the don’t send to low-engaged contacts toggle _ON_ reduces the email list to almost half the size. Is there an easy way to differentiate the **“A” list** so that I can send an email to my regular contacts (those who regularly open my emails), and then curate another list from “A” and send it to the remaining contacts at the same time? This would be of great help. -Vivek ---
**Author:** ![karstenkoehler](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/karstenkoehler/32/68554_2.png) [@karstenkoehler](https://community.hubspot.com/u/karstenkoehler)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 9:29am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/need-help-with-creating-a-custom-email-list/77413/2 "2023-03-17T09:29:35Z")
Hi @VivekNair, When you enable the unengaged suppression, the open **rate** is reduced but not necessarily the number of actual opens. Here’s an example: Send including unengaged contacts: 10,000 contacts, 2,000 unengaged, **3,200** opens → **32%** open rate Send excluding unengaged contacts: 8,000 contacts, no unengaged, **3,200** opens → **40%** open rate It looks like the second send performed much better (and in terms of deliverability and reputation it did). But enabling the feature does not affect the number of opens. This is an extreme example. In reality, a few unengaged contacts might actually open the email. But generally, enabling feature does not decrease the number of opens. The open rate suggests so but the email performs (roughly) the same. Best regards ---
**Author:** ![VivekNair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c37758/32.png) [@VivekNair](https://community.hubspot.com/u/VivekNair)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 9:54am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/need-help-with-creating-a-custom-email-list/77413/3 "2023-03-17T09:54:22Z")
Hey Karsten Köhler! Thanks for the reply but I should have been clearer I suppose. My email list is of approx 12,000. (B2B clients) - Keeping the don’t send to low engage toggle “ON” reduces my email list to approx 4,000. (This helps me with an open rate of 30%). [Great open rate but lower customer base reached] - However, keeping the low engage toggle “OFF” improves my email list to approx 9,000. (But then the open rate is dropped to 15%). I wanted a solution that allows me to send emails to the maximum number of clients without dropping my open rates. Meaning- Keeping the client list of 12,000, and easy segregation of the 4000 and then adding the remaining (low engaged) to another list and sending the emails at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![karstenkoehler](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/karstenkoehler/32/68554_2.png) [@karstenkoehler](https://community.hubspot.com/u/karstenkoehler)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 10:00am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/need-help-with-creating-a-custom-email-list/77413/4 "2023-03-17T10:00:32Z")
Hi @VivekNair, The point that I tried to make with my previous reply is that the open rate is not relevant here, the count of opens (absolute number) is. Can you share those absolute numbers? By enabling the feature, you’re excluding contacts who very likely would not have opened the email anyway, **virtually** increasing the open rate but not actually increasing the number of email opens. Best regards ---
**Author:** ![VivekNair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c37758/32.png) [@VivekNair](https://community.hubspot.com/u/VivekNair)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 10:13am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/need-help-with-creating-a-custom-email-list/77413/5 "2023-03-17T10:13:50Z")
Sure [@Karsten](https://community.hubspot.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/167040) Köhler, here are the numbers- When sent to 9218 (Sent to the email list with low engagement) Unique Opens- 1186 Total Opens- 2067 When sent to 3433 ( When don’t send to the email with low engagement ‘ON’) Unique Opens- 1067 Total Opens- 2056 I want to bifurcate the list so that I can easily send emails to my engaged customers and draft another list with the low engaged to ensure most of my customers can receive the email at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![karstenkoehler](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/karstenkoehler/32/68554_2.png) [@karstenkoehler](https://community.hubspot.com/u/karstenkoehler)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 10:20am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/need-help-with-creating-a-custom-email-list/77413/6 "2023-03-17T10:20:06Z")
Hi @VivekNair, So you want to see different metric per email / list? Keep in mind, again, that this will not change the amount of opens. You’re just juggling numbers. If you want to create a list of unengaged contacts, you can use the property _Sends since last engagement_ for this. This page explains which exact criteria HubSpot uses: [Understand graymail and avoid sending email to unengaged contacts](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/email/what-is-graymail-and-how-can-i-avoid-sending-my-email-to-unengaged-contacts#how-does-hubspot-calculate-unengaged-contacts) You can replicate them using the _Sends since last engagement_ property in your own active list. You would then have an unengaged list which you can send your email to – and your engaged send where you suppress/exclude the unengaged list. Best regards! ---
**Author:** ![VivekNair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c37758/32.png) [@VivekNair](https://community.hubspot.com/u/VivekNair)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 10:27am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/need-help-with-creating-a-custom-email-list/77413/7 "2023-03-17T10:27:24Z")
Thanks [@Karsten](https://community.hubspot.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/167040) Köhler. I will check this out. Yes, just wanted to bifurcate the list so that I can get a better view of the numbers.