How To Use The Avada Marketing Contacts Feature

Last Update: October 20, 2026

What Marketing Contacts Are

Marketing Contacts are the people your website can communicate with through Avada’s marketing tools. Contacts work together with Lists, subscription statuses, Avada Forms, and marketing campaigns to help you organize your audience and send email only to people who are eligible to receive it.

Marketing Contacts are part of Avada Pro. Your website must have an active Avada Pro plan connected through Avada → My Avada before the Marketing tools are available.

Accessing Marketing Contacts

To manage your contacts, log in to WordPress and go to Marketing → Contacts. From this screen, you can view, add, edit, search, and manage your contacts. Marketing Contacts, Lists, Campaigns, and related email settings are available from the Marketing section of the WordPress admin menu.

How Contacts Are Created

Contacts can be created automatically when visitors interact with your website, or they can be added manually from Marketing → Contacts.

A visitor submits an Avada Form configured with a Contact action.
A customer completes a WooCommerce checkout.
A visitor creates an account.
An administrator adds the contact manually.
An existing contact interacts with the website again and provides updated information.

The contact’s email address is used to identify the record. When a person submits another form, places an order, or logs in using the same email address, Avada updates the existing contact instead of creating a duplicate.

Adding a Contact Manually

To add a contact from the WordPress dashboard, go to Marketing → Contacts, click Add New, and enter the contact’s details.

Enter the contact’s email address.
Add the first name and last name, if available.
Select the Lists the contact should belong to.
Configure any applicable subscription settings.
Save the contact.

Only add contacts who have given the appropriate permission to receive marketing communications. Adding a person as a contact does not automatically mean that they are eligible to receive every type of marketing email.

Contact Statuses

A contact’s status determines whether marketing emails can be sent to them. Only contacts with an Active status can receive a marketing campaign.

Pending — The contact has signed up but has not completed double opt-in confirmation.
Active — The contact is confirmed and eligible to receive campaigns.
Unsubscribed — The contact has opted out of marketing email.
Bounced — A previous email to the address failed to deliver.
Complaint — The recipient marked a previous email as spam.

Avada automatically prevents campaigns from being sent to contacts who are not eligible. This helps prevent accidental emails to contacts who have unsubscribed or whose addresses have bounced.

Organizing Contacts with Lists

Lists are named groups used to organize contacts. Examples include Newsletter, Product Updates, Existing Customers, and Event Invitations.

To manage Lists, go to Marketing → Lists. Create a new List or select an existing one, then add contacts manually or configure a form to add contacts when they submit it. A contact can belong to more than one List.

Adding Contacts Through an Avada Form

You can add contacts automatically when visitors submit an Avada Form.

Open the form in the Avada Form Builder.
Add or select the fields for the visitor’s email address, first name, and last name.
Add a Contact action to the form.
Map the form fields to the corresponding contact fields.
Map consent checkboxes to the appropriate Lists or subscriptions.
Choose whether the form should require double opt-in.
Save the form.

A List or subscription is added only when the visitor selects its mapped consent checkbox, unless the form is explicitly configured so that consent is not required for that option.

Double Opt-In and Subscription Management

When double opt-in is enabled, the visitor submits the form, Avada creates or updates the contact with a Pending status, and Avada sends a subscription verification email. The contact becomes Active after clicking the confirmation link.

Configure the pages used for subscription management under Global Options → Marketing → Emails:

Manage Subscriptions Page — Allows contacts to review and change their subscriptions.
Unsubscribe Page — The destination for one-click unsubscribe links. If left empty, Avada uses the Manage Subscriptions Page.
Activation Page — The page shown after a contact confirms double opt-in. If left empty, Avada uses the Manage Subscriptions Page.

Using Contacts with Marketing Campaigns

Contacts are the recipients used by Avada marketing campaigns. When creating a campaign from Marketing → Campaigns, select the Lists that should receive the campaign, choose the email design, configure the subject and preview text, and review the audience before sending.

Avada sends the campaign only to eligible contacts in the selected Lists.
If a contact belongs to multiple selected Lists, they are emailed only once.
You can choose whether recipients are addressed by email, first name, last name, or full name.
If the selected name is unavailable, Avada falls back to the contact’s email address.

Contact Permissions

Access to Marketing Contacts and related Marketing features is controlled from Global Options → Permissions. Administrators have full access by default.

Open Global Options → Permissions.
Locate the Roles grid.
Find the Avada Marketing permission.
Enable it for the required user role.
Save the Global Options.

This permission controls access to Marketing Contacts, Lists, Campaigns, Emails, and other Avada Marketing features.

Recommended Workflow

Use the following workflow to set up Marketing Contacts and verify that submissions are being recorded correctly:

Create the Lists your website needs.
Create or update an Avada Form.
Add a Contact action to the form.
Map the contact fields and consent checkboxes.
Enable double opt-in when required.
Set the Manage Subscriptions, Unsubscribe, and Activation pages.
Submit a test form.
Confirm that the contact appears under Marketing → Contacts.
Verify the contact’s status and List membership before sending a campaign.

Troubleshooting and Frequently Asked Questions

A contact does not appear

Check that the form contains a Contact action, the email field is mapped correctly, the submission was successful, and the contact is not hidden by the current Contacts view. Also check whether the email address is already associated with an existing contact.

A contact cannot receive a campaign

Check the contact’s status. Only Active contacts can receive marketing campaigns. A contact may be Pending because double opt-in confirmation is required, or may be inactive because they unsubscribed or their email address bounced.

A contact was not added to a List

Check the form’s consent mapping. A List is added only when its mapped consent checkbox is selected, unless the form is configured not to require consent for that option.

Are Contacts and Lists the same thing?

No. A Contact is an individual person, while a List is a group that can contain multiple contacts. A contact can belong to multiple Lists.

Do Marketing Contacts require Avada Pro?

Yes. Marketing Contacts and the related Marketing features require an active Avada Pro plan connected through Avada → My Avada.