Apply audience exclusions
Use Don’t send to so overlapping contacts don’t receive the wrong message.
Purpose and outcome
Why it matters. A purchaser who is also on the Lakeview list should not get a “buy now” email. Exclusions prevent that.
Expected outcome. The email’s Send to and Don’t send to settings reflect the intended audience, and you understand any gap in the recipient estimate.
When to use it
- Every regular email send.
Prerequisites and access
- Segments for the audience and the exclusions (SOP 04).
Suggested roles (not yet approved): Marketing Coordinator, Marketing Reviewer
Instructions
- 1
In the email’s send settings, set Send to: Lakeview audience.
From training· ~35:30 - 2
Set Don’t send to: Purchasers.
From training· ~36:00 - 3
Also add Realtors to Don’t send to if the message is only for prospective buyers.
From training· ~40:30 - 4
Read the estimated recipients figure.
From training· ~38:00 - 5
Open the reasons contacts won’t receive the email and review each category.
From training· ~38:00 - 6
If the gap is unexpected, stop and investigate before sending.
Recommended practice
Why exclusions win
Contacts can be in several segments. When a contact is in both a Send to segment and a Don’t send to segment, HubSpot excludes them.
Business decision: purchaser suppression scope
Should a purchaser in one community be excluded from all prospect emails, or only from emails about the community they bought in? A contact-level Rating doesn’t say which community the purchase relates to.
Segment count vs. recipient estimate
- Segment count = everyone matching the filters.
- Recipient estimate = after exclusions, unsubscribes, non-marketing contacts, bounces and unengaged suppression.
- A big gap usually points to marketing contact status or the unengaged setting (SOP 18).
Caivan example
Lakeview Grand Opening: Send to “Lakeview | Prospects | Active”; Don’t send to “Purchasers” and “Realtors”. The reviewer checks the exclusion reasons before approving.
Completion checklist
Common mistakes and troubleshooting
Thousands of contacts won’t receive the email.
Open the reasons. In training, a large group was ineligible because they weren’t yet marketing contacts; that was a temporary account state. See SOP 18.
Thousands of contacts won’t receive the email. Open the reasons. In training, a large group was ineligible because they weren’t yet marketing contacts; that was a temporary account state. See SOP 18.
Sources and items needing confirmation
- From training· ~35:30–40:30Caivan | HubSpot Marketing Training, Sep 28, 2026 (recording transcript)
- Recommended practiceHubSpot Knowledge Base: Create and send marketing emails
- Purchaser suppression scope.
- Whether realtors are always excluded from prospect emails.
Account configuration described in training reflects September 28, 2026 and may have changed.