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I'm trying to delete a large number of records from SFMC to avoid being charged extra. I've run several different SQLs to help identify the records I don't need, but when I run the Contact Count report, it still shows approx 100K billable contacts and approx 60K distinct email addresses.

Here are the SQLs I've tried:

These efforts reduced the count a good amount, but not as much as I was expecting.

Has anyone else gone through this process before and if so, what queries can you share that might help my case?

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  • That's a high amount of duplicate email addresses. How many leads/contacts in total are you currently synching? A lead that is converted will remain as 2 billable contacts (1 lead, 1 contact) which could be inflating the count.
    – AnonWonderer
    Commented Apr 13, 2020 at 17:23

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Start with this article:

Permanently remove Contacts or Subscribers and associated data from Contact Builder

1) Address the cause of Contacts without channels Each of the cases mentioned previously in this article are expected behavior. If you do not desire this behavior, disable the associated feature that is causing Contacts without channels.

Once the feature is disabled, use the steps below to delete any Contacts without channels from your account.

2) Prepare to delete any Contacts without channels Note: You must have MobileConnect or MobilePush to complete these steps.

  1. In MobileConnect or MobilePush, create a filtered mobile list that meets 4 conditions:

Contact Key is not null AND Email Address is null AND Mobile Number is null AND Device ID is null ​AND Address ID is null

Note: This is sourced from these attribute paths:

System Data | Contact | Contact Key
System Data | Email Addresses | Email Address
MobileConnect Data | MobileConnect Demographics | Mobile Number
MobilePush Data | MobilePush Demographics | Device ID
GroupConnect LINE Data | GroupConnect LINE Demographics | Address ID

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  • thank you. I should have specified that we do not have access to MobileConnect and therefore are unable to create this filter without raising a case with Support. They have done this for me already, which populated all "Unspecified Contacts" as outlined in my question, but I'm looking for a solution that doesn't rely on MC Support to run this list whenever I need it. Secondly, I already ran the other query "Delete records created via Synchronized Data Sources" mentioned in the link you shared. This helped, but not enough. :-/
    – Greg Beazley
    Commented Apr 14, 2020 at 11:10
  • So it have you identified how you are adding these unwanted contacts so you don't have to keep deleting them?
    – EazyE
    Commented Apr 14, 2020 at 21:34
  • Yes, they were added when the MC sync settings were updated. I've addressed the sync settings now to reflect a Sync_to_MC boolean in SFDC, but despite supposedly identifying all Leads and Contacts where SubscriberKey is Empty, the total records available for deletion is a small percentage of the total billable contact count indicated by the Contact Count Report.
    – Greg Beazley
    Commented Apr 15, 2020 at 12:59
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I had to go through the same hassle recently. Deleting subscribers from All Subscribers doesn't help much. You need to delete from All Contacts. What I did was this -

  1. Go to Mobile Connect
  2. Go to Manage Contacts >> Lists
  3. Created a filtered list
  4. Set it up for deletion

Hope this helps

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