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Exclusion lists are your safety net. They ensure that specific people or entire companies are never contacted by any sequence in your workspace, no matter how a lead search is configured or who creates a campaign. Once a contact or domain is on an exclusion list, Topo filters them out automatically at lead import time — before they ever enter a sequence.
Exclusions are checked when leads are imported, not when messages are sent. If a contact was already active in a sequence before you added the exclusion, their sequence will continue. Add exclusions proactively to ensure complete coverage.

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Two Types of Exclusions

Contact Exclusions

Block a specific individual from receiving any outreach. Identified by email address, LinkedIn URL, or both. Use this for opted-out contacts, existing customers, or anyone who has explicitly asked not to be contacted.

Account Exclusions

Block an entire company domain from receiving outreach. For example, adding competitor.com prevents anyone with an email at that domain from being imported. Use this for competitors, investors, partners, and current customers.
Both contact exclusions and account exclusions support an optional expiration date — useful for temporary opt-outs (e.g., “contact me again in 6 months”). After the expiration date passes, the exclusion is lifted automatically.

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Adding Exclusions Manually

1

Open Exclusions

Go to Settings → Organization → Exclusions.
2

Choose the exclusion type

Select the Contacts or Accounts tab depending on whether you’re blocking an individual or an entire domain.
3

Add the entry

Click Add Exclusion and fill in the details:
  • Contact exclusion: enter the person’s email address and/or LinkedIn URL, select a reason, and optionally set an expiration date.
  • Account exclusion: enter the primary domain (e.g., example.com), select a reason, and optionally set an expiration date.
4

Save

Click Save. The exclusion is active immediately for all future lead imports.

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Bulk Import via CSV

If you have a large list of contacts or domains to exclude, you can upload them all at once using a CSV file.
Your CSV file should include the following columns:
ColumnRequiredDescription
email✅*Email address to exclude
linkedin_url✅*LinkedIn profile URL to exclude
reason✅Reason for exclusion (e.g., unsubscribed, competitor, contact_refused)
message❌Optional note about this exclusion
until❌Expiration date in ISO 8601 format (e.g., 2025-12-31)
*At least one of email or linkedin_url is required per row.
To upload, go to Settings → Organization → Exclusions, click Import CSV, select your file, and confirm the import. Duplicate entries are silently ignored — existing exclusions are not overwritten.

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Managing Exclusions via API

Exclusions can also be created, listed, updated, and deleted programmatically using the Topo public API. This is useful for automating exclusion management from your CRM or customer success tooling — for example, automatically excluding a contact when they become a customer.
  • Contact exclusions: /v1/contact-exclusions
  • Account exclusions: /v1/account-exclusions
See the API Reference → Exclusions documentation for full endpoint details, request schemas, and authentication requirements.

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Best Practices

The most common categories to add as soon as you set up Topo:
  • Current customers — add their company domains to account exclusions so no one at a customer account is ever cold-contacted.
  • Competitors — exclude their domains to prevent accidental outreach to rival companies.
  • Investors and board members — avoid awkward outreach to your own backers.
  • Opted-out contacts — anyone who has replied asking to be removed or who has unsubscribed should be added immediately.
  • Partners and resellers — companies you have existing relationships with that shouldn’t receive cold outreach.
If you have a CRM connected, consider setting up an automated workflow to push opted-out or churned contacts directly to Topo’s exclusion list via the API. This ensures your exclusion list stays in sync with your CRM without manual updates.
Yes. Both contact and account exclusions support an optional expiration date via the until field. After that date, the exclusion is lifted automatically and the contact or domain can be imported again in future lead searches. This is useful for contacts who asked to be re-engaged at a later date, or accounts you want to revisit after a cooling-off period.
Removing an exclusion does not automatically re-enroll a contact in sequences. It only allows them to be imported in future lead searches. If you want to re-engage a previously excluded contact, you’ll need to run a new lead search that includes them.