When contacts are saved to a list, they may be added as either redeemed or unredeemed, depending on how they were added.
Understanding redemption helps you know when credits are consumed, why some contacts display an eye icon, and why contacts cannot always be exported immediately.
What Is Redemption?
Redeeming a contact reveals the available Cognism contact data, including:
- Business email address
- Phone numbers
- Job title
- Company information
- Other available contact data
Only redeemed contacts can be exported to your CRM or downloaded as a CSV with their full contact information.
When Are Contacts Redeemed Automatically?
Contacts are automatically redeemed when you save 25 contacts or fewer in a single Save to List action.
These contacts consume View Credits and are immediately available for:
- CRM Export
- CSV Download
- Viewing contact information
When Are Contacts Added as Unredeemed?
If you save more than 25 contacts in a single Save to List action, the save is treated as a bulk operation.
The contacts are added to the list but remain unredeemed.
Unredeemed contacts:
- Display an eye icon.
- Cannot be exported to a CRM.
- Cannot be downloaded with complete contact information.
- Require Bulk Credits before they can be accessed.
How Do I Redeem Contacts?
To redeem contacts:
- Open the list.
- Select one or more unredeemed contacts.
- Click Redeem Contacts.
- Review the number of Bulk Credits required.
- Confirm the redemption.
Once the process completes, the contacts become available immediately.
Why Do I Need Bulk Credits?
Bulk Credits are only required when contacts were originally saved as part of a bulk save.
This commonly happens when users accidentally select more than 25 contacts before clicking Save to List.
Although the contacts appear in the list, they cannot be exported or downloaded until they have been redeemed.
How Can I Check What Happened?
Open the List History for the affected list.
The List History records every Save to List action and shows how many contacts were added in each batch.
For example:
- 10 separate saves of 25 contacts each → All contacts are automatically redeemed using View Credits.
- One save of 250 contacts → All contacts are treated as a bulk save and require Bulk Credits.
The total number of contacts in a list is not important—the number of contacts saved in each individual action determines whether View Credits or Bulk Credits are used.
Common Mistakes
Saving too many contacts at once
Selecting more than 25 contacts in a single save action causes the contacts to require Bulk Credits.
To avoid this, save contacts in batches of 25 or fewer.
Confusing View Credits with Bulk Credits
View Credits and Bulk Credits are separate.
Having Bulk Credits available does not increase your View Credits, and having View Credits remaining does not allow you to redeem contacts that require Bulk Credits.
Best Practices
To avoid unnecessary Bulk Credit consumption:
- Save contacts in batches of 25 or fewer.
- Review the number of selected contacts before clicking Save to List.
- Check the List History if contacts unexpectedly require redemption.
- Administrators can minimise accidental bulk saves by assigning 0 Bulk Credits to standard users and allocating Bulk Credits only when required for:
- Bulk Save to List
- CSV exports
- CRM exports
- API usage
- Enhance
Troubleshooting
Why do I see an eye icon?
The contact has not yet been redeemed.
Why can't I export contacts from my list?
Only redeemed contacts can be exported.
Why are my contacts in the list but not revealed?
The contacts were likely saved in a single batch of more than 25 records and now require Bulk Credits.
Why did this happen when I only wanted to save a few contacts?
It's possible that more than 25 contacts were selected before clicking Save to List.
Review the List History to confirm how many contacts were saved in each action.