API: HTTP Unsubscribe from List

The Unsubscribe command allows you to remove one or more contacts from a single list.  It requires the following arguments: Command, Realm, Password, List, and Data.

api_web?r=myrealm&p=mypass&c=unsub&list_id=5&data=email^john.smith@domain.com

The command is ‘unsub', the realm is ‘myrealm’ and the password is ‘mypass’.  The contact with email 'john.smith@domain.com'  will be unsubscribed from list_id = '5'.  No other changes will be made to the Contact record.

The Unsubscribe command expects as least one field in the Data argument.  The email address of the contact is always required to remove a subscription record. 

In addition to the ability to unsubscribe from a single list, you can set the list_id to ‘0’ and the optout flag to ‘1’ (true) to generate a Global Opt Out.  This removes the specified contact from all lists in the realm.  It also generates a Global Opt Out record so the Contact will not be added to any lists in the future without a forced override.

Example

Using all commands and arguments (please note the command is wrapped for display purposes only):

api_web?r=myrealm&p=mypass&c=unsub&list_id=5&optout=1&data=email,first^jane@domain.com,Jane  

One contact will be removed from the list_id='5' and an opt out record will be created for the contact.

Successful results return:

SUCCESS: 1 record(s) processed. 1 users unsubscribed from list(s) 5 (1 total contacts), Records Failed Other Error 0

Global Opt Out Example

To remove a contact from all Lists, use the Global Opt Out method:

api_web?r=myrealm&p=mypass&c=unsubscribe&list_id=0&optout=1&data=email,first ^jane@domain.com,Jayne

The contact will be removed from every list for which a subscription exists in the realm, and a global opt out record will be created.

Successful results return:

SUCCESS: 1 record(s) processed. 1 users unsubscribed from list(s) 0 (1 total contacts), Records Failed Other Error 0

Multiple Contact Example

To remove more than one contact from a List, define each Contact in the data argument separated by the caret '^' character:

api_web?r=myrealm&p=mypass&c=unsubscribe&list_id=5&data=email,first^jane@domain.com,Jayne^jane.doe@domain.com,Jane^jdoe@domain.com,Jane

Each contact will be removed from the list.  Any failures are reported in a count along with the successful removals.  Successful results return:

SUCCESS: 3 record(s) processed. 2 users unsubscribed from list(s) 5 (2 total contacts), Records Failed Other Error 1

NOTE:  The ability to unsubscribe multiple Contacts in a single command is available in v12.05 and newer.

Customer Key Example

Some systems have the ability to define a unique Customer Key per contact.  If your realm has Customer Key enabled, then you must include the customer_key in the data argument along with email.  For example:

api_web?r=myrealm&p=mypass&c=unsubscribe&list_id=5&data=customer_key,email^11293,jane@domain.com

If the Customer Key is not included, the command will fail.

Results

The Unsubscribe command outputs either a SUCCESS or FAILURE message. 

As of v12.05, the number of Failures is also included.  If the Unsubscribe command includes records for more than one contact, all matching contacts will be unsubscribed.  The result indicates the total number of unsubscribes and number of failures, but does not return reasons why some may have failed.

SUCCESS

The Unsubscribe command success message returns the SUCCESS message and includes the number of records processed and the list id.  The result format is:

SUCCESS: [number_a] record(s) processed. [number_b] users unsubscribed from list(s) [list_id] ([number_c] total contacts), Records Failed Other Error [number_d]

FAILURE

A Unsubscribe command will fail for several reasons.  The result format is:

FAILURE: [Reason]  

Such as:

FAILURE: [number_a] record(s) processed. [number_b] users unsubscribed from list(s) [list_id] ([number_c] total contacts), Records Failed Other Error [number_d]

Arguments

The Unsubscribe command supports the following arguments: