How to programmatically unsubscribe & resubscribe unsubscribed contacts.

Using the V3 API, you can unsubscribe or resubscribe contacts individually or in bulk.

Unsubscribe Contacts

Unsubscribed contacts are those who have decided not to receive any email from a Constant Contact account. A contact can request to unsubscribe indirectly through your platform (contact alerts you by phone, email, mail, other). They can also unsubscribe directly (and automatically) through Constant Contact by clicking the Unsubscribe button in an email they received.

Unsubscribed contacts cannot be sent mail through Constant Contact unless they re-subscribe to the account owner’s email lists. Unsubscribed contacts can resubscribe themselves by clicking a link in any Constant Contact emails they’ve retained, or by using the account owners sign-up form.

In the API, after a contact unsubscribes directly, their contact status is automatically set to unsubscribed and the update_source is set to Contact. If the contact unsubscribes indirectly, you must manually unsubscribe the contact.

Manually Unsubscribe a Contact

To unsubscribe a contact that requests to unsubscribe indirectly, make a PUT call to the /contacts/<contact_id> endpoint and set the email permission_to_send property to unsubscribed. Change or verify that the update_source is set to Contact. Include an opt_out_reason (value can be null if no reason provided).

The update_source should only be Contact if the contact is performing or requesting the unsubscribe. For example, the contact clicks a button in your UI requesting to unsubscribe or sends an email stating they want to unsubscribe.

Example Unsubscribe Request

PUT https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts/{contact_id}

Endpoint Requirements

User privileges: contacts:write

Authorization scopes: contact_data

JAVA cURL PHP

<?php

$request = new HttpRequest();
$request->setUrl('https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts/{contact_id}');
$request->setMethod(HTTP_METH_PUT);

$request->setHeaders(array(
  'Cache-Control' => 'no-cache',
  'Authorization' => 'Bearer {access_token}',
  'Content-Type' => 'application/json',
  'Accept' => 'application/json'
));

$request->setBody('{
   
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name": "Byrd",
    "create_source": "Account",
    "email_address": {
        "address": "example@example.com",
        "permission_to_send": "unsubscribed",
    "opt_out_reason":"No longer interested"
      },
    "update_source": "Contact"
}');

try {
  $response = $request->send();

  echo $response->getBody();
} catch (HttpException $ex) {
  echo $ex;
}

curl -X PUT \
  https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts/{contact_id} \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {access_token}' \
  -H 'Cache-Control: no-cache' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
   
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name": "Byrd",
    "create_source": "Account",
    "email_address": {
        "address": "example@example.com",
        "permission_to_send": "unsubscribed",
    "opt_out_reason":"No longer interested"
      },
    "update_source": "Contact"
}'

OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();

MediaType mediaType = MediaType.parse("application/json");
RequestBody body = RequestBody.create(mediaType, "{\n   \n    \"first_name\": \"John\",\n    \"last_name\": \"Byrd\",\n    \"create_source\": \"Account\",\n    \"email_address\": {\n        \"address\": \"example@example.com\",\n        \"permission_to_send\": \"unsubscribed\",\n\t\"opt_out_reason\":\"No longer interested\"\n      },\n    \"update_source\": \"Contact\"\n}");
Request request = new Request.Builder()
  .url("https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts/{contact_id}")
  .put(body)
  .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
  .addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .addHeader("Authorization", "Bearer {access_token}")
  .addHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache")
  .build();

Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();

Response

{
    "contact_id": "{contact_id}",
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name": "Byrd",
    "update_source": "Contact",
    "create_source": "Account",
    "created_at": "2013-11-26T15:45:52-05:00",
    "updated_at": "2018-02-16T15:56:41-05:00",
    "email_address": {
        "address": "example@example.com",
        "permission_to_send": "unsubscribed",
        "created_at": "2018-02-16T15:49:30-05:00",
        "updated_at": "2018-02-16T15:56:41-05:00",
        "opt_out_source": "Contact",
        "opt_out_date": "2018-02-16T15:56:41-05:00",
        "opt_out_reason": "No longer interested",
        "confirm_status": "off"
    }
}

Unsubscribe Contacts in Bulk

Constant Contact’s API handles bulk contact unsubscribes by changing each contact’s permission_to_send status to unsubscribed and the opt_out_source to Contact.

To unsubscribe a large number of contacts:

Export only those contacts you want to unsubscribe from your Constant Contact account (or source them from your local database) to a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file. Learn more
For all contacts in the CSV file, change the permission_to_send property to unsubscribed and the opt_out_source to Contact.
Make a POST call to the /contacts_file_import endpoint to specify the updated CSV file to import. Once the import activity completes, all contacts listed in your file will have their permission_to_send status set to unsubscribed in your Constant Contact account. These contacts will no longer receive email from your account. Learn more

View Unsubscribed Contacts

To find all unsubscribed contacts in an account, make a GET call to the /contacts?status=unsubscribed endpoint.

Endpoint Requirements

User privileges: contacts:read

Authorization scopes: contact_data

It is a violation of Constant Contact's Email Policy to resubscribe a contact if the contact did not initiate the action, even if the account accidentally deleted the contact.

Resubscribe Contacts

Contacts can choose to resubscribe to a contact list directly or indirectly:

Directly: The contact uses your sign-up tool, such as clicking a subscribe sign-up link on a previously sent email or from a landing page. After confirmation is received, update_source changes to contact and the contact is resubscribed.
Indirectly: The contact contacts you and requests to resubscribe. You make a PUT call to the resubscribe endpoint, then Constant Contact sends a resubscribe email to the contact’s email address. After confirmation is received, update_source changes to contact and the contact is resubscribed. You can only send a resubscribe email to an unsubscribed contact once, or a 400 response is returned indicating that the contact is not unsubscribed (pending confirmation).

It is a violation of US and Canadian anti-spam laws, as well as a serious violation of the Constant Contact Terms of Service to use the Opt-in features of the API to opt a contact back in without his or her own action and consent.

Unsubscribed contacts cannot be re-subscribed by a Constant Contact account owner (update_source=Account), EVEN IF the account owner unsubscribed the contact (accidentally or purposefully). The contact must re-subscribe themselves to a contact list in order to be removed from the Unsubscribed category.

Contact Resubscribes directly

To re-subscribe a contact to one or more contact lists, make a PUT call to the https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts/{contact_id} endpoint and set update_source=Contact, permission_to_send=<explicit or implicit>, and assign a list_membership:

PUT https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts/{contact_id}

Endpoint Requirements

User privileges: contacts:write

Authorization scopes: contact_data

JAVA cURL PHP

<?php

$request = new HttpRequest();
$request->setUrl('https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts/{contact_id}');
$request->setMethod(HTTP_METH_PUT);

$request->setHeaders(array(
  'Cache-Control' => 'no-cache',
  'Authorization' => 'Bearer {access_token}',
  'Content-Type' => 'application/json',
  'Accept' => 'application/json'
));

$request->setBody('{
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name": "Byrd",
    "email_address": {
        "address": "example@example.com",
        "permission_to_send": "explicit",
      },
    "update_source": "Contact",
    "lists":["{list_id1}","{list_id2}"]
}');

try {
  $response = $request->send();

  echo $response->getBody();
} catch (HttpException $ex) {
  echo $ex;
}

curl -X PUT \
  https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts/{contact_id} \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {access_token}' \
  -H 'Cache-Control: no-cache' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
   
  -d '{
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name": "Byrd",
    "email_address": {
        "address": "example@example.com",
        "permission_to_send": "explicit",
      },
    "update_source": "Contact",
    "lists":["{list_id1}","{list_id2}"]
}'

OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();

MediaType mediaType = MediaType.parse("application/json");
RequestBody body = RequestBody.create(mediaType, "{\n    \"first_name\": \"John\",\n    \"last_name\": \"Byrd\",\n    \"email_address\": {\n        \"address\": \"example@example.com\",\n        \"permission_to_send\": \"explicit\",\n      },\n    \"update_source\": \"Contact\",\n    \"lists\":[\"{list_id2}\",\"{list_id2}\"]\n}");
Request request = new Request.Builder()
  .url("https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts/{contact_id}")
  .put(body)
  .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
  .addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .addHeader("Authorization", "Bearer {access_token}")
  .addHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache")
  .build();

Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();

Response

{
    "contact_id": "{contact_id}",
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name": "Byrd",
    "update_source": "Contact",
    "create_source": "Account",
    "created_at": "2013-11-26T15:45:52-05:00",
    "updated_at": "2018-02-16T15:56:41-05:00",
    "email_address": {
        "address": "example@example.com",
        "permission_to_send": "explicit",
        "created_at": "2018-02-16T15:49:30-05:00",
        "updated_at": "2018-02-16T16:21:41-05:00",
        "opt_in_source": "Contact",
        "opt_in_date": "2018-02-16T16:21:42-05:00",
        "confirm_status": "off"
    }
}

Contact Resubscribes Indirectly

To send a resubscribe email request to a contact and specify the contact lists to which the contact is to be added, make a PUT call to the https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts/resubscribe/{contact_id} endpoint. Include the contact_id as a path parameter. In the request body, specify the list_ids in which to add the contact. A successful requests returns a 200 response.

PUT https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts/resubscribe/{contact_id}

Endpoint Requirements

User privileges: contacts:write

Authorization scopes: contact_data

JAVA cURL PHP

<?php

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
  CURLOPT_URL => 'https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts/resubscribe/{contact_id}',
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => '',
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 0,
  CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => true,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'PUT',
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS =>'{
  "list_ids": [
    "{list_id1}"
  ]
}',
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(
    'Accept: */*',
    'Content-Type: application/json',
    'Authorization: Bearer {access_token}'
  ),
));

$response = curl_exec($curl);

curl_close($curl);
echo $response;

curl --location --request PUT 'https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts/resubscribe/{contact_id}' \
--header 'Accept: */*' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer {access_token}' \
--data '{
  "list_ids": [
    "{list_id1}"
  ]
}'

OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient().newBuilder()
        .build();
MediaType mediaType = MediaType.parse("application/json");
RequestBody body = RequestBody.create(mediaType, "{\n  \"list_ids\": [\n    \"{list_id}\"\n  ]\n}");
Request request = new Request.Builder()
        .url("https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts/resubscribe/{contact_id}")
        .method("PUT", body)
        .addHeader("Accept", "*/*")
        .addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
        .addHeader("Authorization", "Bearer {access_token}")
        .build();
Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();

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Tags: contacts code_samples

Unsubscribe and Resubscribe Contacts

Unsubscribe Contacts

Manually Unsubscribe a Contact

Example Unsubscribe Request

Endpoint Requirements

Unsubscribe Contacts in Bulk

View Unsubscribed Contacts

Endpoint Requirements

Resubscribe Contacts

Example Re-subscribe Requests

Contact Resubscribes directly

Endpoint Requirements

Contact Resubscribes Indirectly

Endpoint Requirements