Update the subscription status of your existing contacts
Subscription statuses are recorded on each contact’s contact profile. For each platform, there is a separate subscription attribute
For each platform, the contact’s subscription status can either be:
Subscribed
Unsubscribed
Not Set
Following are the subscription attributes on the contacts which are used in marketing:
Email Subscription
SMS Subscription
WhatsApp Subscription
Push Subscription
RCS Subscription
Updating Subscription status
There are following ways to update the subscription status of a contact
CSV Import
Manual Update
Using API
Using Integrations
Using flows
How to update subscription status via CSV file import
You can update the subscription status of your contacts by creating CSV files and uploading them into Contacts.
There are two ways to do this:
By uploading a CSV file that contains subscription information as a column. The contacts’s subscription information will be updated automatically.
By uploading a CSV file that doesn’t contain subscription information. We’ll ask you what subscription status you want to apply during import
CSV file formatting
You can download the sample CSV file available in the Import from CSV screen, in the Source step. This file can now be edited as per the requirement. You may specify the subscription status of contacts for one or more platforms at once in the same file by adding columns as shown below:
Below are some sample CSVs to start formatting your customer's subscription data:
Format a CSV file to include a subscription status column
If you want to include channel subscription status in the CSV files you upload, you can do so by adding a column that contains this information.
Name the subscription columns as follows:
subscribedWhatsapp
subscribedEmail
subscribedSms
subscribedPush
subscribedRcs
You can add following values to each column
If the column is left empty it is not updated
TRUE: Set as Subscribed
FALSE: Set as Unsubscribed
Example: Correct formatting ✅
Use the following examples to see how your CSVs should be formatted.
SMS: Opted in
+31 6 22 22 22 22
TRUE
+31 6 33 33 33 33
TRUE
SMS: Opted out
+31 6 11 11 11 11
FALSE
+31 6 44 44 44 44
FALSE
Upload your formatted CSV
You’ll need to upload your CSV files one at a time. To do this, follow these steps:
Go to Audience > Contacts
Click Create contact > Import from CSV.
Upload your CSV file in the Source step
Review your CSV sample, then click Continue. You will see the subscription columns if added in the CSV
In the Map Columns step, you can map the subscription attributes if columns are present in your CSV file
In 'Configuration' step, you will see the options to define subscription status for Email, SMS and WhatsApp
If you have already mapped your columns you can keep the values as Unchanged
If you have not mapped your columns, select the value as
Unchanged: This will not change the value of the subscription attribute
Subscribed: This will update the values of any new contacts created using import or any existing contacts in import with blank subscription values as Subscribed
Unsubscribed: This will update the values of any new contacts created using import or any existing contacts in import with blank subscription values as Unsubscribed
Override Subscription status: If you want to also update the subscription status of any existing contacts in your import which already have a value set, you can turn this ON.
Note that Re-uploading contacts will not create duplicates. Existing contact profiles will be updated to include subscription statuses as selected in the Configuration step.
How to update contacts individually
You can also update the subscription attributes of the contacts manually like any other attributes.
To do this, follow these steps:
Go to Audience > Contacts
Search for and select the contact that you want to update.
In the contact profile right side panel under Attributes, search or scroll down to the platform subscription fields.
Click the edit icon next to one of the subscription fields, and update the contacts subscription status as required.
The contact profile will be updated, and the changes will be saved automatically.
How to update subscription using API
You can create or update the contacts using the Create or Update Contact by Identifier.
In this API, you can define attribute values for any attributes. Similarly, you can define values for subscription attributes as boolean attributes.
"attributes": {
"firstName": "John",
"lastName": "Smith",
"rating": 9.6,
"cookiesAccepted": false,
"subscribedEmail": true,
"subscribedSms": true,
"subscribedWhatsapp": false,
"subscribedPush": true,
"subscribedRcs": true,
"labels": [
"A",
"B",
"C"
]
},How to update subscription using Integrations
To map your data to subscription attributes when installing an integration, you can follow these steps:
Go to Settings > Connectivity > Integrations
Select the integration you want to install or have installed
Once installed, go to Config tab and view the data flow that syncs contacts into Bird
Go to Configuration tab and click on Transformation step
Click on Open transformation editor
Under Transformation > Attribute mapping, add the source field which has your subscription data in boolean format (true/false) on the left side, and map it to the standard subscription attributes from the dropdown i.e. subscribedEmail, subscribedSms, subscribedWhatsApp etc. on the right side.
Save the configuration
Enable the data flow and click on Run now under 3 dots to run the data flow to sync contacts and their subscription
If you want to run it on historical data already synced, click on Reset state > Run now.
How to update subscription using Flows
In flows, you can add a step to Create or Update contact by identifier and define the subscription attributes to be updated.
Define the identifier key and value first
Identifier key could be from static options like emailaddress or phonenumber
Identifier value must come from the trigger payload or previous step output
Under Attributes, click to add a new item and define the attributes to be mapped or updated
Select the attribute on left side
Select attribute type as Boolean
Turn the toggle for Subscribed (true) or keep it off for Unsubscribed (false)
Click Next to save your step.
Sending campaigns once unsubscribes have been updated
Once you have updated your contact’s subscription statuses, you will no longer be able to send campaigns to unsubscribed contacts.
You don’t need to take any further action here; if a list or segment contains unsubscribed contacts, and you send a campaign to the recipients, only subscribed contacts will receive the campaign. You can see the filtered value under Estimated Campaign Recipients.
Removing unsubscribed contacts from a list or segment
If you want to tidy up your list or segments and get a more accurate estimation of the number of contacts that will receive a campaign when you send it, you can update the segment to exclude unsubscribed contacts by following these steps:
Go to Audience > Lists & Segments > Create segment
If you are using a segment
Add the following condition to your segment
Properties of contact > Email/SMS/WhatsApp/Push Subscription > equals > Subscribed
If you are using a list
Create a segment and add following conditions
If someone is or not in a list > Contact > is in > Your List name
Properties of contact > Email/SMS/WhatsApp/Push Subscription > equals > Subscribed
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