Hello user6365,
Thank you for reaching out to Constant Contact API Developer Support. My team is here to assist outside software developers with questions about building into Constant Contact's API.
To get ALL Unsubscribed contacts within the account, you'd want to use the GET /contacts endpoint using the parameters for "status" and "optout_after".
Status needs to be set to "all". Even though there is a status option for "unsubscribed", that will only return contacts that are unsubscribed but are still visible in the account, whereas by using "all" and then filtering by "optout_after", you get ALL unsubscribed contacts after a certain date (for all Unsubscribes, set the date to when the account was opened, or for when your first contact was added).
Example:
GET https://api.cc.email/v3/contacts?status=all&optout_after=2022-11-16T16%3A20%3A59.091Z
[API Reference] - GET Contacts Collection
https://v3.developer.constantcontact.com/api_reference/index.html#!/Contacts/getContacts
The reason why it is relevant to get ALL unsubscribes, rather than just active ones:
Once a contact (email address) has been added into the system, even if it is deleted, the contact entry and details still remain on the back end of the system for reporting and compliance purposes.
For example, if a contact unsubscribes from your organization’s mailing list, and you were to delete and then re-add that contact, they would be re-added as unsubscribed rather than as a new contact. This allows us to be compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act, as well as other applicable laws and regulations.
AN-SPAM Act and how it affects your campaigns
https://knowledgebase.constantcontact.com/articles/KnowledgeBase/5825-can-spam-act-and-how-it-affects-your-campaigns
Frequently Asked Questions for Contacts
https://www.constantcontact.com/legal/about-constant-contact-faqs
Essentially, deleting a contact never really deletes them. It just strips their list memberships, moves them into a “deleted” status, and hides them from being visible in the account.
Please have a look and let us know if you have any other questions!
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