Subscriptions & Unsubscribe
Every marketing email must give recipients a clear way to stop receiving mail. SendSeven handles this automatically, and understanding the pieces helps you build correct newsletter flows.
How a contact unsubscribes
| Path | What happens |
|---|---|
| Footer link | The unsubscribe link in the email footer opens a page where the contact can leave the list (or manage preferences). |
| One-click (email client) | Mail clients that support RFC 8058 show a native "Unsubscribe" button; clicking it unsubscribes the contact without opening a browser. |
| Preference center | A "Manage preferences" page where the contact can unsubscribe from individual lists rather than everything. |
| Automatic | Hard bounces and spam complaints unsubscribe the contact automatically to protect deliverability. |
Footer modes
Each outbound campaign email carries a footer whose content is governed by a footer mode:
| Mode | Footer shows |
|---|---|
both | Unsubscribe link and a manage-preferences link (default) |
unsubscribe_only | Unsubscribe link only |
none | No footer links |
The footer mode can be set as an account default and overridden per email in the content editor.
The List-Unsubscribe and List-Unsubscribe-Post headers (RFC 8058 one-click unsubscribe) are always included on marketing email, regardless of the footer mode — even when the mode is none. These headers are a deliverability requirement, so a "no footer" choice never removes the recipient's ability to opt out from their mail client.
The preference center
The preference center is the "Manage preferences" page a contact reaches from the footer. It lists the lists a contact can subscribe to or leave.
- A list appears in the preference center only when it is marked to show there.
- Lists created before this setting existed are treated as visible (grandfathered).
- Internal or operational lists can be hidden from the preference center so contacts only manage the lists that are meant for them.
Managing membership via the API
To unsubscribe a contact from a specific list programmatically, remove them from the list:
curl -X DELETE "https://api.sendseven.com/api/v1/lists/list_newsletter/contacts/contact_001" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer s7_api_a1b2c3d4e5f6789012345678abcdef00"
Only active subscribers receive campaigns. Pending (unconfirmed double opt-in) and unsubscribed contacts are skipped automatically at send time — you do not need to filter them yourself. Per-list membership is managed through the Lists API.
Next steps
- Opt-in & double opt-in — how contacts join a list
- Getting subscribers — STOP keywords and cross-channel opt-out
- Email Campaigns — sending to active subscribers