# Manage subscribers

> Add people to an audience, edit them, turn their Subscribed flag on or off, and remove them, in the dashboard or with the Subscribers API.

A subscriber is one contact's membership in one audience. This page shows how to add subscribers, change them, unsubscribe or resubscribe them, and remove them, and what each change does to the contact behind them.

## Before you begin

- Create the audience first. See [Audiences](/docs/audiences/).
- Check how much room the audience has. The limit counts every subscriber, including unsubscribed ones. See [Limits](/docs/audiences/#limits).
- For the API, use an API key with **Full Access**.

## Add a subscriber

**Dashboard**

  1. **Open the audience.** Go to **Email Marketing → Audiences** and select the audience.

  2. **Add the person.** Select **Add subscriber**, enter the **Email**, and optionally **First name** and **Last name**.

  3. **Save.** Select **Add**. If no contact exists for the address, Emailit creates one.

  You can also add existing contacts from **Email Marketing → Contacts**: open a contact and select **Add to audience**, or select several contacts and use **Actions > Add to audience**. To add many people at once, [import a file](/docs/contacts/import-export/).

**API**

  Call [Add a subscriber](/docs/api-reference/audiences/subscribers/add/) with the audience's ID or name:

```bash
curl https://api.emailit.com/v2/audiences/aud_5hJ2kL8mNp4Qr/subscribers \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $EMAILIT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "email": "ada@example.com",
    "first_name": "Ada",
    "last_name": "Lovelace",
    "custom_fields": { "company": "Acme" }
  }'
```

```json
{
  "object": "subscriber",
  "id": "sub_7Rt2vX9kLm3Qp",
  "audience_id": "aud_5hJ2kL8mNp4Qr",
  "contact_id": "con_2kq8Vt4xLm7Rz",
  "email": "ada@example.com",
  "first_name": "Ada",
  "last_name": "Lovelace",
  "custom_fields": { "company": "Acme" },
  "subscribed": true,
  "subscribed_at": "2026-10-01T09:30:00Z",
  "unsubscribed_at": null,
  "created_at": "2026-10-01T09:30:00Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-01T09:30:00Z"
}
```

  Only `email` is required. If you pass `first_name`, `last_name` or `custom_fields` for an existing contact, they overwrite the contact's values, and `custom_fields` replaces the whole object.

### When the person is already on the audience

Adding an address that's already on the audience depends on its current state:

| Current state | Result | API response |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Not on the audience | A new subscriber is created with **Subscribed** on. | `201` |
| On the audience, **Subscribed** on | Nothing changes. The dashboard shows "Contact is already subscribed to this audience". | `409` with the subscriber in `existing` |
| On the audience, unsubscribed | The subscriber is resubscribed: **Subscribed** turns on, `subscribed_at` is set to now and `unsubscribed_at` is cleared. | `200` |
| The audience is full | Nothing is added. | `422` with `usage` |

A resubscribe through this endpoint sends `subscriber.updated` and `subscriber.resubscribed` events and starts **Added to audience** automations, the same as a new subscriber.

> **Caution:** Adding someone back after they unsubscribed resubscribes them. Only do this when the person asked to join again, for example by signing up on your site.

## Edit a subscriber

In the audience's subscribers table, open the row menu and select **Edit**. You can change **First name**, **Last name** and the **Subscribed** switch. The email address is read-only here.

With the API, call [Update a subscriber](/docs/api-reference/audiences/subscribers/update/). Identify the subscriber by its `sub_` ID or by email address, and send any of `email`, `first_name`, `last_name`, `custom_fields` and `subscribed`:

```bash
curl https://api.emailit.com/v2/audiences/Newsletter/subscribers/ada@example.com \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $EMAILIT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "first_name": "Augusta", "subscribed": false }'
```

Names, email and custom fields belong to the contact, not the subscriber. Changing them here updates the contact everywhere, including in its other audiences. Only `subscribed` is specific to this audience.

## Turn Subscribed on or off

The **Subscribed** flag decides whether campaigns to this audience reach the person. Turning it off keeps the subscriber on the list, records `unsubscribed_at` and leaves the contact's other audiences alone. Turning it back on sets a new `subscribed_at` and clears `unsubscribed_at`.

| Where | Unsubscribe | Resubscribe |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Audience page | **Edit**, then turn off **Subscribed** | **Edit**, then turn on **Subscribed** |
| Contact page | **Unsubscribe** in the audience's row menu | **Resubscribe** in the row menu |
| API | [Update a subscriber](/docs/api-reference/audiences/subscribers/update/) with `"subscribed": false` | Update with `"subscribed": true`, or [add](/docs/api-reference/audiences/subscribers/add/) the address again |

These changes send a `subscriber.updated` event. They don't record an unsubscribe on any campaign, so they don't appear in a campaign's **Unsubscribes** tab. When recipients unsubscribe themselves with the link in a campaign, they leave every audience at once. See [Unsubscribes](/docs/audiences/unsubscribes/).

## Remove a subscriber

Removing a subscriber deletes the membership. Select **Delete** in the row menu on the audience page, **Remove from audience** on the contact page, or call [Delete a subscriber](/docs/api-reference/audiences/subscribers/delete/).

| | Unsubscribe | Remove |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Person stays on the list | Yes, with **Subscribed** off | No |
| Counts toward the audience limit | Yes | No |
| Contact is kept | Yes | Yes |
| Event | `subscriber.updated` | `subscriber.deleted`, which starts **Removed from audience** automations |
| Adding the address again | Resubscribes the existing subscriber | Creates a new subscriber |

Prefer unsubscribing when someone opts out, so you keep a record of it. Remove subscribers you added by mistake or no longer want to keep. To delete the person entirely, delete the contact, which removes it from every audience.

## List and find subscribers

On the audience page, search by email or name, and filter by Email, First name, Last name, Subscribed or Created.

With the API, [List subscribers](/docs/api-reference/audiences/subscribers/list/) returns every subscriber, including unsubscribed ones. Add `subscribed=true` or `subscribed=false` to narrow the list, `search` to match email or names, and `page` and `limit` (up to 100) to page through:

```bash
curl "https://api.emailit.com/v2/audiences/aud_5hJ2kL8mNp4Qr/subscribers?subscribed=true&limit=100&page=1" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $EMAILIT_API_KEY"
```

To look up one person, [Retrieve a subscriber](/docs/api-reference/audiences/subscribers/get/) by `sub_` ID or email address.

## Related

  - [Subscribe URL](/docs/audiences/subscribe-url/): Let people add themselves from your site.
  - [Contacts](/docs/contacts/): The person behind every subscriber.

---
Source: https://emailit.com/docs/audiences/subscribers/