Use subscription groups across Blueshift

This page explains how subscription groups are applied and enforced across preferences, segmentation, and reporting in Blueshift.

Using subscription groups for preferences

Subscription groups let you control which messages customers receive within a channel (Email, SMS, etc.). They can be enforced at three levels in campaigns:

  • Adapter level
  • Campaign-level settings
  • Trigger-level overrides

  Unsubscribe behavior for subscription groups

Once a campaign is associated with a subscription group—whether at the adapter, campaign, or trigger level—the following changes take effect:

  • The one-click list-unsubscribe header points to that group.
  • The standard unsubscribe link ({{unsubscribe_link}}) also points to that group instead of the channel-level subscription, unless a preference center is enabled for the account.

  One subscription group per level

At each level—adapter, campaign, or trigger—you can associate only one subscription group. If groups are defined at more than one level, the order of precedence is:

  1. Trigger-level setting (highest)
  2. Campaign-level setting
  3. Adapter-level default (lowest)

Adapter-level association

For Email and SMS channels, subscription groups can be linked directly to adapters in the App Hub. This ensures that any campaign using the adapter automatically respects the associated group.

Subscription-Groups-Adapter.png

Campaign-level settings

At the campaign level, you can select a subscription group in campaign settings. This group applies to all triggers within the campaign, unless a trigger explicitly overrides it.

Subscription-Groups-Campaign-Preferences.png

Trigger-level overrides

At the trigger level, you can override the campaign’s subscription group setting. If both are defined, the trigger-level subscription group takes precedence.

Example: A campaign defines the newsletter group at the campaign level, but one trigger is set to promotions. Messages from that trigger respect only the promotions group.

Subscription-Groups-Campaign-Trigger.png

  Precedence logic

Subscription groups follow this order of precedence:

  1. Trigger-level setting (highest)
  2. Campaign-level setting
  3. Adapter-level setting (lowest)

Example:

  • The adapter is linked to newsletters.
  • The campaign is linked to product_updates.
  • One trigger in the campaign is linked to promotions.
  • Other triggers in the same campaign do not have any subscription group set.

Result:

  • Messages from the trigger linked to promotions use that group.
  • Messages from other triggers in the same campaign use product_updates.
  • If neither campaign nor trigger groups are set, messages use newsletters from the adapter.

Using subscription groups for segmentation and filtering

Subscription groups are also available as nested attributes under User attributes. Marketers can use them to include or exclude customers when building segments.

  • subscription_group_id: The unique identifier of the group. Example: newsletter_weekly.
  • subscription_group_subscribed: Whether the user is subscribed (true) or unsubscribed (false).
  • subscription_group_subscribed_at: Date when the user subscribed.
  • subscription_group_unsubscribed_at: Date when the user unsubscribed.

Example: Build a segment of customers who subscribed to newsletter_weekly in the last 30 days.

Subscription-Groups-Segmentation.png

Trigger filters

You can also use subscription groups as part of trigger filters. For example, restrict a trigger to send only if the customer is subscribed to a specific group. This adds flexibility for campaign-level orchestration.

Reporting & insights

Subscription groups are available as a Group by option in campaign performance and insight reports. This lets you break down campaign results at the group level and compare outcomes across different types of communication.

  • Unsubscribe rates by subscription group
  • Engagement and conversion trends for each group
  • Audience breakdowns by subscription group
  • Cohort and trend analysis over time
Subscription-groups-reporting.png

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