Step by Step Guide to Building a Campaign Monitor API Integration in PHP

Introduction

Hey there, fellow developer! Ready to supercharge your email marketing game with Campaign Monitor's API? You're in the right place. This guide will walk you through integrating Campaign Monitor's powerful API into your PHP project. We'll cover everything from setup to advanced features, so buckle up!

Prerequisites

Before we dive in, make sure you've got:

• PHP 7.4 or higher (come on, you're not still using 5.6, right?)
• Composer installed (because who has time for manual dependency management?)
• A Campaign Monitor API key (if you don't have one, go grab it from your account settings)

Setting up the project

Let's get this show on the road:

composer require campaignmonitor/createsend-php

Boom! You've got the Campaign Monitor PHP SDK. Now, let's set up a basic project structure:

campaign-monitor-integration/
├── src/
│   └── CampaignMonitorIntegration.php
├── composer.json
└── .env

Authentication

Time to make friends with the API:

use CS_REST_General;

$auth = array('api_key' => 'your-api-key-here');
$wrap = new CS_REST_General($auth);

Pro tip: Keep that API key safe! Use environment variables or a secure key management system.

Basic API Operations

Let's start with some bread-and-butter operations:

// Get client details
$result = $wrap->get_clients();

// Create a new subscriber
$result = $wrap->add_subscriber('list-id', [
    'EmailAddress' => '[email protected]',
    'Name' => 'John Doe'
]);

// Update subscriber info
$result = $wrap->update_subscriber('list-id', '[email protected]', [
    'Name' => 'Jane Doe'
]);

Working with Campaigns

Now for the fun part - creating and sending campaigns:

// Create a new campaign
$campaign = array(
    'Subject' => 'Check out our latest products!',
    'Name' => 'May Newsletter',
    'FromName' => 'Your Company',
    'FromEmail' => '[email protected]',
    'ReplyTo' => '[email protected]',
    'HtmlUrl' => 'http://example.com/newsletter.html',
    'TextUrl' => 'http://example.com/newsletter.txt',
    'ListIDs' => array('list-id-1', 'list-id-2')
);
$result = $wrap->create_campaign($campaign);

// Send the campaign
$result = $wrap->send_campaign('campaign-id');

// Get campaign stats
$result = $wrap->get_campaign_summary('campaign-id');

Managing Lists

Lists are the backbone of your email marketing. Here's how to wrangle them:

// Create a new list
$result = $wrap->create_list('client-id', [
    'Title' => 'VIP Customers',
    'UnsubscribePage' => 'http://example.com/unsubscribe'
]);

// Add subscribers to a list
$result = $wrap->add_subscribers('list-id', [
    ['EmailAddress' => '[email protected]', 'Name' => 'Sub One'],
    ['EmailAddress' => '[email protected]', 'Name' => 'Sub Two']
]);

// Remove a subscriber from a list
$result = $wrap->remove_subscriber('list-id', '[email protected]');

Handling Webhooks

Stay on top of your campaign events with webhooks:

// Set up a webhook endpoint
$result = $wrap->create_webhook('list-id', [
    'Events' => ['Subscribe', 'Deactivate'],
    'Url' => 'http://example.com/webhook-handler',
    'PayloadFormat' => 'json'
]);

// Process webhook data
$payload = file_get_contents('php://input');
$event = json_decode($payload, true);

if ($event['Type'] === 'Subscribe') {
    // Handle new subscription
} elseif ($event['Type'] === 'Deactivate') {
    // Handle unsubscribe
}

Error Handling and Debugging

Nobody's perfect, so let's handle those errors like a pro:

if (!$result->was_successful()) {
    $error_message = $result->response->Message;
    $error_code = $result->http_status_code;
    // Log error or throw exception
}

When debugging, the var_dump($result) is your best friend. Don't be shy, use it liberally (but not in production, okay?).

Best Practices

• Respect the API rate limits. Campaign Monitor isn't your ex – it won't ghost you, but it might slow you down if you're too eager.
• Batch your API calls when possible. Your server (and Campaign Monitor) will thank you.
• Keep your integration code modular. Future you will appreciate it when it's time to add new features.

Conclusion

And there you have it! You're now armed and dangerous with Campaign Monitor API knowledge. Remember, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The API has tons more features to explore, so don't be afraid to dive deeper.

Happy coding, and may your open rates be ever in your favor!

Sample Code Repository

For complete examples and more advanced usage, check out our GitHub repository. Pull requests welcome!