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Step by Step Guide to Building a ConvertKit API Integration in PHP

Aug 11, 2024 • 5 minute read

Introduction

Hey there, fellow developer! Ready to supercharge your PHP project with ConvertKit's powerful email marketing capabilities? You're in the right place. We're going to walk through building a robust ConvertKit API integration that'll have you managing subscribers, forms, and sequences like a pro in no time.

Prerequisites

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

  • A PHP environment (you knew that, right?)
  • A ConvertKit account with an API key (if you don't have one, go grab it from your account settings)
  • Composer installed (because who wants to manage dependencies manually?)

Setting up the project

Let's kick things off by setting up our project:

composer require convertkit/convertkit-php

Now, let's store that API key safely. Create a config.php file:

<?php define('CONVERTKIT_API_KEY', 'your_api_key_here');

Basic API Connection

Time to get our hands dirty. Let's create a ConvertKit client:

<?php require 'vendor/autoload.php'; require 'config.php'; use ConvertKit\ConvertKit; $convertkit = new ConvertKit(CONVERTKIT_API_KEY); // Test the connection try { $account = $convertkit->account(); echo "Connected successfully! Account name: " . $account->name; } catch (Exception $e) { echo "Oops, something went wrong: " . $e->getMessage(); }

If you see your account name, you're golden!

Implementing Core Functionalities

Subscriber Management

Adding subscribers is a breeze:

$subscriber = $convertkit->subscribers()->add([ 'email' => 'newsubscriber@example.com', 'first_name' => 'John' ]);

Retrieving, updating, and unsubscribing follow similar patterns. Check out the ConvertKit PHP library docs for more details.

Form Operations

List all your forms:

$forms = $convertkit->forms()->all(); foreach ($forms as $form) { echo $form->name . "\n"; }

Sequence Management

Add a subscriber to a sequence:

$convertkit->sequences()->addSubscriber($sequenceId, [ 'email' => 'subscriber@example.com' ]);

Tags and Custom Fields

Assign a tag:

$convertkit->tags()->addToSubscriber($tagId, [ 'email' => 'subscriber@example.com' ]);

Error Handling and Rate Limiting

Always wrap your API calls in try-catch blocks:

try { // Your API call here } catch (\ConvertKit\Exception\RateLimitException $e) { // Handle rate limiting sleep(60); // Wait a minute and try again } catch (\ConvertKit\Exception\ApiException $e) { // Handle other API exceptions }

Best Practices

  • Cache frequently accessed data to reduce API calls.
  • Use asynchronous operations for bulk actions to improve performance.

Testing the Integration

Unit test your functions:

public function testAddSubscriber() { $subscriber = $this->convertkit->subscribers()->add([ 'email' => 'test@example.com' ]); $this->assertNotNull($subscriber->id); }

Deployment Considerations

  • Never expose your API key in client-side code.
  • Use environment variables for sensitive information.
  • Implement proper logging for easier debugging in production.

Conclusion

And there you have it! You've just built a solid ConvertKit API integration in PHP. Remember, this is just scratching the surface. The ConvertKit API offers a ton more features to explore.

Keep experimenting, keep building, and most importantly, keep growing that email list! Happy coding!