---
updatedAt: 2026-04-08T10:25:32.000Z
---

# Update a contact - UpdateRecipient

Update a contact in an existing Acoustic Campaign database.

> 🚧 Database specifications
>
> If your database has a key other than Email, you must include all unique key columns with their corresponding name/value pairs.
>
> To look up a contact in a database without a Unique Identifier, you must specify one or more Sync Fields.

> 📘 When adding/updating records in your organization’s CRM List...
>
> You can specify whether to sync the contact to your CRM system by passing a COLUMN element with a NAME “CRM Enable Sync” and VALUE of “Yes” or “No”. If you do not include this column, the organization’s default setting will be used.
>
> You can also specify whether the individual is a Lead or Contact by passing a COLUMN element with a NAME “CRM Contact Type” and VALUE of “Lead”, "Contact", or “Other”. If you do not include this column, the individual will be designated a Lead.

## Elements (Required)

**LIST\_ID** - The database ID that the contact resides.

**SYNC\_FIELDS** - Required if the database has no Unique Identifier. Used to lookup a contact in a database that has no Unique Identifier defined. Include a SYNC*FIELD element for each column that defines a unique contact.* Note\_: If more than one contact is found matching the lookup columns, the oldest contact will be updated.\
**SYNC\_FIELD** - XML nodes defining the column name and value of the unique identifier fields. Each node must have a Name tag and a Value tag.\
**NAME** - Defines the field name\
**VALUE** - Defines the field value

**COLUMN** - XML nodes defining the column name and value. *Note*: Each node must have a Name tag and a Value tag. If the database has a key that is not Email, Unique key columns must also be part of the submission with column names and values. If changing a value of one of the SYNC\_FIELDS, the new value should be included as a COLUMN node.\
Standard child name-value pair:\
**NAME** - Defines the field name\
**VALUE** - Defines the field value

Optional COLUMN child name-value pair to subscribe a previously opted-out contact. Do not use for normal use:\
**NAME** - OPT\_OUT\
**VALUE** - False

## Elements (Optional)

**OLD\_EMAIL** - The old email address for the contact.

**SEND\_AUTO\_REPLY** - If the database has an associated autoresponder and the SEND*AUTO\_REPLY element is set to* True\_, Acoustic Campaign  sends a confirmation when the contact is added to the database.

**ALLOW\_HTML** - If true, Acoustic Campaign interprets—and properly renders—HTML markup within a value in the text field. The default value is false, which converts HTML tags to character entity references (and tags will display as literal characters in the field).

**VISITOR\_ID** - Allows specifying a visitor key to associate a contact to a previously unknown visitor when using the Web Tracking feature.

```xml Example call with normal usage - XML
<Envelope>
  <Body>
    <UpdateRecipient>
      <LIST_ID>85628</LIST_ID>
      <CREATED_FROM>2</CREATED_FROM>
      <OLD_EMAIL>somebody@domain.com</OLD_EMAIL>
      <COLUMN>
        <NAME>CustomerId</NAME>
        <VALUE>123-45-6789</VALUE>
      </COLUMN>
      <COLUMN>
        <NAME>EMAIL</NAME>
        <VALUE>somebodynew@domain.com</VALUE>
      </COLUMN>
      <COLUMN>
        <NAME>Street_Address</NAME>
        <VALUE>123New Street</VALUE>
      </COLUMN>
      <SNOOZE_SETTINGS>
        <SNOOZED>true</SNOOZED>
        <RESUME_SEND_DATE>03/15/2015</RESUME_SEND_DATE>
      </SNOOZE_SETTINGS>
    </UpdateRecipient>
  </Body>
</Envelope>
```
```xml Example call to resubscribe - XML
<Envelope>
  <Body>
    <UpdateRecipient>
      <LIST_ID>85628</LIST_ID>
      <CREATED_FROM>2</CREATED_FROM>
      <OLD_EMAIL>somebody@domain.com</OLD_EMAIL>
      <COLUMN>
        <NAME>OPT_OUT</NAME>
        <VALUE>false</VALUE>
      </COLUMN>
      <COLUMN>
        <NAME>CustomerId</NAME>
        <VALUE>123-45-6789</VALUE>
      </COLUMN>
      <COLUMN>
        <NAME>EMAIL</NAME>
        <VALUE>somebodynew@domain.com</VALUE>
      </COLUMN>
      <COLUMN>
        <NAME>Street_Address</NAME>
        <VALUE>123NewStreet</VALUE>
      </COLUMN>
    </UpdateRecipient>
  </Body>
</Envelope>
```
```xml Example call with Sync Fields - XML
<Envelope>
  <Body>
    <UpdateRecipient>
      <LIST_ID>85628</LIST_ID>
      <CREATED_FROM>2</CREATED_FROM>
      <SYNC_FIELDS>
        <SYNC_FIELD>
          <NAME>EMAIL</NAME>
          <VALUE>somebody@domain.com</VALUE>
        </SYNC_FIELD>
        <SYNC_FIELD>
          <NAME>CustomerId</NAME>
          <VALUE>123-45-6789</VALUE>
        </SYNC_FIELD>
      </SYNC_FIELDS>
      <COLUMN>
        <NAME>EMAIL</NAME>
        <VALUE>somebody2@domain.com</VALUE>
      </COLUMN>
      <COLUMN>
        <NAME>Street_Address</NAME>
        <VALUE>123NewStreet</VALUE>
      </COLUMN>
    </UpdateRecipient>
  </Body>
</Envelope>
```
```xml Example response - XML
<Envelope>
  <Body>
    <RESULT>
      <SUCCESS>TRUE</SUCCESS>
      <RecipientId>33439394</RecipientId>
    </RESULT>
  </Body>
</Envelope>
```

## Elements (Results)

**SUCCESS** - *True* if successful; *False* if not.

**RecipientId** - Updated contact ID

**ORGANIZATION\_ID** - Your Acoustic Campaign organization

**VISITOR\_ASSOCIATION** - *Optional* Indicates whether the specified Visitor ID is valid and was associated to a profile.