Delete a profile via API

Hi there,

To add onto Paul’s answer, one way that you can streamline this process if you need to delete a large number of profiles programmatically is to create a list of profiles that you want to delete and add users to that list via API. You can then delete the users in that list via the UI, rather than deleting all of them individually.

Best,

Caroline

Dear Caroline,

I cannot find that delete functionality in the UI of the list

Can you give me some guidance please?

Thanks in advance,

Spyros

Hi @spyroslina2,

Question, are you not seeing the functionality at all? 

You should be able to request the DELETE function within your API calls itself. This deletes a list from an account. This is a destructive operation and cannot be undone. It will also remove flow triggers associated with the list.

curl --request DELETE \

      --url 'https://a.klaviyo.com/api/v2/list/LIST_ID?api_key=PRIVATE_KEY'

I would also refer to Paul’s linked articles as they also provide insight.

Best,

Alex

Dear Alex,

This thread is how to delete Profiles not Lists.

So I assumed the solution proposed by Caroline above was valid.

Caroline’s solution was : if you need to delete a large number of profiles programmatically is to create a list of profiles that you want to delete and add users to that list via API. You can then delete the users in that list via the UI, rather than deleting all of them individually. Unfortunately I cannot find that kind of functionality.

I’m searching a way on how to delete large amount on profiles.

Kind Regards,

Spyros

Hi @spyroslina2,

The method of deleting all profiles found within a list is how you can delete a large amount at once. As mentioned in our How to Bulk Delete or Suppress Contacts in Klaviyo, once you click into the Settings tab and navigate to Profile Maintenance. Here, you will see a Remove Profiles section where you choose the list or segment you wish to delete from a dropdown menu. Then, click Delete People.

This is the built in Klaviyo method to bulk deleting profiles.

Best,
Alex

It’s been 8 months, is there now a delete function in the API?

If not, what is the time line on such a feature?

In the meantime we’ll see what we can do from the client side.

Hey there @mac,

Thanks for inquiring about this! 

Currently there has been a request made in our team’s backend for this feature but we cannot offer a timeline right now on an exact release date.

At present I don’t believe there is a way to delete profiles via API as we typically try to keep anything destructive and permanent as manual as possible for precautions sake. This is due to the fact that deleting profiles will also remove a suppression marker from that profile. Hypothetically, if you accidentally delete a profile/contact via API it would be a negative experience for the contact and is a violation of GDPR/Can-Spam. For those reasons I believe such a feature has not been implemented directly into Klaviyo.

I hope to present an update here in the future as well.

Best,

Alex

Thank you for the extra info Alex, one last request and then I shall leave y’all alone for a bit.

Please clarify how deleting a profile would be a violation of the Can-Spam Act.

Hey there @mac!

Haha it’s no bother at all! That’s what the community is here for :)

Pretty much, when you remove a profile via API it removes the suppression marker from their profile. This takes away from their ability to have you stop emailing them, and spells out tough penalties for violations. What if someone were to opt out of emails, you delete that data from their profile, and manually add them back into a mailing list? That would cause a lot of errors and issues down the line.

Hope that helped!
Alex