Description
A Category corresponds to a field appearing on your web sign-up page (or subscriber preference page) that collects specific information about the subscriber. Categories contain pre-defined selectable values that are displayed online as either check boxes or in a dropdown list. Examples include Age Group, Gender, Demographic Marketing Area, Favorite Music Genre, Financial Investing Risk Tolerance, Favorite Travel Destinations, and so forth. Each selection choice of a Category is a separate static segment which groups subscribers together in terms of their similar responses. Hence, a single Category is a collection of static segments that the marketer has grouped together.
For example, a category could be called "Music Preferences" with four static segments associated with it, "Rock Genre", "Jazz", "Blues", and "Classical". A person who selects "Rock Genre" in the "Music Preference" category then becomes added to the "Rock Genre" static segment.
To create a new static segment, use the account.addStaticSegment method.
Arguments
| Field | Description | Field Type | Required | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| category_name | The name of the category to be added. Category names must be unique.
Use the legacy.retrieve_segment method to obtain a list of categories and their ID numbers that exist for your account. Alternatively, you can view existing categories by logging into the application and then navigating to Segmentation > Categories. |
string | Yes | Music Preference |
Response
| Field | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| responseCode | A code indicating either success or failure of the operation. (see Error Codes below) | 120 |
| responseText | Human readable description of the response code | category has been added |
| category_id | If successful operation, this element will be set to the ID number identifying the newly added category. If unsuccessful operation, the value of this element will be zero. | 255475 |
| category_name | The name of category as provided in the input XML message. | Music Preference |
Response Codes
| Error Condition | responseText | responseData |
|---|---|---|
| Successful operation | 120 | category has been added |
| The category name already exists for the account | 121 | action not taken, category name already exists |
Example Post
<methodCall>
<methodName>account.addCategory</methodName>
<category_name>Music Preference</category_name>
</methodCall>
Example Response
<methodResponse>
<item>
<methodName><![CDATA[account.addCategory]]></methodName>
<responseCode><![CDATA[120]]></responseCode>
<responseText><![CDATA[category has been added]]></responseText>
<responseData>
<category_id><![CDATA[255475]]></category_id>
<category_name><![CDATA[Music Preference]]></category_name>
</responseData>
<responseNum><![CDATA[1]]></responseNum>
</item>
</methodResponse>
Example Error
<methodResponse>
<item>
<methodName><![CDATA[account.addCategory]]></methodName>
<responseCode><![CDATA[121]]></responseCode>
<responseText><![CDATA[action not taken, category name already exists]]></responseText>
<responseData>
<category_id><![CDATA[255475]]></category_id>
<category_name><![CDATA[Music Preference]]></category_name>
</responseData>
<responseNum><![CDATA[1]]></responseNum>
</item>
</methodResponse>