Notes and tips for managing your LGL/Mailchimp integration

Once you've set up an integration with Mailchimp and connected to a Mailchimp audience, here are some notes to keep in mind and tips to follow that can help you manage the integration.

In this article:

Notes (things to keep in mind)
Tips

Notes (things to keep in mind)

LGL can sync to only one Mailchimp audience at a time

This means that when you connect your LGL account to your Mailchimp account, you can choose one Mailchimp audience. But you do have the ability to sync to multiple segments or groups in Mailchimp. This article describes more about how those functions work.

You must set the Mailchimp status for a constituent in order for that email record to be synced into Mailchimp

  • Setting a status of "Subscribed" will cause the preferred email address for the constituent to be added to Mailchimp
  • Setting a status of "Removed" will cause the email address for the constituent to be removed from Mailchimp
  • Deleting a constituent in LGL will not remove the constituent from your Mailchimp audience
  • If you need to resubscribe a constituent whose email has bounced, first change the email address in LGL and then click the “Resubscribe” button on the constituent details page in LGL
  • If you need to resubscribe an unsubscribed constituent, click the “Resubscribe” button on the constituent details page in LGL

Only the preferred email address for a constituent will be sent to Mailchimp

If you have multiple email addresses for any given constituent, only the one that is marked “Preferred” will be added to Mailchimp.

How syncing works

Syncing happens automatically each night, but you can initiate it manually by clicking the “Push records” button on your Mailchimp Integration page. If you use this method to sync, the process can take 1 to 2 hours to complete.

You can see the overall status of the sync on the Mailchimp Integration page. Pending records have not yet been synced, errors are not able to be synced, and so on.

Data comes back from Mailchimp to LGL nightly

Updates from Mailchimp land in your Integration Queue. For the most part, they just update the constituent’s Mailchimp status, but new constituents might be added (if new subscribers were added to your audience in Mailchimp). Additions and updates can be accepted or rejected from within the Integration Queue.

What happens when you change the email address in LGL for someone who's already in your Mailchimp list?

If you change the email address in LGL for someone who is included in your Mailchimp subscribe list, the next sync to Mailchimp will include the switch to the new email address. The old email address should then disappear from Mailchimp.

An exception to this is if the new email address already exists in Mailchimp, LGL would link to the existing email address and wouldn't remove the old one. 

Tips

To avoid errors in syncing, minimize the number of required fields in your Mailchimp audience

Within the audience you create in Mailchimp (which you can access in your Mailchimp account), it’s possible to make fields required. First and last name are important to include. But we don’t recommend requiring much data beyond that because doing so will result in failed updates from LGL if the data is not available.

You can update the required fields in your Mailchimp audience by going into the audience in your Mailchimp account, clicking on "Settings", and then clicking on “Audience fields and *|MERGE|* tags”:

You can see here which fields are required. If any beyond first name and last name are marked as “Required”, you can unmark them here:        

You can sub-segment contacts in your Mailchimp audience in two different ways: By using linked categories or tags

  • Linked categories work well in cases where you want to “assign” constituents to specific groups in LGL and Mailchimp.
  • Tags are good for pushing a targeted, query-based list. For example, you can search for donors this year, add them to an LGL list, and then connect that list to a tag in Mailchimp.
  • In both cases, only “subscribed” constituents will be sent to Mailchimp.

Review the status of your integration in Settings > Integration > Mailchimp

  • “Record Progress” shows the status of the sync: Errored records could not be synced; “Processed” records have been pushed over to Mailchimp; and “Pending” records are in the queue waiting to be synced.
  • “Record Status” shows the result of the sync. Keep in mind that only “subscribed” records will be pushed to Mailchimp.

Bulk unsubscribe "Do not email" constituents from Mailchimp

A Dashboard alert keeps you up to date on the presence of any Mailchimp-subscribed constituents whose email address is classified as "No valid email", "Do not email", or "Deceased":

You can also click the "Email me?" option to receive the alert by email:

By clicking on the link, you will be taken to the Needs Review page in your Mailchimp Integration Settings area, where you will have options to remove those constituents. 

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