Mailchimp Integration Guide

Connecting your Rhythm instance with your Mailchimp Email Marketing account allows your association to use data collected in Rhythm to email specific groups of people.  You can view detailed engagement metrics including clicks, opens, bounces, and unsubscribes, directly from the activity tab of any contact record in the Rhythm console.

What information is needed before setup?

From Rhythm

Before setting up the integration, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or your Project Manager to enable the integration.

From Mailchimp

• Username
• Password

What needs to be configured?

Before setting up the integration, please reach out to your Rhythm point of contact to enable the integration in your tenant. 

Basic Setup in Rhythm

Security and Settings

1. Click Integrations
2. Under Marketing Automation click Mailchimp
3. Click Create Mailchimp account on the top right
4. You will then be redirected to Mailchimp and asked to log in
5. Once logged in you will be asked to authorize the connection between Rhythm and Mailchimp 
6. After you have authorized the connection, you will need to enter contact information. 
   1. Account Name
   2. Your Association
   3. Address
   4. Phone Number
   5. Campaign From Name
   6. From Email Defaults
7. Click Save on the contact information page

Note: The contact information you enter will be included on all lists Rhythm sends to Mailchimp

List Setup in Rhythm

To send contact lists to Mailchimp, you can create new Rhythm queries or integrate existing ones that have contact information. These queries must first be saved under My Organization’s queries.

Defining Query Criteria
Rhythm recommends using the following fields as query criteria:

• Email Opt Out = No
• Contact status does not equal inactive or deceased.  
  • Note: Rhythm contact status options are active, inactive, suspended and deceased.   This field indicates whether contacts can interact with the Rhythm portal and is distinct from membership status.

Defining Query Output fields

Mailchimp recommends including the following fields in your queries; they can be used as merge fields in emails created in Mailchimp:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Preferred Address Line1
• Preferred Address Line2 (optional)
• Preferred Address City
• Preferred Address State
• Preferred Address Postal Code
• Preferred Address Country
• Preferred Phone Number
• Preferred Email Address

Creating a new Query

To create a new query to be sent as a contact list, follow these steps in the app of your choice:

1. Click Queries
2. Click New Query
3. Select Contacts > Contacts
4. Add the Mailchimp recommended fields
5. Add any additional fields needed
6. Set the criteria to pull specific contacts
   1. Within Rhythm we offer configurable communication types that would be best suited for this
7. Click Run 
8. Spot-check a few records to ensure they do meet the criteria you specified
9. Click Options
10. Click Save Query

Tip: Use a descriptive name for the query as the query name will be pushed to Mailchimp

Helpful hint: You cannot integrate private queries. Ensure the query you are using or creating is public.

Integrating an existing Query

To send an existing query as a contact list, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Contacts + Organizations application
2. Click Queries
3. Click My Organizations Queries
4. Find the query you want to send to Mailchimp
5. Click the chevron on the right-hand side 
6. Click Integrate
7. Select the Mailchimp integration option
8. Click Save Changes
9. Once integrated, Rhythm will send updated query results to Mailchimp every hour

Finding Integrated queries

1. Navigate to the Contacts + Organizations application
2. Click Queries
3. Click Integrated Queries
4. Here you will see a list of all queries that are integrate

Creating a Suppression List

Suppression lists are lists of people who you do not want to send to Mailchimp. These can be labeled with the following steps

1. Navigate to the CRM app
2. Click Queries
3. Click My Organizations Queries
4. Click the Chevron on the right side for your desired query
5. Click Suppression List
6. Select your Mailchimp account
7. Click Save Changes

When creating your suppression list we recommend that you use the following criteria:

• Email opt out = Yes

Removing a List from Mailchimp

Removing a list from Mailchimp needs to be done in Rhythm and Mailchimp.

In Rhythm

1. Click Queries
2. Click Integrated Queries
3. Click the red trash can to delete the integrated query

In Mailchimp

1. Click Manage Audience drop-down
2. Choose View audiences
3. Check the box next to the audience you want to delete
4. Click Delete

Basic Set Up in Mailchimp

For assistance in setting up Mailchimp, please start with this knowledge base article from Mailchimp

How do we test the integration?

Contact Lists 

Once the sync occurs between Rhythm and Mailchimp, contact lists will appear in your Mailchimp instance under Audience>All Contacts. This will present you with all contacts contained in specific lists. You can then use the “Segments” tab in Mailchimp to narrow down the results.

Suppression Lists 

Suppression lists are for contacts that have opted out of receiving marketing emails. The field to add as criteria for suppression lists is the “Opt Out” field or any custom field you may be using for that purpose. The suppression list is meant to exclude anyone from emails so you will not need to add the Opt Out field to other queries. These lists will appear in Mailchimp under Lists & subscribers and then Suppressions in the left menu. 

To test, confirm that no contacts in the Suppression List in Rhythm appear in other MailChimp lists.

Engagement Metric Writebacks

Information related to statistics of emails is written back to Rhythm from Mailchimp. This information can be found on the contact record in the CRM application. This will track the opens, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes of an email.

To test the writebacks

• Send a message to a test contact in Rhythm
• Interact with that message (open or click through)
• Confirm the engagement information populates on the Rhythm contact record

Helpful hint: Please note that output fields selected in your query will only appear in Mailchimp if at least one record in the query has a value.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: My list is not showing up in Mailchimp, what is the problem?

A: First, check your subscription to ensure you have not met your limit for creating lists. If the problem persists, please contact our support team. 

Q: When does the sync occur?

A: We push all Mailchimp lists every hour on the hour.

Q: What happens if someone clicks the unsubscribe link in the email?

A: If someone clicks the unsubscribe link in a campaign email, their contact communication preferences will be updated in Rhythm to reflect that change. 

Q: If I change my query and remove some contacts from a list will they be deleted from the list in Mailchimp?

A: Yes, we dynamically respond to alterations in your queries. If you remove some contacts from a list then they will remain in Mailchimp with their statistics. If they are subscribed to other lists they will remain on those. 

Q: If a contact record is sent with partial information how do we fix it?

A: Once the contact record’s information is completed in Rhythm, it will resolve itself on the next push.

Q: Mailchimp offers contacts the ability to unsubscribe from a list, when users are pushed will they be resubscribed?

A: No, we maintain a list of all contact communication preferences. If a contact unsubscribes from a list, their preferences will be updated. During the next data push they will not be in that list.

Q: Can I integrate a private query with Mailchimp?

A: No. For a query to be used in any integration, it must be a public query in the “My Organization’s Queries” folder.

Q: How can I tell if a query has been integrated with Mailchimp?

A:  When you are viewing all saved queries, there is an “Integrations” column where you can see if a query is used in any integration.

Q: Can every query be used to define a list?

A: No. A query must include contact information to be eligible to be used as a list in Mailchimp. For instance, a query that only returns chapters and related fields is not eligible since it does not contain any contact information.

Q: Are all email addresses on a contact subscribed to the list (will one contact receive multiple emails on different addresses)?

A: No. Only the primary “Email Address” field is used for bulk communications.

Q: Can I define a global suppression list?

A: Yes. When you save a query that will be synchronized with Mailchimp, you can optionally indicate that this will be a suppression list. Any contact that appears on any suppression list will not be sent to Mailchimp, even if they appear on other lists.

Q: Can an email subscriber unsubscribe from emails from the association?

A: From the member portal, members will have the option to choose the categories of email campaigns in which they choose to take part. There is also an option to not receive emails from all categories. It is important to note this option does not exclude users from confirmation emails and receipt emails. 

Q: Can I administratively unsubscribe a contact in the Rhythm console?

A: You can either enable the global email opt-out on a contact, or define a new query that includes the contact and save it as a suppression list. Either method will ensure the contact is no longer sent as a subscriber to Mailchimp.

Q: If a contact has unsubscribed from everything, do they still receive transactional emails (order confirmations, event registration, payment receipts, password reset emails, etc)?

A: Yes. Transactional emails are exempted from the global opt-out.

Q: If a contact has unsubscribed from everything, do they still receive 1-to-1 emails initiated from Rhythm?

A: Yes. Direct emails are exempted from the global opt-out.

Q: If I delete a query that was integrated with Mailchimp are the related activities and communication preferences deleted from contacts?

A: No. Deleting a query that was integrated with Mailchimp does not delete any data except the query itself. This means that all activities, communication preferences, and communication types will remain the same.

Q: What happens when someone clicks the “Unsubscribe” button in the marketing email?

A: When someone clicks the “Unsubscribe” button in the marketing email, the integration will write back to Rhythm to remove them from that list.