Integrating Mail Chimp with AwareIM

tford

We use Mail Chimp to send email newsletters. Many, but not all, of the newsletter recipients are also in a CRM system built using AwareIM.

Using import / export features of both Mail Chimp and AwareIM, I have been able to store a person's Mail Chimp ID in AwareIM. Then the ID # is used in DISPLAY URL in AwareIM to display the Mail Chimp details for a particular person.

Sample URL to display Mail Chimp person:
https://us2.admin.mailchimp.com/lists/members/view?id=1234567890

where Mail Chimp ID is: 1234567890

The export of Mail Chimp data is available via:
http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/can-i-export-all-of-my-data-from-my-account

RLJB

Hi Tom

I have had something like this on my to do list for a while, thanks for the tip.

I'm just curious, to my mind the issue would always have been how to keep a mail chimp list "in sync" with your Aware crm list. Do you have any tips on how you best manage this based on your experiences?

Or do you just export from crm and import new list into a new mail chimp list each time?
And if so how do you get the unsubscribes back from mail chimp into your crm (or don't you bother)?

Thanks

tford

Or do you just export from crm and import new list into a new mail chimp list each time?

Yes, unfortunately it has to be done each time. At the moment, that's monthly for us.

It would be a home run if AwareIM allowed the integration with MailChimp API so a BO could be kept totally in sync with a Mail Chimp list.

And if so how do you get the unsubscribes back from mail chimp into your crm (or don't you bother)?

In our case, unsubscribes from MailChimp don't matter to our CRM. But they could be exported from MailChimp and imported into AwareIM CRM if you'd like.

RLJB

Thanks Tom - it's helpful to hear about other's approach.

FYI - I have been looking at trying to use the API for http://www.activecampaign.com/ as well. My reason for choosing this over MailChimp was that they have reseller accounts and allow you to set pricing, so we could offer a "white label" mailing solution and make a small margin on our users to recover the cost of the integration and support (which we would inevitably end up having to offer).

Mark HHP

Hey guys,

This question just came up yesterday, our online content manager and I were talking about Mailchimp and the CRM.

So has anyone improved on this? Or is it still a question of manually updating? On our CRM, every consultant logs whether the contact gets a newsletter etc via a yes/no button. So basically the CRM is just a catalogue of who receives what and then our content manager has to handle all of that manually. I'd really love Mailchimp sync the way everything else syncs with it. The Mailchimp ID is a great idea, but I'd like to do away with all of the manual nonsense. If someone unsubscribes through the newsletter, I'd ideally like it to go to the contact that matches that email and uncheck the newsletter block.

RLJB

A timely question... We have just started investigating the api with a view to writing an aware plugin for syncing aware records to a LIST in mail chimp, maybe getting some stats too.

It will be a few weeks, but I will report back with findings when known.

Mark HHP

Yes please, I am very interested. I'm currently rebuilding my system so it would be nice to build it in from the beginning.

tford

A timely question... We have just started investigating the api with a view to writing an aware plugin for syncing aware records to a LIST in mail chimp, maybe getting some stats too.

It will be a few weeks, but I will report back with findings when known.

Super Rod! I'm very interested as well. This would be a home run for us!

hpl123

Very nice, I would be interested in this as well.

tford

Rod,

1- Do you know if it's possible to send data back to AwareIM about who opens each MailChimp email & who clicks certain MailChimp email links?

2- If #1 is yes, do you plan to include that in your plug-in?

Thanks!