Please note
Depending on the plan you have with Mailchimp will determine what options are available to you – for information as to what is covered in their plans – see here for details
Mailchimp supports a special campaign type that allows a sequence of emails to a Mailchimp audience member to be triggered by different types of events and activities.
There are two types of events that can be triggered within Mailchimp; Marketing Automations (classic automation) and Supporter Journeys.
Please note
Mailchimp are in the process of sunsetting the Classic Automations feature. The option is now only available to accounts that have previously created a Classic Automation. Click here for further details
If your Mailchimp account does not have this feature, the suggestion is to use a Donorfy Trigger coupled with the Supporter Journey's option.
Using Donorfy's Mailchimp integration, there are several ways of triggering a journey sequence for a constituent. These are detailed below:
Mailchimp Automation Type: Classic Automation
A journey sequence may be initiated for any constituent when they are added to a List in Donorfy.
This may be configured as follows:
- First, identify the Mailchimp Audience that will be used to map to your Donorfy list, and then create the Mailchimp Automation sequence and set it to be triggered on Signup to the audience.
This Mailchimp article has information on the different types of automation trigger. - Next you need to link the same Mailchimp Audience to your Donorfy List. Donorfy's Mailchimp integration provides a mechanism for a Mailchimp Audience to be updated from a Donorfy list - i.e. Constituents on the Donorfy list will be synced to Mailchimp as members of a particular Mailchimp Audience.
See this article for details on setting up this link.
The process of updating the Mailchimp Audience from Donorfy may be executed manually at any time.
Mailchimp Automation Type: Classic Automation
A journey sequence may be initiated for any Constituent when a Tag is added to that Constituent’s Profile in Donorfy, or when a Channel or Purpose is enabled for the constituent.
This is similar to the approach described in ‘When a Constituent is added to a List”, but uses Donorfy's facility for mapping Tags, Channels or Purposes in Donorfy to Groups or Tags in Mailchimp.
Configuration is similar to that for starting a journey sequence when a Constituent is added to a list, with the following exceptions:
- the Mailchimp Automation sequence should be set to start either when a Tag is added to a Mailchimp Audience member, or when an Audience member joins a Group
- the appropriate mapping to a Mailchimp Tag or Group must be configured within the mappings set within the Donorfy to the Mailchimp audience.
Mailchimp Automation Type: Classic Automation
A supporter sequence may be initiated whenever a donation is made from a Web Widget, Form or a Campaign Donation Page as well as optionally specifying a purpose and corresponding question (not via a Donorfy Form) for marketing opt-in.
You must first link Donorfy to Mailchimp as described in this article. You will then need to identify the Mailchimp audience to receive details of donors.
Your Classic Automation will need to have been created within Mailchimp.
Selecting the Automation in a:
Web Widget
On the Web Widget Settings page, under the section ‘Supporter Journey’, you can select from a drop-
down of your active Classic Automations.
Optionally you can also specify a Purpose and corresponding question for marketing opt-in and assign the text that you would like to display.
Donation Form
Within the donation Element of a Form, the Support Journey Settings section can be found within the Processing tab.
You can select from a drop-down of your active Classic Automations and optionally you can also specify a Purpose.
Campaign Donations Page
With a Donorfy Campaign, click on the Donation page. Towards the bottom of the page is the Supporter Journey section, you can select from a drop-down of your active Classic Automations.
Optionally you can also specify a Purpose and corresponding question for marketing opt-in and assign the text that you would like to display.
Mailchimp Automation Type: Classic Automation or Supporter Journey
Within Donorfy Triggers, you can opt to use an Action of:
Initiate Mailchimp Automation (using a Classic Automation)
Or
Initiate Mailchimp Journey (using a Supporter Jourmey)
You can find out more about Triggers here: Donorfy Triggers
Creating a journey sequence in Mailchimp
To create your Journey sequence for your audience in Mailchimp you would need to select the Automations section in Mailchimp:
Here there are two options provided: Classic Automation and Create Journey
Select the Classic Automation option and select Subscriber Activity, followed by the Welcome new subscribers option:
Depending on your Mailchimp Plan, select the relevant option from those provided. Next, Name your Campaign and select your Audience from the drop-down List
Click Begin
Complete your automation.
When you next sync your Data to Mailchimp new additions to your selected audience will be directed via that particular automaton.
Also, any new additions via a Mailchimp sign up form will be included in this automation.
Select the Classic Automation option and select the Tags option and then choose Email subscribers when they’re tagged:
Next, name your Campaign and select your Audience from the drop-down List
Click Begin
Complete your automation.
When you next sync your Data to Mailchimp any audience members who have that particular Tag newly added will be directed via that particular automaton.
Also, any new additions via a Mailchimp sign-up form (and has that particular Tag) will be included in this automation.
Select the Classic Automation option and hose the API option and then select API 3.0
Next, name your Campaign and select your Audience from the drop-down List
Click Begin
Complete your automation.
Donorfy will trigger the entire automation sequence for a donor using a single API call when a donation is made. It will check that an email can be sent - has a valid email address and is not opted out of the Purpose that is defined in the Form/Widget settings.
Data passed to Mailchimp will consist of:
The email address, first name, and last name will be added for those not already the audience in Mailchimp.
Select the Create Journey option.
Next, name your Journey and click Start Building.
Complete your Supporter Journey, starting with how a contact starts their journey – choose the option of API & Integrations
Choose Customer Journey’s AP and start to build your Journey – it can be as simple or as complex as you want this to be.
Once completed, Save.
You will need to copy the URL from the Contact Joins part of the Journey as then add it to the Mailchimp Customer Journey API URL field within the Trigger. The Journey Id and Step Id will then self-populate.
Donorfy will trigger the Journey sequence for a donor using a single API call when a donation is made. It will check that an email can be sent - a valid email address and is not opted out of the email Channel (email set as unknown or fully opted-in will be sent).
Data passed to Mailchimp will consist of:
NOTE: The constituent will need to be existing within the Mailchimp Audience for this Trigger action to be successful. This can be done by delaying the Trigger send and ensuring a daily sync to Mailchimp of all new Constituents.
If you would like only opted-in emails to be sent
If you would like only opted-in emails to be sent to the automation, then it is suggested to use a Trigger with a List that features your opt-in preferences.
Please note
Donorfy is unable to obtain a list of Mailchimp automations if the Mailchimp account includes any archived automations.
Please delete or unarchive any archived Mailchimp automations before trying to configure this feature.
Monitoring the progress of a Mailchimp automation
The number of audience members currently at each stage of an automation campaign may be viewed directly in Mailchimp:
The Donorfy Academy features a learning course for Mailchimp - enrol here
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