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Import from Mailchimp

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Importing from Mailchimp is a move you start yourself, not a live two-way sync. Open Settings → Integrations → Mailchimp, paste your API key, and HARi shows the audiences, people, past campaigns and field matches it found. You choose the people list and the email field, then start. People who unsubscribed or bounced in Mailchimp are never sent marketing email from HARi. Their records are kept and stay active.

Section titled “Does a blank answer count as consent?”

No. A blank answer on a marketing consent field is not a yes. Leaving it empty is not a record that the person agreed to hear from you.

Hong Kong’s Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance requires informed consent before personal data is used in direct marketing. The Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data states that the consent “must be an explicit indication by the data subject and broadly covers an indication of no objection. In other words, silence cannot constitute consent.” The same page says failure to follow the direct-marketing rules “can result in a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for 3 years”, or a fine of $1,000,000 and imprisonment for 5 years if the data was passed to someone else for gain (Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong, The Ordinance at a Glance).

HARi does not fill that gap for you, and it does not treat a blank as a stop either. An empty answer does not block a send. When you write a campaign, you choose who is mailed. Only an answer of No keeps that person off marketing email. The field says so itself: “When this is No, the person is never sent marketing emails.”

If the same email address is No on any list that has a marketing consent field, HARi will not send marketing email to that address. That is separate from Mailchimp. Someone who unsubscribed or bounced there is kept off marketing email even when this field is blank. How a person leaves a HARi campaign later is covered in unsubscribe and preferences.

What comes across?

Section titled “What comes across?”

HARi reads your Mailchimp account. It does not change subscribers, audiences or campaigns there.

From MailchimpIn HARi
AudiencesLists. The review screen labels this Audience → Lists.
PeopleRecords on the people list you choose, matched on the email field you choose.
TagsTags on those people.
Consent recordsBrought across. The progress screen has a step named Recording consent.
Past campaignsCampaigns, counted as Campaigns imported.
Opens and clicksRecorded when Import per-recipient opens and clicks is left on. It starts on.

The review screen also says, in full: “People who unsubscribed or bounced in Mailchimp will never be sent marketing emails from HARi. Their records are kept and stay active.”

A Mailchimp field is copied only when it matches a field you already have. Not matched to a field names the rest, and those are not copied. HARi does not create a field for them. Add the field first (add a custom field) and run the import again.

How do I connect Mailchimp?

Section titled “How do I connect Mailchimp?”

You need a Mailchimp API key. HARi never asks for your Mailchimp password.

  1. Open Mailchimp’s API keys page: https://us1.admin.mailchimp.com/account/api/

    Mailchimp may send you to your own datacenter, such as us13.admin.mailchimp.com. That is expected.

  2. Create a key and give it a name you will recognise. HARi is enough.

    Mailchimp's Name New API Key screen, with HARi entered as the key name

  3. Copy the key when Mailchimp shows it. After that screen, Mailchimp does not show the full key again.

    Mailchimp's Copy New API Key screen, with the key value covered

  4. In HARi, open Settings → Integrations → Mailchimp. Paste the key into API key. The datacenter is the -us… ending of the key. HARi reads it from the key. You do not type it separately.

  5. Click Test connection. When the button reads Connected and names the account, click Continue.

How do I choose where people go?

Section titled “How do I choose where people go?”

On Ready to migrate your Mailchimp data, HARi shows how many audiences, people and past campaigns it found, and how many custom fields it auto-mapped, before you commit. Pick the list and the email field, read the matches, then start.

The Mailchimp review screen: counts for audiences, contacts, past campaigns and custom fields auto-mapped, the note that unsubscribed or bounced people stay active but are not mailed, a People list set to Contacts, an Email field set to Email, and suggested matches for Address, First Name, Last Name and Phone, with Birthday and Company listed as not matched

  1. People list — “Choose the list these people should be added to.” Any list of yours that has an email field can be chosen, not only Contacts. If none does, the screen says No list has an email field and asks you to add one, then come back.

  2. Email field — “The field on that list that holds their email address.”

  3. Field mapping — “Suggested matches are used for this import.” Each row names the Mailchimp field and the HARi field, marked Suggested match. You are not asked to edit the rows. Anything left over is named under Not matched to a field.

  4. When an email already exists — choose Keep the details already in HARi, or Update from Mailchimp.

  5. Advanced options — Import per-recipient opens and clicks is on. The line under it says it records who opened or clicked each campaign, and that you can turn it off for a very large account so the import takes less time.

  6. Click Start migration.

The same person in more than one Mailchimp audience becomes one record on the people list you chose. Each audience still becomes its own list. Running the import again matches people by that email address, and matches campaigns already imported, instead of adding a second copy.

A spreadsheet import is a different job. That path is import and export.

What do I see while it runs?

Section titled “What do I see while it runs?”

The import runs in the background. The screen says: “This runs in the background. You can close this window — it will keep running.”

Mailchimp import progress, with the background notice, a count of people handled, and the steps Reading the Mailchimp account, Importing audiences, Importing people, Importing tags, Recording consent, Importing campaigns and Finishing

The steps, in order, are Reading the Mailchimp account, Importing audiences, Importing people, Importing tags, Recording consent, Importing campaigns and Finishing. Opens and clicks recorded sits under that list when engagement is included. Cancel migration stops the run.

What does the finished report show?

Section titled “What does the finished report show?”

When the run finishes, the heading is Import complete. If some rows could not be imported, it reads Import complete, with errors, and Download the error report (CSV) is offered. If the run did not finish, the heading is The import stopped.

The finished Mailchimp report when some rows failed: Import complete, with errors, the same note that unsubscribed or bounced people are not mailed, and counts for Created, Updated, Skipped, Lists created, Lists updated, Campaigns imported, Opens and clicks, and Errors, plus Download the error report

The counts you may see are Created, Updated, Skipped, More than one match, Previously deleted, Archived, Lists created, Lists updated, Campaigns imported, Opens and clicks and Errors. More than one match, Previously deleted and Archived appear when that import recorded them. A zero that is on the report is shown as zero. Run again starts another import. Go to Lists leaves the report. Disconnect Mailchimp removes the connection. People and campaigns already imported stay in HARi.

Sending the mail afterwards is set up under email sending, not on this screen.

Section titled “Where do I tick Marketing consent field?”

The tickbox is on a Yes / No field, not on the Mailchimp screen. Open Settings → Schema, open the list, and add or edit that field. Tick Marketing consent field. The line under it reads: “When this is No, the person is never sent marketing emails.”

A list can have one marketing consent field. If you tick a second, HARi refuses the save and says: “This table already has a marketing consent field. Turn that one off first.”

Turning it off asks you to confirm. The dialog is titled Turn off marketing consent? and tells you how many people will be able to receive marketing emails again. The button is Turn it off. If HARi cannot count them, it says “We couldn’t count who would receive marketing emails again. Nothing was changed.” and the tick stays on.

Ticking the field does not mean a blank answer is a yes. A blank still is not consent, and it still does not block a send. You choose the audience. No is what keeps that person off marketing email.

What does not come across?

Section titled “What does not come across?”

Mailchimp automations, templates and Mandrill do not come across, and HARi does not send changes back to Mailchimp.

  • No live sync back to Mailchimp. People you add in HARi afterwards are not sent to Mailchimp. The point of the import is to leave Mailchimp, not to keep both systems in step. A shop that should stay in step is a different connection — see Shopify.
  • No automations or customer journeys. Those are not copied. Rebuild the ones you still want as workflows.
  • No Mailchimp templates. HARi has its own templates.
  • No Mandrill. Mailchimp Transactional is a different product and is not part of this import.
Section titled “Related”