Messaging
Mailchimp integration: sync subscribers to your audience and send newsletters from Mailchimp
Connect your Mailchimp account with an API key. Your OrqLabs newsletter subscribers sync to the audience you pick, newsletters go out from your own Mailchimp account, and opens, clicks and unsubscribes come back to OrqLabs.
- Connection type
- API key
- Scope
- Per project: every brand connects its own account
- Capabilities
- integrations.cap.newsletter, broadcast
- Setup time
- 10 min
What it does in OrqLabs
The Mailchimp integration hands the sending of OrqLabs' Newsletter module over to your own Mailchimp account. To connect, you fill in a single field: the API key, which looks like 0123…cdef-us21. The part after the dash is your account's data center, and OrqLabs uses it to find the right API address. Then, in the details panel, you pick the default audience, the from name and the reply-to address.
Confirmed subscribers are added to the audience as subscribed, unconfirmed ones as pending, with first and last name written to FNAME / LNAME. Mailchimp sends pending contacts its own double opt-in email, and nobody who hasn't confirmed receives a campaign. Contacts who unsubscribed in Mailchimp are never resubscribed by OrqLabs.
When you send a newsletter, a regular campaign is created in Mailchimp, the HTML and plain-text content is uploaded, and it's sent right away or scheduled. Sent, delivered, opens, clicks, unsubscribes and bounces are read from the Mailchimp report. Campaign sends are never retried automatically, so the same campaign can't reach your audience twice.
What you can automate
Send newsletters through Mailchimp
The email you build from blocks in the Newsletter module is created as a Mailchimp campaign and sent from your own account; sending fees are on your Mailchimp plan and don't use OrqLabs credits.
Audience sync
Subscribers from your signup form or a CSV import sync to the default audience; more than 50 contacts are added in batches of 500, and the status of contacts already in the audience isn't changed.
Double opt-in signups
Unconfirmed subscribers are added as pending and receive Mailchimp's confirmation email; they become subscribed once they click the link.
Scheduled sends and stats
Schedule a newsletter for later; after sending, opens, clicks, unsubscribes and bounces show up in the newsletter's stats in OrqLabs.
Setup at a glance
In Mailchimp, go to Profile → Extras → API keys → Create A Key and copy the whole key, including the dash and
usXX.Verify the domain of your reply-to address under Website → Domains.
In OrqLabs, go to Integrations → Mailchimp → Connect, pick the project and paste the API key.
In the card's details panel, under Newsletter defaults, pick the audience; its default sender details from Mailchimp fill any empty fields.
Check the from name and reply-to address and click Save, then use Test connection to see the account name and audience count.
Requirements
- A Mailchimp account with at least one audience.
- An API key created under Profile → Extras → API keys, copied in full with its data center suffix (e.g.
-us21). - The domain of your reply-to address verified in Mailchimp (Website → Domains).
- A from name and a reply-to address – both are required.
What you enter when connecting
- API key *
Good to know
- Mailchimp only schedules campaigns on the quarter hour (:00, :15, :30, :45); OrqLabs rounds the scheduled time up to the next quarter.
- Mailchimp allows at most 10 concurrent requests per account; if the limit is hit, OrqLabs waits and retries the sync.
- Campaign sends are never retried automatically; if Mailchimp rejects a send, OrqLabs deletes the draft it created and shows the error.
- Mailchimp API keys have access to the whole account, so create a key just for OrqLabs.
Frequently asked questions
What happens to unconfirmed subscribers?
They're added to Mailchimp as pending and receive Mailchimp's own confirmation email. Your campaigns don't reach them until they confirm.
Do campaigns leave a pile of drafts in Mailchimp?
No. If Mailchimp rejects a send, OrqLabs deletes the draft it created; and since sends are never retried automatically, the same campaign isn't created twice.
Who pays for sending?
Your Mailchimp plan. OrqLabs doesn't deduct credits for newsletters sent through Mailchimp.
Do I need to add an unsubscribe link?
No. If the HTML doesn't contain Mailchimp's *|UNSUB|* tag, OrqLabs appends one to the end of the email. For an alternative provider, see the Brevo page.
Get started with OrqLabs
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