Mailchimp Integration

Gleam allows you to send email subscribers to Mailchimp. To enable this feature, you must have either the Pro plan or above.

Integrating Mailchimp

You can enable Mailchimp Integration on the Pro plan & above. Simply navigate to Settings > Integrations then turn on Mailchimp.

Connect your Mailchimp API Key to Gleam

You will need to input your API Key, then name a default list you want Gleam to send users to. This list must exist in Mailchimp first otherwise we won't have anywhere to send emails.

As of recently we also support using Mailchimp Groups and Tags. This is not required by default, but if you want to segment users from different campaigns into different groups you can use this option.

Custom Field Sync Support

We support the syncing of Custom Fields for Mailchimp through our Custom Field Sync feature, you can set this up via the Custom Field Mapping button when setting up the integration.

Sending Users to a List

In order to send users to a list you must use the Subscribe action type.

Simply enter in the name of the corresponding list in Mailchimp you want to send users to.

Subscribe to a Newsletter action with Mailchimp integration connected

Double Opt-In

Gleam supports the ability to enable double opt-in when you send contacts to a list. However we do not validate whether or not the double opt-in has been confirmed, only that the user was originally sent to Mailchimp correctly.

You must validate these users manually when picking a winner (and invalidate as necessary).

Why Do You Not Validate Double Opt-in

Double opt-in is a bit subjective depending on the user:

  • Some users may confirm straight away
  • Some may never confirm
  • Some may confirm in a few hours or in a few days

This would require us to continually check the double opt-in multiple times then also display different messages in the widget depending on the status. Doing this has larger implications as we currently support over 20+ email providers, that all deal with double opt-ins in very different ways.

Supported Fields

We currently only support 3 field names for Mailchimp:

  • EMAIL
  • FNAME
  • LNAME

You must setup a list to use all 3 if you which to get users names into your list.

Testing Your Mailchimp Integration

In order to test if emails successfully send to Mailchimp you need to do the following:

  • Have a competition created with a Subscribe action
  • Ensure that this action is linked to an existing list in Mailchimp
  • Enter the action manually from your competition dashboard
  • The action will become invalidated (since we automatically invalidate admin actions)
  • Go to the Actions tab for that competition, then make your action valid
  • It should appear in Mailchimp within a few minutes

Common Issues

I'm trying to test Mailchimp but it's not appearing

  • Gleam automatically invalidates actions from admins (for testing purposes), check to see if the actions you performed are valid or not. Invalid actions are not sent to email providers.
  • In order to avoid this we recommend testing Mailchimp in a private or incognito window with a valid email address.

Someone entered my campaign but they aren't in Mailchimp

  • It can take a few minutes
  • Did they perform an 'Email subscribe' action? Only Email subscription actions are sent to Mailchimp automatically.
  • Do you have the "Require double opt-in" option enabled? If so, they only appear after they have confirmed their subscription
  • Are you checking the correct list? Check your settings for your campaign first then if nothing is set check your site settings.
  • Do you have other required fields that we're not sending? i.e. First Name / Last Name or address, this will cause the integration to fail.

How can I send a subset of data/non-subscriber actions to Mailchimp?

  • Do a CSV export of your campaign, edit it, and then import in to Mailchimp

What is my API Key?

  • Find this under 'Account Settings' > 'Extras' > 'API Keys'
Tip

Settings for Mailchimp are available by editing your site via the dropdown in the Gleam sidebar then going to the 'Integrations' tab.

When setting your Mailchimp settings you must assign a default list to send subscribers to. You can also set a list per entry method when editing your campaign "How to enter" section.

See Next Article

Mailjet Integration

With this integration you can connect our Subscribe to Newsletter action type to your Mailjet account to send leads over to any specified list in real-time.