MailChimp - Integration Checklist

Owned by Rhea Morrison (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Oct 26, 2017
3 min read




Connector launch

REQUIRED Scenarios to test

REQUIRED Comments from the integration 

Check the box if the test is OK + add comments

Comments from the testing 

Check the box if the test is OK

When I launch a new connector on my dashboard, I am redirected to the connector page

  • OK
  • OK

When I enter the correct credentials in the connector to connect to MailChimp, I am redirected to MailChimp to finish the integration and then redirected to the connector page

  • OK
  • OK

When I enter incorrect credentials in the connector to connect to MailChimp, a message is displayed on the connector page telling me my credentials are incorrect

  • OK
  • OK

When I launch a connector already linked to my MailChimp account on my dashboard, I am redirected to the app directly, not to the connector page

  • OK
  • OK



Data sharing

API Analysis considerations / API Limitations

Only applicable if the integration uses the app's public API

  • Does the API support oAuth or API keys ? Do we need to request these credentials to the application provider ? (developer portal, contact support, ...)
  • Is there an expiration date on the API access (oauth token expiration for example)
  • Can we filter data fetched from the API based on the last modification timestamp ?
  • Which entities are read-only ?
  • What are the unique constraints on entities so we can apply merging rules ?


MailChimp API documentation can be found at: http://developer.mailchimp.com/documentation/mailchimp/reference/overview/

The user enables use of their data with single sign on. API access does not expire. Records can be fetched as well as created and updated.

JSON entity
{
	"body": {
		"lists": [
			{
				"id": "003cad5848",
				"name": "List A" 
			 	 ...
			}
		]
	}
}


List members are retrieved from Mailchimp using the list id, and synched as contacts in Connec!

A user can select any of their Mailchimp lists to sync its members with Connec!.

When syncing to Connec!, the corresponding list id for each member is saved in the Connec! contact’s code attribute, providing a filter for syncing contacts from Connec! to Mailchimp.

A Connec! contact of MailChimp origin will only sync updates to the MailChimp list it belongs to.


Pay attention to your existing users

An integration with existing data is ALWAYS tricky. If you want to onboard your customers with existing data in MailChimp and another app, a management of duplicates must be anticipated. Please, contact us before doing so.

Pay attention to your users deleting their Maestrano account

Stop sharing data with Connec! for deleted organizations

How to test your integration

To test the data sharing between apps, create an organization on Maestrano, with:

- an Impac!™ Dashboard
- an accounting app: Xero or Quickbooks
- a HR app: Orange HRM 
- a CRM app: vTiger

To test the data mapping between MailChimp and Connec!, install Postman to query Connec! API (or use a command line on a consol) with a HTTP Basic authentication using your own API credentials

REQUIRED Scenarios to test

Check the box if the scenario will be developed

REQUIRED Comments from the integration 

Check the box if the test is OK + add comments

Comments from the testing 

Check the box if the test is OK

- Data shared between MailChimp and other apps 


  • OK


When I create or edit a contact in MailChimp, it is shared with other applications syncing Contact entities where the fields required by the other application are present in the Contact from MailChimp.

When I edit a contact in Connec!, the appropriate list member is updated in Mailchimp. 

  • OK


  • OK


When I click on "Synchronise historical data" my historical data from MailChimp are imported in Connec! and I can see them in other apps

  • OK



Precisions regarding data mapping

In this section are listed advices to map non-trivial mapping


The only required field for a list member in MailChimp is email address. Other fields will be nested under the attribute merge_fields in the MailChimp API.

MailChimp allows for custom fields. All custom fields will be available for the user to match with a Connec! field for synchronization. The Connec! fields available for matching include first name, last name, job title, description, birth date, and company name.


Field name on Connec! APIField name on MailChimp APIComments

email/address

email_addressREQUIRED - not available for user matching
birth_datemerge_fields/BIRTHDAY
first_namemerge_fields/FNAME
last_namemerge_fields/LNAME
job_titlemerge_fields/MMERGE1Job title is a custom field in MailChimp.



(TODO/check: [1] Connec! originating contacts should never get a list id filter when syncing back from MailChimp. Only those contacts originally synced from a MailChimp list should get this filter [2] Handle subscription status to MailChimp emails when creating new list member from Connec! [3] Confirm that there is a filter on Connec! entities requiring an email address when syncing to MailChimp. [4] If a contact has been deleted from Connec! will it delete in MailChimp? Or will MailChimp re-sync the contact? [5] Find way to get custom field names from MailChimp API))