commonsku & Mailchimp

commonsku's Mailchimp integration moves contact data to Mailchimp for marketing purposes. Then, once you send an email campaign through Mailchimp, it loops back to commonsku and adds details to the contact's page.

commonsku's Mailchimp integration gives you the ability to sync your commonsku contact information directly with Mailchimp! You can decide which contacts to sync based on things like their industry, status(es), and tags. Once you sync a contact, any updates you make in commonsku are reflected in Mailchimp in real-time. This article explains how to connect to Mailchimp, how to use the synchronization tool, and the best practices to follow.

On this page:

How to connect your Mailchimp account to commonsku

How to use the synchronization tool

How to disconnect your Mailchimp account from commonsku

Contact details in Mailchimp

New Marketing tab and icons

Best practices

How to fix error codes

FAQ

How to connect your Mailchimp account to commonsku

To connect to Mailchimp:

  1. Click your Profile icon (top right corner of commonsku) > Settings > Company Settings
  2. Click the Integrations section > Marketing 
  3. Select the Mailchimp tab
  4. Click the Connect to Mailchimp button > enter your Mailchimp login details > click Log In > click Allow


Users need permission to Manage users, billing, and company settings to have access to Mailchimp.

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How to use the synchronization tool

Learn how to:

To update your custom merge fields in Mailchimp:

  1. In Mailchimp, click to view All Contacts and open a list of all contacts in your audience
  2. Select SettingsAudience fields and *|MERGE|* tags
  3. Ensure that your custom merge fields are not marked as required; required merge fields prevent the sync from working properly
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the list and click Save Changes

To sync your contact information with Mailchimp:

  1. Head to your Profile icon (top right corner of commonsku) > Settings > Company Settings > Integrations > Marketing > Mailchimp, click the "Select Audience" drop-down menu and select which audience you would like to synchronize with.
  2. Click the Configure button 
  3. If you would like to narrow down which contacts are synchronized, you may use the “Preferences” section to filter inclusively by “Client Status”, “Department”, or “Industry”
  4. On the right side, you'll see the number of contacts that fit the filters you've entered; select Start Sync to begin syncing the information (you can navigate away from the sync, but we recommend keeping the window open and working in a separate tab so you can debug errors and confirm the sync)
  5. Once the sync is complete, you'll see the number of:
  • Contacts synced
  • Contacts pending
  • Errors - click into the "Failed" tab to view the error details; select the contact's row to be redirected to their contact page
  • Archived contacts - click into the "Archived" tab to view contacts that were archived in Mailchimp; select the contact's row to be redirected to their contact page
  • Unsubscribed contacts - click into the "Unsubscribed" tab to view the contacts that were unsubscribed in Mailchimp; select the contact's row to be redirected to their contact page
 6. Click Close

    Your contact data will continue to sync to Mailchimp unless it has been toggled off. 

    commonsku Tip: You cannot add new contacts to commonsku when a sync is activated for the very first time. Make sure your team does not need to add new contacts before you start your first sync.

    To sync failed contacts:

    1. Head to your Profile icon (top right corner of commonsku) > Settings > Company Settings > Integrations > Marketing > Mailchimp
    2. View Sync button
    3. Select the Retry failed/pending button or Retry archived/deleted button, depending on which one populates

    To refresh a sync:

    1. Head to your Profile icon (top right corner of commonsku) > Settings > Company Settings > Integrations > Marketing > Mailchimp
    2. Click the View Sync button
    3. Click the Refresh button

    Refreshing a sync will prompt commonsku to show any errors, unsubscribed, or archived contacts, based on changes in Mailchimp since the information was first synced.

    There are a few reasons you may need to stop a sync:

    • You want to change your preference filters
    • You want to disconnect Mailchimp from commonsku
    • You want to switch the audience
    • commonsku's Support Team is bulk importing your clients

    To stop a sync:

    1. Click the View Sync button
    2. Click Stop Sync > OK

    To restart a sync:

    1. Click the Start Sync button
    2. Enter your new parameters and being a new sync or restart your previous sync

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    How to disconnect your Mailchimp account from commonsku

    If Mailchimp is actively synced with commonsku:

    1. Head to your Profile icon (top right corner of commonsku) > Settings > Company Settings > Integrations > Marketing > Mailchimp
    2. Click the View Sync button
    3. Click Stop Sync > OK
    4. Click the Close Button
    5. Select the Disconnect Mailchimp button > OK

    If Mailchimp is not actively synced with commonsku:

    1. Head to your Profile icon (top right corner of commonsku) > Settings > Company Settings > Integrations > Marketing > Mailchimp
    2. Click the Disconnect Mailchimp button > OK

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    Contact details in Mailchimp

    commonsku will create a new (CSKU) audience fields in Mailchimp with each contact's:

    • Email address
    • First name
    • Last name
    • Position
    • Phone number
    • Extension
    • Department
    • Address state/province
    • Address country
    • Account status (client status)
    • Sales rep first name (client rep)
    • Sales rep last name (client rep)
    • Industry
    • URL (link to contact page)
    • Client URL (link to client page)
    • Client Tags
    • Contact Tags
    • Sync status (active or inactive)

    Mailchimp's audience list will also show

    • whether or not the contact subscribed to email marketing
    • the data source (commonsku)
    • the contact's rating
    • the date the contact was first synced with Mailchimp
    • the date the contact was last synced with Mailchimp

    recording - 2021-11-25T152113.438

    Any changes made to a commonsku contact will flow to Mailchimp in real-time, as long as the contact is actively synced. The only detail commonsku will not change in Mailchimp is a contact's marketing preferences.

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    New Marketing tab and icons

    Contacts with a "No Marketing" flag in commonsku will not sync to Mailchimp. These contacts will show as  NoMarketing (no marketing) in their:

    • Clients tab
    • Client page's Profile tab
    • Client page's Contact tab
    • Contact page

    Contacts that are actively synced with Mailchimp will display the Mailchimp logo mailchimp-logo in the same locations listed above.

    download-Nov-26-2021-08-39-59-78-PM

    Their contact pages will also have a Marketing tab that shows:

    • The last date/time the contact was synced
    • Email campaigns the contact is a part of and any opens/clicks

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    Best practices

    Here are a few best practices to help keep in mind while creating and updating your contacts in commonsku and Mailchimp:

    • How to manage Mailchimp audiences - You can create multiple audiences in Mailchimp, depending on your subscription. Although you can sync details with your main audience, or a sub-audience, the best practice is to use a single audience organized with Mailchimp's segments or tags.
    • How to manage unsubscribed contacts - commonsku will not update a contact's marketing preferences in Mailchimp, and Mailchimp does not tell commonsku when a contact has unsubscribed from a campaign. Be sure to flag your commonsku contacts as "No Marketing" if they have unsubscribed from a Mailchimp campaign. To confirm who has unsubscribed from Mailchimp, head to your profile icon > Settings > Company Settings > Integrations > Marketing > Mailchimp > click the View Sync button > click the Refresh button. Contacts who have unsubscribed from Mailchimp will move to the "Unsubscribed" tab of the sync.

    • Update contact details - commonsku does not override Mailchimp's contact details. Instead, it adds the CSKU fields to show the information pulled from commonsku, which may be different than the information displayed in Mailchimp's contact fields. If you notice a contact with different info in Mailchimp than in commonsku, update the platform with the correct info.
    • How to handle duplicate contacts - you will be notified of any duplicate contacts (duplicate emails) when you begin to sync with Mailchimp. By default, commonsku will only sync the most recently created duplicate, but you can override that and decide which contact you'd like to sync. To override which contact syncs to Mailchimp, open the client's page > click to edit the contact > select Sync this Contact instead > or, open the contact's page > on the right side, choose Sync this Contact instead.
    • How to manage archived contacts - head to your Profile icon (top right corner of commonsku) > Settings > Company Settings > Integrations > Marketing > Mailchimp > click the View Sync button > click the Refresh button to refresh the active sync. Contacts who have been deleted from Mailchimp will populate in the "Archived tab." The contact will need to resubscribe using Mailchimp's signup form feature.

    • Avoid renaming Mailchimp's audience fields - you can rename the field label used in Mailchimp (CSKU First Name, CSKU Last Name, etc.), but the names will revert to the default titles anytime you start a new sync, so it's best to leave them as is.

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    How to fix error codes

    FAILED: (contact email) was permanently deleted and cannot be re-imported. The contact must re-subscribe to get back on the list.

    This means that the contact was permanently deleted from Mailchimp. The contact will need to resubscribe using Mailchimp's signup form feature.

    FAILED: Email address (contact email) is invalid.

    This means that the email address appears to be false. For example, commonsku@testemail.com would come back with this error.

    FAILED (Your merge fields were invalid.)

    There might be two reasons why you are receiving this error.

    1. One or more of your audience fields is marked as required. Head to Mailchimp and update your custom merge fields.
    2. The contact's address in Mailchimp is incomplete. Fill out, or remove, the full address details in Mailchimp (ex. The address is missing the street address, but the country is filled out). Then, refresh your sync.
    FAILED Member In Compliance State - [email address] is in a compliance state due to unsubscribe, bounce, or compliance review and cannot be subscribed.

    You're trying to add someone to your list that has previously been on another of your lists and unsubscribed, bounced, or hit the spam button in their inbox. It means it will be impossible to add this person to your list, even manually.

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    FAQ

    How long will the sync take?

    The initial sync may take a few minutes. It can also take up to a minute to stop a sync and finish updating Mailchimp's contact records. After the initial sync, any new contacts/updates to synced contacts happen in near real-time.

    How do I know if the sync worked?

    Once the sync is complete, you will see the number of:

    • Contacts synced
    • Errors - click into the "Failed" tab to view the error details; select the contact's row to be redirected to their contact page
    • Archived contacts - click into the "Archived" tab to view contacts that were archived in Mailchimp; select the contact's row to be redirected to their contact page
    • Unsubscribed contacts - click into the "Unsubscribed" tab to view the contacts that were unsubscribed in Mailchimp; select the contact's row to be redirected to their contact page

    Why can't I see my audience's CSKU details in Mailchimp?

    Sometimes the CSKU columns don't automatically show in your Mailchimp audience list. To add the CSKU columns to your list:

    1. In Mailchimp, open your audience list and select the "Toggle Columns" dropdown
    2. Select the box beside each CSKU column
    3. Scroll to the bottom of the list and click Save

    How do I flag a contact as "No Marketing" in commonsku?

    To flag a contact as "No Marketing" through the client page:

    1. In the client page's contacts list, hover over the contact's name and click  edit icon-1 
    2. Select the box beside "No Marketing"
    3. Click Save

    To flag a contact as "No Marketing" through their contact page:

    1. On the contact page, click Edit Contact
    2. Select the box beside "No Marketing"
    3. Click Save Contact

    Does Mailchimp info populate in commonsku?

    Once a contact is synced with Mailchimp, their contact page will show the last date/time their info was synced and any email campaigns they're a part of (including opens and clicks). Any additional contact information stays in Mailchimp, including things like emails and logged activities.

    What does it mean if the sync is "auditing?"

    commonsku audits contact details to compare their data to what's in Mailchimp before the sync begins.

    What happens if I make a synced contact inactive in commonsku?

    The contact will stay active in Mailchimp, but their sync status will switch to being inactive. Their client and contact URL will also be removed from Mailchimp since the account isn't live.

    If I change a commonsku contact's details, will it automatically update the Mailchimp contact?

    Of course! Changes you make to a commonsku contact's details will automatically update Mailchimp as long as the contact is actively synced. The only thing that will not change is the Mailchimp contact's marketing preferences.

    What if I add a new contact to commonsku? Will that add the contact to Mailchimp?

    Yep! Contacts that fit the sync criteria are automatically added to/updated in Mailchimp.

    I am creating a segment in Mailchimp with a specific tag and it's giving me less contacts than the Mailing List report in commonsku. What am I missing?

    When creating segments in Mailchimp, make sure to review whether you are filtering your tags to say "IS" or "CONTAINS" the specific tag. Using "IS" alone will only focus on contacts with single tags and using "CONTAINS" will also pull contacts with multiple tags assigned to them.

    How come the list of contacts I pulled from the Mailing List report in commonsku doesn't match the list of contacts I have selected when starting a sync?

    When syncing your contacts, we do not include any contacts without email addresses or with invalid email addresses.

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