Use the Mailchimp Connection to enrich BlueConic profiles with data from Mailchimp subscribers and vice versa. This bi-directional connection allows you to schedule batch imports and exports to keep your data synchronized between the two platforms.
Connection Frequency
The Mailchimp Connection supports scheduled batch import and export. This means that you can set up a schedule to automatically import or export data at regular intervals.
Before you begin
Confirm your Mailchimp account is active.
Ensure you have the proper Mailchimp credentials.
Create profile properties as needed to store incoming data.
Create a Mailchimp Connection
Click Connections > Add Connection.
Select the Mailchimp connection from the popup.
Enter the name and metadata details for the connection.
Click Save.
Authenticate
On the Setup tab select Connect with Mailchimp.
In the window, enter your Mailchimp username and password and click Log In.
Click Allow to grant access to BlueConic.
Once connected, the Instance automatically appears.
If an error occurs, select Reset authentication to repeat these steps and reconnect the accounts.
Configure the Import
Generate the import goal
Select the Import data into BlueConic goal.
Edit the name to describe your import.
Click away and the name will update.
1. Select audiences to import from
Select audiences from those available in your Mailchimp instance. You can choose subscribed, unsubscribed, pending signup, or cleansed statuses.
(Optional) Check the Create BlueConic profiles checkbox to allow the audience to create new profiles in BlueConic. If you do not select this option, only existing profiles will have their data updated from Mailchimp.
When a Mailchimp audience contains a subscriber for which BlueConic cannot find a matching profile, a new BlueConic profile is created if this setting is enabled. If the setting is not enabled, the subscriber will not be imported.
(Optional) Check the Save the audiences the profile is imported from checkbox to have BlueConic keep track of the names of the audiences whose data enriched a profile. Select a profile property to store that record.
Select the profile property to store this data.
2. Link identifiers between Mailchimp and BlueConic
Select the BlueConic profile property containing a unique identifier. This should match the unique identifier field in Mailchimp.
Mailchimp subscribers that contain no value for the Mailchimp identifier will be excluded from the import.
3. Map Mailchimp data to BlueConic
Click Add mapping.
Select a Mailchimp field and the BlueConic profile property it should map to.
Select how the value should be imported:
Set to always set the value
Set if empty to only set the value if the profile didn't have a value yet,
Add to add another value to the audience
Sum to add a numerical value to the value in the profile.
Click the "x" icon that appears when you hover over the rule to delete it.
Click Save.
Select Add multiple mappings to select multiple BlueConic profile properties for quicker mapping.
Export data from BlueConic to Mailchimp
Generate the export goal
Select the Export data into Mailchimp goal.
Edit the name to describe your import.
Click away and the name will update.
1. Select a BlueConic segment to export profile data from.
Select the BlueConic segment whose profiles you want to export.
The number of profiles available for export appears in the top right-hand corner. This number shows how many profiles meet the conditions for the selected segment (for example, they have an email address and gave required consent for an objective). BlueConic tries to export only the profiles that have changed since the last export.
2. Select Mailchimp audience lists to export to.
Here you select one or more Mailchimp audiences to export BlueConic information to.
3. Link identifiers between BlueConic and Mailchimp.
Select the BlueConic profile property that is a "unique identifier" to match BlueConic profiles to Mailchimp subscribers. This should be a field that is shared between both platforms and will allow you to accurately match profiles between the two. For example, you might use the email address field to match profiles.
If no matching Mailchimp subscriber can be found for a BlueConic profile, no data will be exported unless the "Allow BlueConic to create new subscribers in Mailchimp" option is checked. In this case, a new subscriber will be created and added to all audiences.
Profiles without a value for the selected profile property will be omitted in the export.
4. Map BlueConic data to Mailchimp.
Click Add mapping to select the BlueConic data to map.
Click the BlueConic icon to open a drop-down menu.
Select the type(s) of information to match and export:
Profile property: The value of a specific profile property.
BlueConic profile identifier: The unique identifier for a profile.
Associated segments: All segments, or a selection of one or more specific segments that the profile is associated with.
Associated lifecycles: All lifecycles this profile is associated with.
All viewed interactions (all time): The interactions that the profile has seen.
Permission level: The permission level set in the profile.
Text value: Enter any static text.
Select the Mailchimp field this data will map to.
To narrow down segments,
Select only associated segments
Enter the segment name
(Optional) Replace the name of the selected segment with the value you want stored in Mailchimp. Leave the field empty to use the BlueConic name of the segment.
Click Save.
5. Optionally allow the creation of new Mailchimp subscribers.
(Optional) Select the Allow BlueConic to create new subscribers in Mailchimp checkbox to allow creation when none can be found. If unchecked, nothing happens when BlueConic cannot find a match for a profile.
(Optional) Check the Remove checkbox to remove subscribers from the audience if no matching subscriber is found for a Blueconic profile. Effectively BlueConic will keep membership of the segment selected in step 1 and the audience in sync.
Run the connection
Activate the goal
Check the goal you want to activate. We recommend testing import and export goals separately.
The green arrow indicates the active direction for the connection.
Run Manually
To run the connection:
Turn the connection On.
Click Save.
On the Set up and run page, scroll to the Run history section.
Click Run now to run all activated goals in the connection manually.
The run appears at the top of the table.
Run on a Schedule
Click the Settings icon.
Choose an option from the drop-down list to configure by:
Number of times per day
Days of the week
Days of the month
Weekday of the month
Select the time of day if required.
Click OK.
Click Save.
Confirm data exchanged successfully
See the total number of unique profiles imported or exported via the connection under Data exchange.
These are unique profiles - if the same profile is exported multiple times, it is counted as 1.
Next Steps
Create and activate as many import and export goals as needed within this connection.
Add this connection an Objective (as needed), allowing for privacy management of the information that is being picked up. A connection will only process the profiles of visitors who have consented to at least one of the objectives that the connection is linked to.
FAQ
Why is my data truncated when it enters Mailchimp?
Mailchimp fields have a restriction of 255 characters. If a BlueConic profile property value contains more than 255 characters it will be truncated when transmitting the data to Mailchimp.
How does BlueConic manage profiles differently from Mailchimp?
In BlueConic, each profile is unique and consistent across the platform, storing all data directly on the per-person profile. In contrast, Mailchimp separates audience members by audience, meaning the same person can exist multiple times as different entities. This structure also prevents searching for a single person across all Mailchimp audiences, unlike BlueConic’s unified profile system.
How does BlueConic sync profile data with Mailchimp?
Synchronization between BlueConic and Mailchimp is non-symmetrical. BlueConic enriches profiles by importing Mailchimp-specific data, but most profile properties do not have a direct mapping between platforms. You can specify which BlueConic properties should be added to Mailchimp merge fields, allowing that data to be used in Mailchimp emails.
How does BlueConic identify Mailchimp members?
Mailchimp identifies members using an MD5 hash of their lowercase email address, while BlueConic assigns an internal ID that isn’t tied to a specific profile property. To match BlueConic profiles with Mailchimp members, you must configure the connection to store email addresses in a unique identifier in BlueConic.
How can I manage Mailchimp’s audience limits when syncing with BlueConic?
Mailchimp limits the number of audiences based on your subscription level, but you can work around this by syncing all visitors within an email address segment and passing their associated segments to Mailchimp. This ensures that all required profiles (those with an email address) are exported to a single Mailchimp audience while retaining their BlueConic segment data. In Mailchimp, you can then use these segments to target specific users, allowing you to manage a single audience list while maintaining segmentation for email campaigns.
How can I export Lifecycle stage information to Mailchimp?
Add a Mailchimp connection goal to a Lifecycle to automatically export profiles when they reach a specific stage in their customer journey. Use this data to send targeted emails, create new audiences, or build segments in Mailchimp.