Imagine being able to use the world’s leading CRM and email marketing system together. This is how it is done.
Salesforce can be integrated with MailChimp via the Salesforce AppExchange. When I did this, I found it to be a straightforward exercise.
STEP 1 Getting Salesforce and MailChimp to talk to each other
According to MailChimp: “If you need to import Salesforce leads, or sync list information regularly, install the MailChimp for Salesforce app through the Salesforce AppExchange.” In other words, the integration happens within Salesforce.
STEP 2 MailChimp for Salesforce Query Builder
The Salesforce Query Builder allows you to copy Salesforce contacts and leads into a specific MailChimp list. You can run a query right away, or schedule it to run at a specific time of day. I found this to be an easy to use process and a test list within MailChimp was populated immediately. Within MailChimp, there is a (data) source field which is clearly labelled as ‘MailChimp for Salesforce’, which is useful for future reference.
MailChimp for Salesforce features the ability to:
* Update MailChimp subscriber information based on the contact / lead fields in Salesforce
* Create new leads from MailChimp subscribers
* View MailChimp campaign activity and reports within your Salesforce account
Within Salesforce, using the MailChimp view
ALLOW MAILCHIMP TO CREATE LEADS IN SALESFORCE
This feature allows MailChimp to create new leads within Salesforce for email addresses that don’t match existing leads or contacts.
TURN ON/OFF DATA SYNC
Enabling the data sync feature schedules a series of batch tasks. The data sync updates your MailChimp subscriber fields with the corresponding contact/lead field data hourly. It also updates the Salesforce contacts/leads with the MailChimp subscriber campaign activity each night.
REFRESH ALL LISTS
The ‘Refresh All Lists’ button updates all of the list field data. This button updates Salesforce with the MailChimp lists, list fields and groups. This may not happen instantly. Refresh the page after one minute.
MAP FIELDS
The ‘Map Fields’ link takes you to the field mapping page for each list. You can edit the field mapping for existing list fields or create new MailChimp list fields. The field mapping settings are used to match MailChimp list fields with their corresponding contact/lead fields.
The permissions for the leads, contacts and accounts should be set to ‘Public Read/Write’ in order for the MailChimp for Salesforce app to work properly.
SYNC LIST
The ‘Sync List’ link updates Salesforce with the MailChimp list settings, fields, segments, and groups. If the sync settings for the list allow subscriber activity, then this link will update the contacts/leads with the MailChimp campaign activity.
NEW QUERY
The ‘New Query’ button takes you to the Query builder. Queries function to subscribe contacts/leads to the MailChimp list and to update existing MailChimp list subscribers based on the corresponding contacts/leads within Salesforce. When updating existing subscribers, the Salesforce data will overwrite the MailChimp list field data. Using the filters on step two of the query builder, it’s possible to query all of the contacts/leads or to query specific contacts/leads based on their Salesforce field data.
REFRESH MC CAMPAIGNS
The ‘Refresh MC Campaigns’ button allows you to update the campaign activity data manually for all campaigns.
UPDATE STATS
The ‘Update Stats’ link enables you to manually update campaign activity data for a particular campaign.
This is a comprehensive integration which enables businesses to build a better email list and to communicate with customers in creative ways.
Nigel Temple offers MailChimp training open workshops, in-house training and consultancy.
