Mailchimp Database Integration Guide: How to Connect Any App to Mailchimp

Marketing in the digital realm is highly regarded as a powerful way to expand a business’s clientele. Many Mailchimp users extend its functionality by integrating their favorite apps or platforms with Mailchimp database to allow them to reach more people and increase their revenue.

Are you a new or regular user of Mailchimp who needs to integrate it with your other applications and databases? Follow this article to learn more about the various techniques for integrating apps with Mailchimp.

The basics of Mailchimp integration with database

Mailchimp is a centralized hub that enables you to better manage your customer base. However, its potential is almost limitless when combined with other apps, databases, and data warehouses. 

Mailchimp database integration allows for bidirectional data flow between two platforms. This data may later be utilized to develop useful analytics and insights, spike up sales, create targeted email campaigns, etc.

Next, we’ll talk about the requirements, types of integrations, and the various examples of databases one can connect Mailchimp to.

Mailchimp database integration requirements

You need to make certain that the following prerequisites are met before you can go on with setting up the Mailchimp database integration:

General:

• A user account with Mailchimp 
• Concise understanding of what data is to be transferred.

For integrating Mailchimp and databases or data warehouses:

• Familiarity with databases and data warehouses such as MongoDB, MySQL, BigQuery, etc.

For applications:

• An active account with the desired application, with a relevant subscription if necessary for integrating with Mailchimp

Benefits of Mailchimp database management 

Collecting and analyzing client information is essential for effective marketing. By managing your Mailchimp database, you’ll start to:

• Expand your client base by mining your data.
• Learn new approaches to communicating with others who share your interests and values.
• Put the appropriate information in front of the relevant individuals.
• Consider your target market more closely.  

Mailchimp database structure

The following are the primary components that make up the Mailchimp database structure.

• Audience: Mailchimp audience can help you keep track of who has subscribed, who hasn’t, and who has unsubscribed. Your Mailchimp audience is much more than your email address; it is where you keep all of your contact information. With audience, you can learn everything there is to know about the customers who keep your business thriving.
• Record: A record is a compilation of information pertaining to a certain member of your audience. The contact’s email address is used as the record’s unique identifier while working within Mailchimp. Mailchimp bills you for the number of records your account possesses.
• Field: Fields are containers in which you can store certain information that is uniquely associated with a given record. This is where the most vital information about a person is stored, which may include the individual’s name, email address, date of birth, and other details. The values contained in fields could either be alphanumeric or numeric.
• Segment: Segments are used to classify subscribers in order to make it possible to form targeted groups by utilizing the subscribers’ own data. When you build a segment, you’ll specify rules to filter contacts based on the information that is accessible in your audience. 
• Group: Groups are organized collections of contacts that are arranged according to the users’ preferences or interests. Through the use of groups, you are able to collect information about your contacts’ preferred foods, retail locations, or anything else of interest to you.
• Tag: Tags allow you to label, or otherwise classify, contacts in accordance with the information you have about those contacts. Using tags is a great way to keep your contacts organized. You can modify your tags and use them in any way that you see fit.

Mailchimp database sync 

Mailchimp integration with database and other platforms allows for seamless data transfer. Mailchimp database sync allows for data consistency and the following listed below can be linked when setting up your Mailchimp integration:

• E-commerce data: By linking your online shop to Mailchimp, for example, your Shopify online store, you can send specific information to your customers. This information could be order confirmations, reminders about abandoned purchases, and coupons for products they were considering but ultimately did not buy, etc.
• Customer data: Followers, subscribers, contacts, and customer data may be added to Mailchimp database as audience instantaneously through integrations with apps like Pipedrive, Zendesk, etc. Whenever you make changes to your Mailchimp data and send it to your customers, the changes will be reflected in your external app, and vice versa.
• Website pop-up forms: To better communicate with site visitors, you may use a pop-up form that you can customize in Mailchimp. Google remarketing advertisements through Mailchimp are another way to get the attention of visitors who have already visited your website or landing page.
• Events: Events are unique data points that may be used to learn more about your customers’ habits and build targeted audiences. Some integrations sync the events you control with an external app, for example, Google Analytics, Facebook, etc., with your Mailchimp account. New events will continue to sync independently until you disable the integration.
• Tags: You may find it much easier to manage your contacts if they are tagged. Your contact may be associated or identified with the app from which it was synced to assist you in figuring out what the data is all about and where it originated from.

Types of Mailchimp integrations 

Mailchimp has a wide range of integrations available. You can find the platform you want to integrate within the Mailchimp integrations directory. The listings are organized into many categories for your selection.

You can also use the search box to look for your desired app.

Once you’ve found the app, you can then access its information page by clicking on it. You will find a detailed explanation of how to get started. 

Many platforms are listed in the Mailchimp integration directory and many more are listed outside of the directory. Below are some examples of the different categories and platforms you can integrate with Mailchimp:

• Analytics, e.g., Google Analytics
• Booking and Scheduling, e.g., Calendly
• Connector Services, e.g., Zapier
• Contact Management, e.g., Quickbooks
• Content, e.g., Drupal 
• Customer Service, e.g., Livechat
• Design, e.g., Canva
• Developer Tools, e.g., Firebase
• E-Commerce, e.g., WooComerce 
• Finance and Accounting, e.g., Xero
• Forms and Surveys, e.g., Typeforms
• Loyalty, e.g., Bonjoro
• Marketing, e.g., Vimeo
• Payments, e.g., Stripe
• Point of Sale, e.g., Square
• Productivity, e.g., Slack
• Social Media, e.g., Facebook
• Subscription Management, e.g., Recurly
• Ticket and Event Management, e.g., Airmeet

An example of a Mailchimp integration with database available outside of Mailchimp directory is Coupler.io. The tool comes in handy when you want to export Mailchimp to Google Sheets, Excel, or BigQuery. It’s at its best when you want to back up your Mailchimp data into a spreadsheet or data warehouse, or when you run Mailchimp reporting outside of the platform.

Mailchimp integration with a local database

If you have created a dashboard or report in Excel and want the data to be updated automatically, you can use Coupler.io to automate the process of Mailchimp integration with local database on your computer. This will allow the data to be updated whenever you make changes to the dashboard or report.

Before utilizing Coupler.io to integrate MailChimp to Excel, you must ensure that the Excel workbook is located in a OneDrive folder on your device. Coupler.io will not be able to import the data if it resides elsewhere. Then:

• Sign up for Coupler.io account with your email address, Microsoft, or Google account. 

• Select Mailchimp as a source and Excel as a destination.

• Link your Mailchimp account 
• Select your data entity.

• Log in to your Microsoft OneDrive or SharePoint account.

• Select a workbook for the transfer.

• Set the schedule for data refreshes and click on Save and Run. Your data will be exported from Mailchimp to Excel.

Mailchimp SQL database integration

You can connect your Mailchimp database to different SQL databases and data warehouses like MySQL, MSSQL, BigQuery, OracleDB, etc. For Mailchimp to link to your database, you’ll need to access the required data using the REST API that Mailchimp provides. The API offers users many interaction endpoints, for example, lists, campaigns, etc. The returned Mailchimp data is in JSON format. You can interact directly with the API or use a tool like a curl.

If you’re a BigQuery user, you can use a no-code tool like Coupler.io to automate linking Mailchimp to your database. We’ll share an example in the following chapter.

But first, let’s look at the following code snippet, which shows how to access the Mailchimp API using the curl command to load data from Mailchimp to the MySQL server. 

curl --request GET
--url 'https://usX.api.mailchimp.com/3.0/lists' --user 'anystring:apikey' --include

The response will be similar to the following:

{
 "lists": [
   {
     "id": "278g465nb77",
     "name": "Favour's Notes",
     "contact": {
       "company": "MailChimp",
       "address1": "12 Rock Avenue",
       "city": "New York",
       "state": "New York",
       "zip": "10001",
       "country": "US",
       "phone": ""
     },

You will need a schema to load the Mailchimp JSON response into your data tables. Most importantly, you need to check that the data types in the Mailchimp file correspond to the data types in your SQL database.

By typing the following command into the MySQL Shell, you can import your Mailchimp JSON document all at once.

$ mysqlsh root@localhost:3000/<schema> --import /path_to_file/<file_name>.json

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How to connect database to Mailchimp without coding

There is an alternative to using code if that is not your preference when connecting database or data warehouses to Mailchimp. You can automate data transfer and integration in a matter of minutes with the help of a third-party integration tool like Coupler.io. When you connect Mailchimp to BigQuery, you can decide to automatically refresh your data at your scheduled time, thereby saving effort and eliminating the need for manual data import.  

To get started:

• Sign up for a Coupler.io account.

• Select Mailchimp as a source and BigQuery as a destination.
  

• Connect your Mailchimp account.

• Select the data entity.

• Connect your BigQuery account. To do this, you need to select a key file in JSON format. 

• Upload the Key file (JSON) to Coupler.io

• Select a dataset for importing.
• Enter dataset and table name

Note: You can enter an existing dataset name or create a new one by typing in a new name.

• Set the schedule for data refreshes and click on Save and Run. Your data will be exported from Mailchimp to BigQuery.

How to load a database of contacts to Mailchimp

Follow these steps to import a database of contacts to Mailchimp.

• Select Audience, then Audience dashboard.

• If you have several audiences, choose the one you want to work with from the current audience drop-down menu.
• Click Manage Audience drop-down and select Import Contacts.

• You can choose from any of the three different ways shown below to add your contacts to Mailchimp. But for this example, click on Import from another service and click Continue.

• Select any of the available integrations and begin connecting your app.
  

• After you have linked the app, then click Done.

That’s all! Now that you’ve linked your app, Mailchimp will import your contacts. 

Note: This is not a one-time activity. Once you connect both apps, they will be syncing data at intervals or, more likely, when new records appear in the source app unless disabled.

How to copy the database of contacts from Mailchimp?

Follow these steps to export your database of contacts from Mailchimp.

• Select Audience.
• Select All contacts.

• If you have several audiences, choose the one you want to work with from the current audience drop-down menu.
• Click Export Segment.

• After the export has loaded, select Export as CSV to get the file downloaded.

This is just one example of how you can export your database of contacts from Mailchimp. For more examples, see this article: Mailchimp export contacts.

Mailchimp link to database – best practices

Integrating Mailchimp database with your applications, SQL databases, or data warehouse increases productivity and helps you address client needs more efficiently. With or without technical knowledge, integrating Mailchimp is a breeze. To make your Mailchimp database integration process easier, it’s important to take into account these simple tips:

• Determine the purpose for which you want to implement the integration. For example, do you want to reach customers and increase sales? Do you want to link your forms and survey data? Do you want to convert leads into contacts? , etc
• Determine how frequently you want to sync your data 
• Evaluate your needs and decide whether the support of a third-party tool will be necessary for you.

Once you’ve taken these tips into consideration, everything else is smooth sailing.