How often does Mailchimp sync to Sheep?
unsubscribers are pulled nightly
new subscribers and changed to subscribers are pulled from Mailchimp to Sheep every 3 hours
new contacts or changed contacts in Sheep are pushed to Mailchimp every hour
synced sheepCRM segments are updated nightly.
Note: We operate a queued system for our background tasks. When it says every 3 hours it means a new job is added in the queue every 3 hours. When there is a large number of changes it can take many hours to perform a sync. Any given job may therefore be queued for hours before starting.
Why has a contact not been pushed to Mailchimp?
Criteria for success:
the person has a valid email
a valid GDPR reason exists for the channel "email"
they haven't been set to opt-out of emails in Sheep
they haven't previously unsubscribed from Mailchimp
the Mailchimp - Sheep connection is properly configured
A target list (Audience) has been set for Sheep to push subscribers to
Why does a contact in sheepCRM have a tag called Mailchimp Subscription Rejected?
This means Mailchimp has rejected due to its processes, it may have been a contact previously unsubscribed as covered in the section above. Checking the contact in Mailchimp should provide you the exact reason.
Why are non-members being pushed to Mailchimp?
All contacts (with a valid email and GDPR reason) will be pushed to Mailchimp. This keeps your contacts in Mailchimp broadly in sync with all your contacts in Sheep. It is normal to send mailings to active members but many clients also want to send communications to their non-members.
Dynamic segments are the Mailchimp mechanism for filtering all contacts to a targeted audience (e.g. active members vs non-members). You should configure the dynamic segments you need in Mailchimp.
Direct segment sync is now available in Sheep which allows segments to be configured in Sheep and bypasses the complexities of dynamic segments in Mailchimp. sheepCRM support is available for clients wanting to move to direct segment synchronisation. Turn off list synchronisation then clone a segment (e.g. Active members) set your desired rules, validate the segment is correct and then turn on Mailchimp sync just for that segment.
To clone a segment go to Settings>General>Segments>select the duplicate icon.
Will Sheep unsubscribe contacts from Mailchimp?
No, not automatically. Deleting a contact will not remove a contact from Mailchimp. Individuals can be unsubscribed from the Mailchimp panel on the contact record.
Why can't I re-subscribe a contact once unsubscribed?
Mailchimp won't allow API re-subscriptions (they are protecting the contact from spam). You can usually still re-subscribe the user through Mailchimp directly but may, in some cases, need to ask the user to re-subscribe themself.
Can I "archive" contacts in Mailchimp if they are present in Sheep?
No. (see Why are non-members being pushed to Mailchimp?) Sheep will subscribe all contacts with a valid GDPR record. To manually manage your Mailchimp audiences you should turn off the sync against all audiences. If you would still like some contacts e.g. active members sync's then Mailchimp sync can be activated for a specific segment.
What happens if a contact changes their email?
Mailchimp will not let us delete data records on their system and sheepCRM do not let them delete data records on ours
To successfully change an email address editing both systems is required
sheepCRM
See here for steps on how to change.
Only the 'primary' email for a contact is pushed to Mailchimp; adding additional emails will not change what is synchronised with Mailchimp.
If the primary email is changed then the new email will be pushed to Mailchimp as if the contact were new. The old email in Mailchimp will not be removed.
🐵 Mailchimp
To replace an email in Mailchimp:
Click the Mailchimp panel selector (right hand sidebar)
Subscribe the new email to Mailchimp
Unsubscribe old email (same form - you will see one set of email lists per email address)
Return to the email card and remove the email from person (or leave in place with an
old emaillabel
What information gets pushed from Sheep to Mailchimp?
The following fields are pushed across from Sheep:
first name
last name
email
locality
language
active memberships
groups/teams
organisation (when linked to a person)
tags
sheepCRM segments (when synced from actions only) - appear as tags in Mailchimp.
The following fields become tags in Mailchimp
primary service offered
services offered
GDPR
interests (coming soon)
To preserve existing tags that are in Mailchimp all sheep tags have an "S:" prefix added.
Will syncing to Mailchimp as an action on a sheepCRM segment subscribe all contacts in that segment if we have not set a destination audience in the integration settings?
No. A destination audience must be set.