No more need for Zapier or Integromat to link Botnation to Mailchimp. A native module is now available.
With a few clicks and at any section of any sequence of your chatbot it is now possible:
Dynamically add a subscriber to your Mailchimp audience
Edit a subscriber (adding a first name, last name, order number, etc.) on Mailchimp
or Remove a Mailchimp subscriber if necessary
To install the native Mailchimp module, you just need to add the "Mailchimp" function to your sequence. It can be found in your usual tools under your sequence.
2 pieces of information from your Mailchimp account will first be absolutely necessary:
A Mailchimp API Key allowing Botnation to send data to your account
A Unique ID for Audience allowing Botnation to add, modify or delete the correct information from your chatbot on your correct Mailchimp list.
Other additional information, such as the names of the audience fields declared at Mailchimp, to send information in addition to the email is optional but highly recommended (first name, last name, etc.)
This information is a bit hidden on Mailchimp, but this guide will help you find it quickly. It might sound complicated, but it's in the order of a few clicks and copy / paste to accomplish in less than a minute if your Mailchimp account is already properly configured with them.
Regarding the API Key, connect to your Mailchimp account, then click on your account options at the bottom left.
In your Mailchimp account options, click on the "Extras" menu then select "API Keys" from the menu displayed.
If you don't have an API key yet, click on "Create a Key" to generate a new one. If you already have one, it may be useful to dedicate a new one for Botnation use only.
Once the key is generated (a long string of strange characters), copy it to use it a little later on Botnation. Check that the "status" of this key (API key) is active (green button to the right of the key), this is theoretically the case by default on Mailchimp.
Great ! We have an API key, now you need to go and retrieve your Unique ID for Audience allowing Botnation to send information to your Mailchimp list.
Still on the Mailchimp interface, click on the Audience menu on the left, then on the drop-down menu on the right "Manage Audience", then select the "Settings" option.
Scroll to the bottom of the page. He's hiding here! Then also copy this "Unique id for Audience", anther string of random characters. Be careful not to overwrite the API key previously copied because we will absolutely need these two different pieces of information a little later.
WELL DONE ! You already have everything you need to send an email address from your Botnation chatbot to Mailchimp.
However, you certainly need to send other information such as the user's first and last name, postal code, age, etc. This will be more relevant to send you well-targeted newsletters according to your settings. users.
You will then need to retrieve the name of the fields declared on Mailchimp so that Botnation can correctly perform this link.
You just have to stay on the same "Audience" page, slightly higher than your "Audience ID" and click on the "Audience Fields and | MERGE | tags" link.
Then retrieve the names of the fields declared on Mailchimp. Usually the First Name field is "FNAME" and the Last Name field is "LNAME", circled in red in the example below. If you have other fields that are specific to you, for example the one named "BNAI" for our example, circled in blue, note them as well.
THERE YOU GO ! We're done at Mailchimp. Now let's go back to Botnation.
It will be much easier. Select the Mailchimp function in your Botnation tools, under your sequence.
Select the desired action: Add or Modify a contact or delete a Mailchimp contact. A change will be useful if you need to add new information collected by the chatbot to an already existing Mailchimp contact.
Indicate the API Key Mailchimp and Unique ID for Audience previously retrieved - in the guide above - from Mailchimp in the dedicated fields.
Indicate the name of the Botnation variable containing the email address that should be subscribed to your Mailchimp list.
Your Mailchimp function is then already operational! It's hard to get simpler on the Botnation side.
If you need to export other data (first name, last name, age, order number, etc ...) to Mailchimp, you just have to expand the rest of the function and indicate the pairs: Data expected by Mailchimp <-> Variable_Botnation.
You can indicate several, even ten if necessary. In this example we send for example:
- a first name "FNAME" at Mailchimp contained in the variable {{mc_firstname}} at Botnation for this chatbot
- then "LNAME" <-> {{mc_lastname}} for the last name
- then a "BNAI" information at Mailchimp which is stored in the variable {{mc_id}} at Botnation.
Warning: all these data are unique to this example, your own API keys and variables certainly have other values and titles that you yourself have declared on Mailchimp or Botnation via the use of the information capture or forms using buttons.
It's done!
Now for this chatbot, any user going through this sequence will be dynamically added to a user list at Mailchimp and will receive your newsletters. You will not have any external connector to manage between Botnation and Mailchimp, Botnation takes care of everything for you.
In case of error: If any errors occur, they will appear in the Botnation error console, at the Alerts level
These errors will most likely be related to a wrong Mailchimp API key entered, a wrong Unique Audience Identifier entered or specific fields sent but not previously reported to Mailchimp. Please check all of this information carefully and experiment until no more errors occur on your chatbot.
We wish you many subscriptions to your Mailchimp Newsletters made by your Chatbot Botnation!
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