How to Integrate Your CRM With Mailchimp

Your two key lead databases that are central to your marketing and sales processes are siloed from each other. One is your CRM, and the other is your Mailchimp subscriber base. If they’re not connected, you can’t automate addition of mailing list subscribers to your CRM, or send out mailers for Mailchimp to leads in your CRM. So it’s very important that you learn how to integrate your CRM with Mailchimp.

Select the Right CRM

If you already have a CRM, then this is a moot point. But if you’re looking at getting one, then make sure you get a CRM that has a feature to sync Mailchimp, both to import and export leads and contacts.

This is typically a two-integration for all the major CRMs such as Pipedrive, Hubspot and Freshsales. But you can set it to be one-way, either as a new Mailchimp subscriber added when a new lead is added to the CRM, or the other way around.

Start by adding your Mailchimp API key to the CRM third-party integration form for Mailchimp.

One-Way or Two-Way Sync

Let’s say you’re going to upload lead data from your CRM into mailchimp. Next you’ll need to map the fields you want exported for the new subscribers. Select the mailing group you want from your Mailchimp lists, and add the fields you want sent for each subscriber. The “Last Name” is typically the only required field, but you can add first name and other fields such as company name, closed and open deals, the user in your CRM who is the owner of that lead, location, etc.

Using Third-Party Integration Tools

If you can’t find your CRM in the integrations list in Mailchimp, you may need to use a third-party interface like Zapier. It’s very simple to setup – you select the two tools you want to integrate, provide the API keys and login information as needed, and Zapier will do the rest.

The customization is pretty much the same – provide the basic lead, deal, contact or organization data if you’re exporting to your CRM. Set the fields you want (first name, last name, location, etc.) if you’re exporting leads or contacts as subscribers to Mailchimp.

You can also use specific integration interfaces that are made for connecting two platforms. For example, you can use Pipechimp to connect Pipedrive and Mailchimp. Similarly, you can use PieSync to sync Freshsales with Mailchimp.

In both cases, you can implement two-way integration, or just one way, to import leads into Mailchimp, or new subscribers as leads into your CRM.