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Mailchimp & Kit: import audiences and keep unsubscribes in sync

Bring your Mailchimp audience or your Kit (formerly ConvertKit) subscribers into CRMown as contacts, with their tags and subscription status. On Starter and above, the two stay in step: an unsubscribe in Mailchimp or Kit unsubscribes the contact in CRMown within a minute, an unsubscribe or Do Not Contact in CRMown unsubscribes them in Mailchimp or Kit, and new subscribers become contacts.

Open in CRMown →

Steps

  1. Go to Settings > Integrations. Under Business Integrations, find the "Email marketing: Mailchimp & Kit" card and pick the Mailchimp or Kit tab. Only an Owner or Admin can connect.
  2. Mailchimp: click "Connect Mailchimp" and paste an API key (in Mailchimp: Profile > Extras > API keys). If your Web Studio forms already use a Mailchimp key, click "Use the key saved in Web Studio" instead.
  3. Kit: click "Connect Kit" and paste a V4 API key (in Kit: Settings > Developer > Add a new key under V4 API keys). The older v3 key that Web Studio forms used can't read subscribers; once a V4 key is connected, your forms use it too.
  4. Pick what to import: a Mailchimp audience, or in Kit "All subscribers" or one or more tags. Optionally switch on "Also save as a segment" (a static segment with everyone imported) and "Prefix imported tags".
  5. Click "Check what will import" to see how many contacts are new, how many are already in CRMown and whether your plan has room for all of them. Then click "Import". A progress bar shows how far it is; you can leave the page. The import is listed in Settings > Data > Imports, where you can also undo it.
  6. On Starter and above, switch on "Two-way sync" for each Mailchimp audience (or for your Kit account). CRMown registers a signed webhook in Mailchimp or Kit; the row then says "Live".
  7. To copy tags you add in CRMown to Mailchimp or Kit, click "Tag sync" on the card and switch on "Copy CRMown tags". It is off by default.

Good to know

  • How a subscriber's status lands in CRMown: subscribed (Mailchimp) or active (Kit) gives email and marketing consent. Unsubscribed (Mailchimp) or cancelled (Kit) is a full unsubscribe in CRMown: email and marketing consent off and the contact marked unsubscribed, which also stops texts and 1:1 messages. A spam complaint also sets Do Not Contact. Cleaned (Mailchimp) or bounced (Kit) turns email consent off and marks the address invalid, without unsubscribing the person from other channels. Pending, transactional and unconfirmed subscribers are imported without consent.
  • Contacts are matched by email (upper or lower case doesn't matter). An existing contact keeps every field that already has a value; CRMown only fills empty ones, adds tags (never removes any) and applies the consent rules. Its Source doesn't change. New contacts get Source "Mailchimp" or "Kit" and are assigned to whoever connected the account.
  • Unsubscribe wins: if someone is unsubscribed or Do Not Contact in CRMown, an import or the nightly sync never re-subscribes them, and CRMown unsubscribes them in Mailchimp or Kit. Only a live re-subscribe in Mailchimp or Kit that happens after the opt-out brings email consent back. If the earlier unsubscribe also came from that tool, the contact is fully re-subscribed; an unsubscribe made in CRMown stays. Do Not Contact is never cleared by Mailchimp or Kit.
  • CRMown never marks anyone subscribed in Mailchimp or Kit. Re-consenting in CRMown doesn't re-subscribe them there; they opt in again through a Mailchimp or Kit form.
  • What CRMown sends to Mailchimp or Kit as an unsubscribe: an email or marketing opt-out or Do Not Contact set by the person (unsubscribe link, preference center), by a teammate (contact page, Do Not Contact list), by CRMown AI, a data-quality fix, a spam complaint or the API. An SMS STOP reply and a hard bounce are not sent.
  • The contact page shows "Unsubscribed via Mailchimp" (or Kit, the unsubscribe link, a teammate…) with the date under Details.
  • Mailchimp doesn't send tag changes as they happen, so tags added in Mailchimp arrive with the nightly sync. Kit sends tag additions right away.
  • Every night CRMown catches anything a webhook missed, both ways. "Sync now" on the card runs it straight away.
  • Over your contact limit, the import brings in contacts up to the limit, still updates the ones already in CRMown, and reports how many weren't imported. On CRMown Free, imported tags beyond the 10-tag limit are skipped and listed on the card.
  • Disconnect removes CRMown's webhooks from Mailchimp or Kit and stops syncing. Imported contacts stay. Web Studio forms keep using the Mailchimp key until you remove it under Web Studio > Integrations.
Example: A coach moves her 4,800-person Mailchimp audience into CRMown on day one: the estimate shows 4,650 new contacts and 150 already in CRMown, the import finishes in a few minutes and saves the audience as a segment. A week later a subscriber unsubscribes from her newsletter in Mailchimp; within a minute the contact shows "Unsubscribed via Mailchimp" and CRMown stops emailing and texting them. When a client asks her by email to stop all contact, she sets Do Not Contact in CRMown and they are unsubscribed in Mailchimp too.

Troubleshooting

Connecting Kit says the key wasn't accepted
The key is a v3 API key or API secret, not a V4 key.
Fix: In Kit open Settings > Developer, add a new V4 API key and paste that.
Connecting Mailchimp says the key must end with the data center
The key was copied without its suffix (like -us21).
Fix: Copy the whole key from Mailchimp > Profile > Extras > API keys.
The import says some contacts weren't imported: plan limit
Your plan's contact limit was reached partway through.
Fix: Upgrade under Settings > Billing, then run the import again: contacts already imported are only updated, the rest are added.
The two-way sync switch opens an upgrade sheet
Two-way sync is included on Starter and above. Imports work on every plan, CRMown Free included.
Fix: Start a trial or upgrade, then switch sync on.
A sync row says "Not receiving updates"
CRMown's webhook was removed in Mailchimp or Kit, or registering it failed.
Fix: Click "Re-register" on that row. Missed changes are caught by the nightly sync or "Sync now".
Someone re-subscribed in Mailchimp but CRMown still shows them unsubscribed
They are Do Not Contact in CRMown, or their unsubscribe was made in CRMown (only email consent comes back then), or the re-subscribe arrived through the nightly sync rather than live.
Fix: Check the contact's Details. A teammate can clear Do Not Contact or the unsubscribe manually if the person asked to hear from you again.

Plans

Connect and import: every plan, including CRMown Free (contact and tag limits apply). Two-way sync, CRMown-to-Mailchimp/Kit unsubscribes, tag copying and the nightly sync: Starter and above. Connecting, importing and sync settings: Owners and Admins.

Related

  • Settings > Data > Imports — import history and undo
  • Contacts — filter by Source
  • Segments — imported audience as a static segment
  • Contacts > Do Not Contact list
  • Web Studio — form sign-ups to Mailchimp or Kit

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