Connect Your Salesforce Account to Mailchimp

Install Mailchimp for Salesforce in your Salesforce account to sync data with Mailchimp. When you connect the integration, you can quickly pass your sales leads and contacts to Mailchimp and target them with specialized email content.

In this article, you'll learn how to connect Mailchimp for Salesforce and set up the application to sync information with your Mailchimp account.

This article tells you how to use a Mailchimp for Salesforce integration that was set up before May 1, 2024.

For more information on Mailchimp for Salesforce integrations that were set up on or after May 1, 2024, check out the support options listed at Salesforce Integration by Beaufort 12

Before you start

Here are some things to know before you connect Mailchimp for Salesforce .

• This article describes how Mailchimp Salesforce appears in the Salesforce Classic view. The integration may appear differently when viewed in the Salesforce Lightning Experience. You can switch between Classic and Lightning anytime. Functionality will remain the same regardless of the view you use.
• The Mailchimp for Salesforce requires an Enterprise, Unlimited, Force.com, Developer, Performance, or Professional edition of Salesforce. If you use Professional edition, ask your Salesforce Account Executive to enable API access before you install Mailchimp Salesforce.
• Salesforce users will need to enable the right permission set for Mailchimp. The Mailchimp user associated with your Salesforce account needs to hold Manager access or higher to connect and maintain connection with this integration. To learn more about user levels, check out Manage User Levels in Your Account.
• Only Regular Email and RSS campaigns are shown in Mailchimp for Salesforce.
• You'll need a Trailblazer.me account to access this integration.

Install Mailchimp for Salesforce

First, you'll need to install the app in your Salesforce account.

To ensure a successful connection, we recommend you complete installation all at once. If you need to complete installation in separate steps, click the App Launcher drop-down menu and choose the Salesforce integration. Click the MC Setup tab to resume installation.

To install Mailchimp for Salesforce, follow these steps.

1. Navigate to the Salesforce integration's AppExchange listing.
2. Click Get it Now
3. In the Let’s Get Started modal, click Log In to log in with your Trailblazer.me account.
4. Choose how you want to log in.
   
5. Enter your login credentials and click Log In
6. Click Install in Production.
7. On the Confirm Installation Details page, check the box next to I have read and agree to the terms and conditions, and click Confirm and Install
   
8. Choose Install for All Users and click Install.
9. In the Approve Third-Party Access pop-up modal, check the box next to Yes, grant access to these third-party web sites and click Continue.

Installation may take a few moments to complete, and Salesforce will notify you by email after it's finished. After you complete installation, you'll be taken to the Install Wizard, where you'll authenticate your Mailchimp account.

• The integration only allows you to connect your Salesforce account with a single Mailchimp account.
• The Mailchimp account used to connect the integration must hold Manager access or higher to maintain connection and avoid a disconnect and reconnect.
• Not all features are supported by the Salesforce Sandbox. If you choose to use the app in the Salesforce Sandbox, data will not sync properly to Mailchimp.
• To ensure the app functions as expected, we recommend you Install in production and that you choose the Install for All Users option.
• A disconnect and reconnect of the Salesforce integration is required to change the user associated with the integration. If the associated user’s permission level changes to Author or Viewer, the same applies. To learn how to disconnect your Salesforce integration, check out Disconnect the Salesforce Integration.

Step 1: Authenticate

Before you can create leads or sync data, you'll need to connect your Mailchimp account to Salesforce.

To authenticate your Mailchimp account, follow these steps.

1. Log into your Salesforce account.
2. Click the App Launcher drop-down menu and choose Mailchimp for Salesforce
   
3. Click the MC Setup tab.
   
4. Click Login
5. In the pop-up window, click OK
6. Input your Mailchimp username and password and click Log In

If you manage multiple Mailchimp accounts, choose the account you want to connect to Salesforce. Now that you've authenticated Mailchimp, you're ready to set up lead creation.

Step 2: Lead creation

Lead creation allows Mailchimp to create Salesforce leads from your Mailchimp contacts who aren't already Salesforce leads.

To allow Mailchimp to create leads, follow these steps.

1. Check the box next to Allow Mailchimp to create Leads in Salesforce?
2. Click I am Ready to Map Fields.
   

After lead creation is enabled, contacts who are added to your Mailchimp audience are added as leads in Salesforce.

If you don't want to allow lead creation at this time, click I am Ready to Map Fields to move to the next step. The Salesforce integration won't create leads from your existing Mailchimp contacts.

Step 3: Map fields

We need you to tell us which Salesforce data fields to map to your Mailchimp audience fields, so that we can sync information to the correct place. Map Salesforce fields to your existing Mailchimp audience fields or add additional fields. Mailchimp accounts on a Premium plan can map up to 80 fields.

To map your fields, follow these steps.

1. Click the drop-down menus under Salesforce Lead Field and Salesforce Contact Field to match them to an existing Mailchimp Field
   
2. Click Save.

You'll be prompted to map fields for every Mailchimp audience in the connected account. If you don't want to map fields for a particular audience, click Save to proceed.

Add a new field

If you have a contact or lead field that doesn't match one of your existing Mailchimp fields, choose to add a new field to your Mailchimp audience.

To add a new audience field, follow these steps.

1. Click the Field Type drop-down menu to choose a field type.
2. Input a field name.
3. Check the box next to Field required, if needed.
4. Click Add field.
5. Click Save.

Repeat these steps for each new field you want to add to an audience.

After you complete this step, you'll exit the Install Wizard and be taken to the MC Setup page. Here you'll choose sync settings and turn on data sync to share data between Salesforce and Mailchimp.

Enable permission sets

To work with Mailchimp for Salesforce, your Salesforce account users will need to have the right permission set assignments.

• Mailchimp Users can view Mailchimp data in Salesforce.
• Mailchimp Admins can view Mailchimp data and use the Query Builder to build queries in Salesforce.

We recommend both User and Admin permissions for anyone working with the Salesforce integration.

To edit permission set assignments, follow these steps.

1. Log in to your Salesforce account.
2. Under Administer, click Manage Users.
3. Click Users.
   
4. Click the user you want to edit.
5. Hover over Permission Set Assignments until the pop-up options appear.
6. Click Edit Assignments.
   
7. Use the Add arrow button to add Mailchimp User and Mailchimp Admin to Enabled Permission Sets.
   
8. Click Save.
9. Repeat steps 3-8 for each user in your organization who needs to access the integration's features.

Choose sync settings

You can manage the amount of space that Mailchimp data takes up in your Salesforce account to keep features functioning as expected. Choose settings to determine which Mailchimp audiences you want to sync, to only sync contacts from a particular audience, or to limit how long Mailchimp activity is stored in Salesforce. When you choose your sync settings, you can also decide which Mailchimp audiences you want to allow to create leads in Salesforce.

To choose sync settings for your audiences, follow these steps.

1. Navigate to the MC Setup page.
2. On the Audience tab, click the Sync Setting drop-down menu to choose an option for each connected audience.
   
   Keep Activity settings will sync contact activity such as campaign opens, clicks, and sends. The Sync Subscribers Only setting syncs audience and group data for contacts.
3. Click Save.

Turn on data sync and lead creation

After you've chosen your sync settings, turn on data sync to make sure that Mailchimp and Salesforce communicate and share data regularly. You also have the option to allow Mailchimp to create new leads in Salesforce.

To turn on data sync and lead creation, follow these steps.

1. Navigate to the Settings tab.
2. Toggle the Data Sync slider on.
   
3. Toggle the Allow Mailchimp to create Leads in Salesforce slider on to create new Salesforce leads from your Mailchimp contacts.

When data sync is turned on, Mailchimp audience information like recently added segments and new contacts will be passed to Salesforce every hour. Mailchimp campaign activity, like opens and clicks, will be updated daily at midnight. To ensure campaign activity is passed to Salesforce, the sync settings for your audience must be set to a Keep Activity setting.

View data sync status

An initial data sync may sometimes take a few hours to complete, especially if you sync a large Mailchimp audience. To check the status of your data sync, visit the Monitor section of your Salesforce account and view Apex or Scheduled Jobs.

Next steps

After Mailchimp for Salesforce is connected, you'll be able to view Mailchimp campaign activity in Salesforce and use the Query Builder to add leads and contacts in Mailchimp.

You can also choose to customize the application to better manage Mailchimp data in Salesforce and allow other users access to the integration's features in your Salesforce account.

Use the Salesforce Query Builder
Customize Mailchimp for Salesforce