Mailchimp for Dynamics 365 Setup with Features Explained

Hello there! Need to know how to put all the pieces together to integrate Mailchimp for Dynamics 365?

We're here to help! We've crafted this article just for subscribers like you so that it'll help you understand how SyncApps works with your Mailchimp for Dynamics 365.

Before starting, take a look at our basic integration setup, as explained here:

Setting up your SyncApps Account

Check out some essential documentation for Mailchimp for Dynamics 365 integration:

Check out our features flow table below for a better understanding of how it works:

Dynamics 365	SyncApps	Mailchimp
*Action/record in Dynamics 365*	*Default* *If the function in SyncApps is enabled*	*The first result (default)* *Second result (If the feature is enabled*
Step 1	Step 1	Step 1
Entity Type: Contacts Leads Accounts	If Contacts as the Entity type is selected then only Contact type records with email address ( standard email address field) will be synced to Mailchimp	All Dynamics 365 Contacts will be synced to the specified Main Audience (Step 2 of the Sync Profile)
Dynamics 365 record is Opted-in	Default SyncApps uses an email address for records identification, creation, or updates	Record is created in Mailchimp Main Audience used. If the record already exists then, SyncApps will marry that record.
Dynamics 365 record is opted- out	SyncApps will ignore the record to be synced	Record not created/updated.
	Enabled -Unsubscribe opted-out Contacts or Leads in Dynamics 365 from Mailchimp	Records not synced to Mailchimp if those records aren't initially synced as opted in initially.
Record unsubscribed	Default	The record is still subscribed. Will not be updated in the sync
Record unsubscribed	Enabled - Unsubscribe opted-out Contacts or Leads in Dynamics 365 from Mailchimp	Record is unsubscribed in the Main Audience.
Record is deleted	Default	The record still exist but will not be updated
Record is deleted	Enabled Full Sync Add-On Feature On a Full Sync remove any Contacts from the Mailchimp Audience when they no longer meet any segmentation criteria in Step 1 or Step 5	Record is deleted from the Mailchimp Audience. It can be Archived or permanently deleted base on the Deletion method selected in Step 2 of the Sync Profile.
Record is marked as Inactive in Dynamics 365	Default	If the records are initially synced as Active, then later on marked as Inactive, SyncApps will no longer update these records on every sync.
Record is marked as Inactive	Enabled: Allow syncing of inactive CRM records	This will inactivate the record in Mailchimp.
The record is marked as Inactive.	Enabled: Remove inactive Contacts, Leads, or Accounts from Mailchimp	Inactive records in Dynamics 365 will remove the records in your Mailchimp Audience
CRM Contacts, Leads, Accounts	Default	Records are now synced to specified Main Audience depending on Object Type selected. If Contact, then all Contact Type records from Dynamics 365 will be created if it does not exist.
New/existing CRM records do not have a First or Last name.	Default	Mailchimp will reject the records to be created as these are both required fields
New/existing CRM records do not have First or Last name	Enabled: On Contact or Lead creation, use "Unknown" as the last name if the last name is blank	Records will be created in Mailchimp, but the empty First/Last name field values are "unknown" as long as they have an email address.
Marketing List Sync	Selected specific Marketing List(s).	Each CRM Marketing List(s) will be created as Group(s) under the My Groups Group title by default. If you have used the Group title to use in Step 2, then SyncApps will sync these Marketing List(s) as Group(s) under the specified Group title to use.
If the record already exists, then it will marry that record. If the record does not exist, SyncApps will create a new one, place in the Contacts, or it will depend based on the Entity Type you've selected on that specific Sync Profile.	Sync Profile's Entity type selected; an example is Contact.	New record lands in the Main Audience or the Group(s)/Tag(s) created by SyncApps from CRM Marketing List(s).
Record not created. (Rejected because it is a required field in Dynamics 365 - First Name or Last Name)		New record lands in the Main Audience or the Group(s)/Tag(s) created by SyncApps from CRM Marketing List(s). *No last name or First Name
Record created. But the field value placed in the First Name/Last Name is "Unknown."	Enabled: On Contact or Lead creation, use "Unknown" as the last name if the last name is blank	New record lands in the Main Audience or the Group(s)/Tag(s) created by SyncApps from CRM Marketing List(s). *No last name or First Name
Dynamics 365 Campaign created with the Campaign Members and Marketing Metrics such as opens, clicks, bounces. The Campaign name will be the same as the name of that Mailchimp Campaign. For more information, please check out our Help Center article here.	Enabled - Sync Campaign Responses	Opens, clicks, bounces from Mailchimp Campaign(s)
Step 2	Step 2	Step 2
Contacts/Leads/Account	Specified Main Audience	Records created and synced to this specified Main Audience.
Email opt-out field (Do Not Allow Email" or "Do Not Allow Bulk Email) is checked.	Default	Record from Main Audience opts out
Dynamics 365 record is still opted-in.	Enabled - Do not sync unsubscribed emails status to Dynamics 365	Record from Main Audience opts out
Dynamics 365 Marketing List(s)	Segmentation Method: Create a Group Create a Tag	Each CRM Marketing List(s) will be created as Group(s) under the Group Title "My Groups" together with the List Members. If Use Tag(s) Segmentation Method is selected, then SyncApps will Tag the records.
Dynamics 365 Marketing List(s)	Group Title to use: (Undefined; blank)	Each CRM Marketing List(s) will be created as Group(s) under the Group Title "My Groups" together with the List Members.
Dynamics 365 Marketing List(s)	Group Title to use: (Specified a Group Title)	Each CRM Marketing List(s) will be created as Group(s) under the specified Group Title together with the List Members. .
Removed a record from the specific CRM Marketing List(s)	On a Full Sync, remove any Contacts from the Mailchimp Audience when they no longer meet any segmentation criteria in Step 1 or Step 5.	The record is removed from the matching list and will also be removed from the Mailchimp Main Audience. The record will be Archived or Permanently be deleted based on the deletion method selected in Step 2 of the Sync Profile.
Record in Dynamics 365 is automatically updated via Webhook, even without the need for sync in SyncApps. Updates from Dynamics 365 to Mailchimp will need to run the sync.	Update Dynamics 365 if subscribers update their profiles in Mailchimp (Webhook; realtime record update from Mailchimp to Dynamics 365) Note: For the Webhooks to take effect, best practice is to sync the records first from Dynamics 365 to Mailchimp via SyncApps.	Subscriber updates his account information through the update profile form.
Records from the selected Group Title will be created as new records in Dynamics 365 Contacts/Leads database if it does not exist at the time of sync.	Display button to manually sync Mailchimp Groups to Dynamics 365	Mailchimp Groups under specified Audience - Group Title
Selected specific Marketing List(s) in Step 1 of the Sync Profile.	Allow Multiple Group Titles in Step 2.	CRM Marketing List(s) are now created to their designated Group Titles, not just in the "My Groups" Group Title.
Step 4: Field Mapping	Step 4: Field Mapping	Step 4: Field Mapping
	Additional field mapping is optional. By default, SyncApps will only sync built-in available Mailchimp fields for the email address, first name, and last name. All other data fields, including address, phone number, title, or lead source will first need to be created as list fields (Merge tags) in Mailchimp for the "Main Audience" specified in the previous SyncApps configuration screen.
Step 5: Filtering and Segmentation	Step 5: Filtering and Segmentation	Step 5: Filtering and Segmentation
Contacts/Leads	Filtering Only ( Segmentation not enabled)	Specific records are synced to the specified Main Audience.
Dynamics 365 Marketing List(s)	Filtering Only ( Segmentation not enabled) Selected specific CRM Marketing List(s) in Step 1 of the Sync Profile	Specific records are synced to the specified Main Audience.
Contacts/Leads	Filtering + Segmentation enabled	Each Segment Name will be created as Group(s)/Tag(s) together with the specific records that match the criteria per Segment.
Dynamics 365 Marketing List(s)	Filtering + Segmentation enabled. Selected specific CRM Marketing List(s) in Step 1 of the Sync Profile	Each Segment Name will be created as Group(s)/Tag(s) together with the specific records that match the criteria per Segment.

Before setting up the integration, here are some vital integration points:

Make sure that your Microsoft Dynamics CRM/Dynamics 365 Web Services URL works. See how to check it here.
If on a Free Trial, create a test CRM List or Marketing List with test records in it so that not all records from your CRM database will be synced to MailChimp.
Create test Main List/Audience in Mailchimp (This test Audience will be specified in Step 2 of the Sync Profile where you want your Dynamics 365 records to be synced.)
Scheduling of a Sync Profile is available on Free Trials and Paid plans. (Step 6)

Let's get started!

Setting up your Sync Profile

Setting up your Sync Profile (integration) is super simple! Dynamics 365 to Mailchimp Setup. Looking for a Quick Setup Guided Tour? Search in our YouTube playlist here.

You are now setting up the integration, so we are giving you an EXTRA 2 Weeks Free on us! Enjoy 4 Full Weeks of our real-time, Enterprise plan integration.

Unlimited Records sync between Mailchimp and 365
Unlimited Opt-Out sync from your Mailchimp
Unlimited Campaigns/Marketing List sync
Unlimited Campaigns from your Mailchimp
Sync on Demand included for easy testing of your integration scenarios
Scheduling of a Sync Profile is available on Free Trial and Paid plans (Step 6)

Pre-Steps

Logging in to your SyncApps account will land you the SyncApps Dashboard. Head to Sync Profiles and Once you've selected the Sync Profiles tab, tap the "Create Sync Profile" button.

Enter any designated name for your new Sync Profile as your identifier. Then in Sync Type, select Dynamics 365 to Mailchimp.

Step 1: Dynamics 365

Enter your Dynamics 365 credentials and select the Authentication Type and Web Services URL. See the guides below for more information:

Select your preferred Entity Type (Object type) to sync. If wanting to sync different Entity types, create separate Sync Profiles for each as we only sync 1 Entity type per Sync Profile.

Marketing List Sync

An email list will be created for each 365 Marketing List. If the Marketing List(s) feature is selected, only the records in your Marketing List(s) will be integrated into your Marketing Automation solution.

An email list will be created for each 365 Marketing List. If the Marketing List(s) feature is selected, only the records in each Marketing List(s) will get synced.

If you need to automatically remove records from your Mailchimp, particularly when they are no longer a part of any synced 365 Marketing List, then please also subscribe to our "Full Sync" Add-On Subscription which is the only way in the integration to remove a CRM member from a synced external list.

Full Sync - How it Works!

Unsubscribe opted-out Contacts or Leads in Dynamics 365 from Mailchimp

If this option is not checked, then opted-out Contacts or Leads are simply ignored (not synced to Mailchimp).

A Contact or Lead is considered to be opted-out in Dynamics 365 if the "Do Not Allow Email" or "Do Not Allow Bulk Email" attribute on Contact or Lead is selected.

Remove inactive Contacts, Leads, or Accounts from Mailchimp

If a Contact, Lead, or Account is made inactive, SyncApps will remove the email address from Mailchimp.

Sync Campaign Responses

A Dynamics 365 campaign will be created for each Mailchimp email campaign.

For more information on marketing metrics and URLs clicked setup, please tap here.

The email template will be attached as an HTML file to the Campaign created in Dynamics CRM. The email template is attached as a Campaign Note.

Sync clicked URLs

Clicked URLs will be stored on the Campaign Responses description.

For more information on marketing metrics and URLs clicked setup, please tap here.

Step 2: Mailchimp

To obtain a Mailchimp API key, please log into Mailchimp, press the Top Menu: Account > Extras > Your API Keys. Create a new API Key or copy an existing API Key into SyncApps.

To use SyncApps, you must be in a Mailchimp Admin role and above. Please use your username and password.

Mailchimp Audience

A Mailchimp Audience can be created automatically or select an existing Audience from the dropdown list.

Note: We require to define the Main Audience because Mailchimp needs it in creating, updating, and removing records using its API.

If you would like to sync to a different List in Mailchimp, you'll need to set up another Sync Profile for that use case.

Do not Sync new Mailchimp Subscribers (One-Way sync)

If wanting to sync only the new records or existing records from Mailchimp, enable this option; One-Way sync.

Do not sync unsubscribed status to Microsoft Dynamics CRM

By default, SyncApps will set opted-out status in Dynamics 365 for unsubscribed emails. Please check this checkbox if you do not want unsubscribed email status to be synced.

Group Title to Use ("Use Groups" under Segmentation method)

This field is optional. For the marketing list sync feature, each Dynamics 365 Marketing List/Campaign is synced to a Mailchimp Group.

By default, SyncApps will use the "My Groups" Group title with the Hidden type (not displayed in Mailchimp form). You can override the title of the Group by putting in a different Group title.

To display Groups in the Mailchimp signup form, please create new Groups with checkboxes type and specify the Group title in this field.

"Use Tags" under Segmentation method

See here for more information about using Mailchimp Tags

On a Full Sync, remove any Contacts from the Mailchimp Audience when they no longer meet any segmentation criteria in Step 1 or Step 5.

If using the Add-On for Full Sync, then this feature will delete the Contact from the Mailchimp Audience each time a Full Sync is run in your integration.

The Full Sync option is visible in Sync Add-Ons in Step 3 only if you have selected a segmentation feature (Dynamics 365 Marketing List, or the Enable Segmentation feature in Step 5).

Update Dynamics 365 if subscribers update their profiles in Mailchimp

If this option is checked, then if subscribers update their profiles in Mailchimp, the updated fields will reflect back to the Dynamics 365 record using Webhooks even if the sync is not initiated. This only works for Mailchimp to Dynamics 365 direction, Dynamics 365 to Mailchimp direction will need to run the sync.

Campaign Response Sync Selection

You can select "All MailChimp Campaigns" or just "Select Specific Campaigns" to sync back to a Dynamics CRM Campaign that is automatically created via the API.

Step 3: Add-Ons

Sync Add-Ons are optional. Available Add-Ons in Step 3 of the Sync Profile may depend on which Plan and integration you select.

Want to know which Sync Add-On fits your requirement? Give us a shout out today!

Step 4: Field Mapping

Field Mapping is optional.

Basic fields such as Email address, Name, Title, Address, Company name, and Phone are already pre-mapped even if you haven't enabled this Step. Otherwise, if you have more additional fields to map, then you'll have to set these fields up here.

Generic Field Mapping Guide

Step 5: Filtering and Segmentation

This Step is one of our most powerful features used by most of our subscribers. Like for example, you have 1000's of records in your CRM; then you only want to pull out the records with specific criteria, only these records will be synced to your Mailchimp Main List.

See here for more information on how it works.

Filtering and Segmentation Guide