HubSpot Contacts to Mailchimp Lists

# HubSpot Contacts to Mailchimp Lists

## Purpose
Implement when your marketing team uses Mailchimp for campaigns but manages contacts in HubSpot to avoid manual list exports.

## When to Use
Keep your Mailchimp email lists automatically synced with HubSpot contact segments so your email marketing always reaches the right audience.

## Instructions
1. Review the template below and familiarise yourself with the structure
2. Replace all [bracketed placeholders] with your business details
3. Customise the tone and formatting to match your brand
4. Save in your preferred tool (HubSpot or Mailchimp)

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## HubSpot Contacts to Mailchimp Lists

### Overview
Automatically add or update Mailchimp subscribers when contacts are created or modified in HubSpot, ensuring your email marketing lists always reflect your current CRM data without manual exports.

### Prerequisites
- HubSpot account (Free CRM or above)
- Mailchimp account (Essentials plan or above for audiences and segments)
- Zapier account (Free plan works for a single Zap)
- Mailchimp audience (list) already created for the target contacts

### Setup Steps

**Step 1: Prepare your Mailchimp audience**
- In Mailchimp, create or identify the audience you want to sync contacts to
- Add any custom merge fields you want to populate (e.g., Company, Industry, Lifecycle Stage)
- Note the audience name for the Zapier configuration

**Step 2: Create a HubSpot list or filter (optional but recommended)**
- In HubSpot, create an active list based on the criteria for contacts you want in Mailchimp
- Example criteria: Lifecycle Stage is "Lead" or "Customer" AND Marketing Contact is "Yes"
- This ensures you only sync relevant contacts, not every record in your CRM

**Step 3: Create a new Zap in Zapier**
Log in to Zapier and click "Create Zap". Name it "HubSpot to Mailchimp Sync".

**Step 4: Configure the HubSpot trigger**
- App: HubSpot
- Trigger event: "New Contact" or "Updated Contact Property"
- Account: Connect your HubSpot account
- If using "Updated Contact Property", specify which property change should trigger the sync (e.g., Lifecycle Stage)
- Test: Create or update a test contact in HubSpot

**Step 5: Add a filter step**
- Add a "Filter by Zapier" step
- Condition: "Email" is not empty AND "Marketing Contact" equals "Yes"
- This prevents syncing contacts who have not opted in to marketing

**Step 6: Configure the Mailchimp action**
- App: Mailchimp
- Action event: "Add/Update Subscriber"
- Account: Connect your Mailchimp account
- Audience: Select your target audience

**Step 7: Map fields**

| HubSpot Property | Mailchimp Field | Notes |
|-----------------|-----------------|-------|
| Email | Email Address | Required, primary identifier |
| First Name | FNAME | Standard merge field |
| Last Name | LNAME | Standard merge field |
| Company Name | COMPANY | Custom merge field |
| Lifecycle Stage | LIFECYCLE | Custom merge field for segmentation |
| Industry | INDUSTRY | Custom merge field |
| City | CITY | For location-based campaigns |
| Tags | Tags | Map HubSpot tags to Mailchimp tags |

**Step 8: Set subscription status**
- Status: "Subscribed" (only if you have confirmed consent)
- If consent is uncertain, use "Pending" to trigger Mailchimp's double opt-in
- Important: Comply with the Australian Spam Act 2003. Only sync contacts who have given explicit consent.

**Step 9: Test the integration**
1. Create a test contact in HubSpot with all relevant fields filled in
2. Wait 1-2 minutes for the Zap to trigger
3. Check your Mailchimp audience for the new subscriber
4. Verify all merge fields are populated correctly
5. Send a test campaign to confirm the subscriber receives it

### Error Handling
- **Invalid email:** Mailchimp will reject malformed emails. The Zap will log an error but continue processing other contacts.
- **Unsubscribed contacts:** If someone unsubscribes in Mailchimp, the Zap cannot re-subscribe them. This is by design and required by anti-spam laws.
- **Merge field mismatch:** If a HubSpot field contains data that does not match the Mailchimp merge field type (e.g., text in a number field), the sync will fail for that contact.
- **Duplicate contacts:** Mailchimp deduplicates by email address automatically.

### Maintenance
- Review sync logs weekly for the first month to catch any field mapping issues
- Update merge fields when you add new segmentation criteria in HubSpot
- Audit your Mailchimp audience quarterly against HubSpot to ensure they are aligned
- Monitor unsubscribe rates to ensure you are not syncing disengaged contacts

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**Complexity:** simple | **Setup time:** 10 minutes | **Tools:** HubSpot, Mailchimp, Zapier