[Solved] Mailchimp Extended | Updating Subscribers

Hi Bubblers,

I’m using the “Subscribe Member with Custom Merge Tags” call to add new subscribers to a Mailchimp list. When the person is already subscribed I receive the following error message:

It seems that this could be avoided the call would use PUT instead of POST (http://developer.mailchimp.com/documentation/mailchimp/reference/lists/members/#%20)

My goal is that if someone signs up again that the data is updated in Mailchimp. Is there a way of doing this?

Maybe @romanmg can help?

Hey @philip.ehl, I updated the plugin so that this call uses PUT instead of POST. Now you can subscribe or update a member with custom tags with this single call. Keep in mind that this update is non-backward compatible, so you’ll need to back to anywhere you’re using the action and update the settings.

It now requires the MD5 hash of the email address and body has different requirements. If the member doesn’t exist, you’d still need to provide email_address and status_if_new. If the member already exists, you can leave those out and use whatever parameters you need like you did before. The default body has a sample body for new subscriber.

Let me know if you have any questions!


Gaby | Coaching Bubble
Private coaching, courses, and tons of free resources

2 Likes

Hi Gaby,
thanks for updating the Plugin. Works fine for me! :+1:

1 Like

Hey @romanmg,

first of all, thanks for the plugin.

Unfortunately, I cannot figure out why the “Subscribe or Update Member with Custom Merge Tags” function does not work for me. Sometimes I receive error messages, sometimes not, but it never updates the corresponding member.

Here is, how I set up the workflow when a user signs up to our website (he can potentially be in our mailing list beforehand):

First, I subscribe the member to the mailing list:

Then I try to update the member with the following data

However, no changes happen on my Mailchimp email list.

Any idea or suggestions are highly appreciated as I really can’t figure out why it’s not working…

Did you ever get an answer on this?

Hi @kontakt.youare,

Thanks for the screenshots!

Try two things:

  1. Make sure the email address is in lowercase. You can re-format it like this: “Current user’s email :lowercase :formatted as MD5 hash”

  2. Remove the word “PUT” from the Body. The call method is already built in for you (it’s hidden). It should follow this format instead:

{
  "email_address": "email@domain.com",
  "status_if_new": "subscribed",
  "merge_fields": {
    "tag-1": "Tag 1 Value",
    "tag-2": "Tag 2 Value",
    "tag-3": "Tag 3 Value"
  }
} 

See if either of those adjustments help.

2 Likes

Hey Gaby - I have a similar situation. I want to check to see if my set-up is correct.

  1. User signs up
  2. User could already be on our list

So the plugin action will be:

  1. Mailchimp Extended: Subscribe or Update Member
  2. I add my data center# and list id
  3. I add the Input’s email address is :lowercase :formatted as MD5 hash

Is this accurate?

Cheers
DJ

Hey Gaby @romanmg

I have a similar situation. I want to check to see if my set-up is correct.

  1. User signs up
  2. User could already be on our list

So the plugin action will be:

  1. Mailchimp Extended: Subscribe or Update Member
  2. I add my data center# and list id
  3. I add the Input’s email address is :lowercase :formatted as MD5 hash

Is this set up accurate?

So I ran a few tests with different users/emails. I got errors for the users/emails that were already on the list. The error message says “email@domain.com is already a list member. Use PUT to insert or update list members”.

Cheers
DJ

@delond.parker.jr Could you share a screenshot of your action settings? Feel free to blur out the list ID.

@romanmg Thanks Gaby…

You need to replace “email@domain.com” with the actual email (aka “input -email’s value”). And also replace all the merge field data. The “tag X” should be the name of your custom field and “tag x value” should be the actual values for that user.

See @kontakt.youare’s screenshot from earlier with their same setup filled in with their own values.

1 Like

Hey @romanmg,

thanks for your reply!

I have tried to set up the system beforehand as you suggested, but it didn’t work, why I was testing on some adjustments. After your message I tried to set it up like this again, but it just does not adjust the given merge fields. If I do not use the “Mailchimp Extended - Subscribe Member” workflow before using the “Mailchimp Extended - Subscribe or Update Member with Custom Merge Tags” one, the new user would not be added to my list at all. Here I receive the following message (if that might help to resolve the problem in general):
Problem%20Mailchimp%203

Any other ideas?

That specific error message is saying that the email value “should not be blank” which indicates you’re not sending an email address. If you’re positive that you’re inserting the dynamic email address properly in the action settings, run the action in preview mode with the debugger in step by step mode and see if you can find the disconnect there. Maybe you’re referencing a different input, or the input is getting cleared before getting to this action?

Thanks Gaby!

Hi @romanmg,

I just added tags to my Mailchimp audience. Is it possible to add tags using this plugin?

I was looking through this site but wasn’t sure exactly what I needed to do (https://mailchimp.com/developer/guides/how-to-use-tags/#Resources_and_samples). I tried adding this - “Newsletter”:[], - but it didn’t tag as Newsletter.

For example, I have some users who are subscribing to a newsletter (and so get tag “Newsletter”), others who are just signing up for the app and emails associated with the app (tag “App Signup”), and others who are agreeing to both Newsletter and App Signup.

Can you advise how to include this in the JSON code?

Thanks,
Ken

Hi all (and Gaby @romanmg),

Checking in to see if anyone has a solution to add tags using the MailChimp extended update subscribers event. Thanks!

Ken

I’m trying to do the same thing. Have you solved this?

Unfortunately not, for now I’ll be managing it with bulk tag uploads when I need to send a message to only one group.

If anyone knows how to implement, that would be much appreciated!

Ken

Hello Bubblers!

I’m having trouble using the “Mailchimp Extended - Subscribe or Update Member with Custom Merge Fields” function from the Mailchimp Extended plugin.

Here are 2 screenshots: one from my workflow and one is the error message I’m getting : “Unable to resolve DNS for…”… I’m not sure I to fix this… I feel like I’ve set up everything correctly…

@romanmg : Have you already seen this issue?

Thanks,

Lucie

(upload://a4p7LrtJU1brZcp30uyYPMl9Xqo.png)

Hey Lucie,

Are you sure your data center is us01?