For a long time, many eCommerce marketers who used Shopify relied on Mailchimp integration to easily stay in touch with their customers.
Those days are over. Unfortunately, Mailchimp and Shopify recently decided to end their partnership. MailChimp has blamed Shopify’s updated terms that could potentially put sensitive Mailchimp customer information at risk while Shopify has pointed the finger at MailChimp’s refusal to respect their Partner Program Agreement.
Regardless of the he said, she said conflict, the break-up is real. If you sell via Shopify and used Mailchimp’s eCommerce features (or were planning to use them), you might wonder what this means for your business.
The first point to keep in mind is that you shouldn’t worry. Although this new development may somewhat inconvenience you, there are workarounds available. They include the following:
Use Third-Party Integrations
It’s important to understand that the end of an official partnership between Mailchimp and Shopify does not mean you can no longer integrate Mailchimp with your Shopify account. To use Shopify and Mailchimp’s eCommerce features, you can simply use third-party integrations, such as Zapier and Automate.io. These integrations offer most of the same valuable features you had access to before.
Manually Sync Customer Lists
Mailchimp’s eCommerce integration with Shopify was particularly useful because it allowed users to easily sync information from their customer lists with their email lists. This simplified the process of getting back in touch with old customers.
The team at Mailchimp understands this. That’s why, after deciding to end their partnership with Shopify, they are still looking to provide resources and info to users who previously relied on Mailchimp’s eCommerce tools. Along with using third-party integrations, Mailchimp’s team has also pointed out the users can sync their customer information by importing data from Shopify manually. This may take more time, but it’s another option worth considering.
Use Mailchimp Code
Some features of Mailchimp and Shopify integration, such as pop-up forms and retargeting emails, can still be accessed, albeit in a different way than you may be accustomed to. Mailchimp allows users to generate and insert custom codes into their Shopify pages to continue using these features. Because the process may vary depending on your exact goals, you should review the steps as outlined in Mailchimp’s official guide.
Customize Your Integration
Again, although third-party Mailchimp eCommerce integration services can help you connect your Mailchimp account with your Shopify account, they may not offer all the features you need. You might be better off customizing your integration with Mailchimp’s API.
This isn’t an ideal option for everyone. Your business needs developers who can translate your goals into a custom integration that delivers results. However, if you have these development resources, and believe a custom integration would best meet your needs, you can use Mailchimp’s eCommerce Toolkit 3.0 to create one.
You should also remember that Mailchimp appears to be taking steps to make the transition process as easy as possible for users. While you can no longer take advantage of Shopify and Mailchimp’s eCommerce features as easily as you may have in the past, you can still use the tools together with some workarounds.
