It is quite common for people who are new in a role to suddenly be in charge of making sure Mailchimp and Raiser's Edge are in sync with each other and now need to use our products Chimpegration and/or Chimpegration Classic. The organisation that they work for may have had Chimpegration/Chimpegration Classic for a number of years, but for one reason or another a suitable handover or internal documentation of processes never materialised.
If this sounds familiar to you, then you are in the right place.
What is Chimpegration?
Chimpegration is an integration product from Zeidman Development that uses Blackbauds API and Mailchimp API to enable users to add and update records on both Mailchimp and Raiser's Edge. Chimpegration integrations with the Webview of RE NXT, whilst Chimpegration Classic works on RE 7 or the Database View of RE NXT.
For Chimpegration (that is integrated with RE NXT's webview), requires you to log in to https://nxt.chimpegration.com/login using your Zeidzone log in details. If you have not been set-up with a Zeidzone log in, either contact a user in your Organisation that has a log in and get them to invite you or contact support@zeidman.info
Chimpegration also offers users a Chimpegration View Tile that appears within RE NXT Webview that allows users to see what Mailchimp Activity has happened on a Constituent's record. This is view only, so isn't something that can be searched or queried within RE.
Chimpegration allows user to add or update records from RE NXT over to Mailchimp, add or update records from Mailchimp over to RE NXT, and add or update Mailchimp campaign data to RE NXT. This includes managing unsubscribed and hard bounced emails, and adding Actions to RE NXT that captures Campaign data such as opens and clicks.
Sounds straight forward. Is there anything else I need to know?
We recommend that you have a solid understanding of how your RE NXT and your Mailchimp work and are set-up before trying to use Chimpegration. When trying to get two systems to talk to each other, it is useful to understand where there differ. When it comes to RE NXT and Mailchimp, the most obvious one is how they handle email addresses. Mailchimp only allows one email address per record. Whereas, RE NXT can allow you to have multiple email addresses on a record well as can allow you to use the same email address on multiple records.
Ideally, your RE NXT has been kept nice and tidy and you can easily identify a unique, active email address that can be used in your Mailchimp. However, what you might find is that the same record in RE NXT appears multiple times in your Mailchimp Audience each with different email addresses. You will need to understand why your organisation has chosen to do this and we recommend you seek to reduce your Audience down to one email per record and that related to one specific email address on a single individual constituent record.
Additionally, there are duplicate settings that can be set up to help you manage email addresses that appear on multiple records in RE NXT. You should have a look in the 'Settings' section of Chimpegration to see how they are setup and make sure that they are represented in your RE NXT.
Finally, Chimpegration relies on the APIs of Blackbaud and Mailchimp. It is quite possible that the tool doesn't do something that you might expect. As this is an established product, its often that case the limitation is not with the tool, but with the APIs. A good example of this is Mailchimp Customer Journeys can not be used with Chimpegration, because Mailchimp have not developed their API to include data from Customer Journeys. Instead, we recommend using Classic Automations instead.
How can I learn how to use this tool?
Hopefully, you will find the tool fairly intuitive and you should be able to set-up processes easily. However, there are a range of different options at your disposal within each Chimpegration Process and not all of them may be suitable for your needs. In order to better understand these options, please look at the User Guide for more detailed explanations. If you feel that you would benefit from training, please contact development@zeidman.info
To understand how your predecessors have used Chimpegration in the past, you can look in previously written processes via the Template Manager and clicking on the 'Edit' button.
Again, a solid understanding of how your RE NXT and Mailchimp are set-up are key to understanding how Chimpegration was and should be used.
What is the difference between Chimpegration and Chimpegration Classic?
It's quite possible that your organisation used both Chimpegration and Chimpegration Classic in tandem. There are a number of reason as to why this may have been the case. Chimpegration Classic is an older product and requires users to set-up processes manually. Whereas, Chimpegration allows users to set-up Scheduled processes and Realtime processes. Chimpegration uses Cloud-based services so units processed do come at a cost. Your package most likely includes a 10,000 units per month allowance, but some users use Chimpegration Classic to bypass any additional costs.
That's a lot of information, where do I start?
Consider trying to find the answers to some of these questions:
Are my systems (RE NXT and Mailchimp) both up to date with each other?
When was the last time processes were run?
What Scheduled and Realtime processes are currently active?
How has Unsubscribed, Hard bounces, etc. previously been handled?
What are you are hoping to accomplish with Chimpegration?
Is there anything you feel needs to be changed in order for Chimpegration to work as expected?
What do you want to do with the Mailchimp Data once it has been added to your RE NXT?