Overview
Mailchimp's Shopify integration syncs customer data, purchase history, and product information between the two platforms. This enables personalised email campaigns based on purchase behaviour, automated email sequences triggered by Shopify events, and product recommendation emails featuring items from your catalogue.
Mailchimp and Shopify fell out officially in 2019, which removed the official app. The integration is now maintained by third parties, most commonly Mailchimp's own ShopSync app or Combidesk.
Installation
Install ShopSync from the Shopify App Store. Connect it to your Mailchimp account by entering your API key. Configure which Shopify data to sync: customer list, purchase history, and product catalogue.
Alternatively, install Mailchimp's official connection via Mailchimp's audience settings: go to Mailchimp, then Audience, then Manage Audience, then Connected Sites, and connect Shopify.
Syncing Customers
After connection, existing Shopify customers sync to a Mailchimp audience. Ongoing syncs add new customers and update existing records when customers place new orders.
Configure your sync to respect marketing consent: only customers who opted in to marketing at checkout should be added to your main marketing list. Customers who did not opt in should either be excluded or added to a non-marketing segment for transactional emails only.
Abandoned Cart Emails
Mailchimp's abandoned cart automation can trigger emails to customers who start checkout but do not complete it. The email includes the cart contents with product images, links back to the checkout, and your branding.
Abandoned cart emails from Mailchimp are available on paid plans. For Shopify-native abandoned checkout emails, you can use Shopify's built-in automation instead, which does not require Mailchimp.
Product Recommendations
Mailchimp can insert personalised product recommendations into emails based on each recipient's purchase history. Enable product recommendations in your Mailchimp email templates by adding a product recommendation content block.
This works best for stores with broad catalogues where purchase history provides enough signal to make relevant recommendations.
Segmentation
Segment your Mailchimp audience using Shopify purchase data: customers who bought a specific product, customers who have not purchased in 90 days (lapsed customers), customers who have spent more than £500 (high-value customers). These segments enable targeted campaigns with relevant content.
GDPR and Consent
Under UK GDPR, you can only send marketing emails to customers who have given explicit consent. Ensure your Shopify checkout includes an unchecked opt-in checkbox and only syncs consenting customers to your Mailchimp marketing list.
Review your Mailchimp audience regularly to remove contacts who have unsubscribed via Shopify. The integration should handle this automatically, but verify it is working correctly.
