mailchimp setup question

[cote289]

I wanted to get some input as to the best way to setup mailchimp lists from the get go

Can s2 member pass along what type of member the user is when they sign up so i can segment the list accordingly and market to those "free" users to get them to upgrade?

Or should i have multiple lists, one for free, one for paid?

I'm concerned with the multiple list method as when a member does upgrade, they would still be on both lists and I don't want to go through and have to manually clean any lists.

How have you seen this done well and what should I be thinking about to set this up right the first time?

thanks for the input

Ben...

[rossagrant]

Setup 2 lists. One for FREE, one for Premium. Input both list ID's in the list server section of S2Member. When a user upgrades/ downgrades they are automatically 'transitioned' from one list to another as long as you have this option checked in the mailchimp set up in S2Member.

I use it, it works flawlessly, allowing you to market to your FREE members and get them to upgrade. They will only ever appear on ONE list thanks to S2Member.

[cote289]

perfect, thank you!!

[jdcohan]

It's good that s2Member will automatically move a MailChimp subscriber from one MailChimp list to another if/when that subscriber moves to a different s2Member level.

However, there are some important good-practice reasons for maintaining a SINGLE MailChimp list. Namely, a MailChimp campaign can be sent to ONLY ONE LIST at a time (unless this has changed).

Suppose I use the multiple-list approach. I would have...

1) one MailChimp list for FREE s2Member subscribers;

2) another list for PREMIUM s2Member subscribers;

3) and a third for GENERAL peeps not related to s2Member at all.

I'll certainly want to send some campaigns to EVERYONE. To do so using the multiple-list approach, I'd either have to replicate the campaign and send it 3 times (not great) or copy subscribers from FREE and PREMIUM to GENERAL (also not great, as this creates opportunities for update anomalies).

Therefore (if my premises above are correct), I think it would be ideal to put all s2Members into my single GENERAL MailChimp list and use MailChimp's grouping / segmentation features for my campaigns.

Does this make sense? Is there a way to configure the s2Member-to-MailChimp integration to handle this without my having to manually modify the group settings in MailChimp?

TIA,
Jeff

[jdcohan]

Bump/paraphrase:

Creating SEPARATE LISTS in MailChimp is a bad idea.

Can s2Member integrate with MailChimp when only a SINGLE LIST is used in MailChimp?

[cassel]

I think it might be a personal choice too, depending on the marketing you use and the list you have. Imagine this scenario: you have ONE list, with a segments for people who purchased your membership already.

Tomorrow, you decide to have a special promotion of your membership for $99/month for only $49, so you want to send to your segment of the list that is NOT already a member. Now, imagine that those who DID purchase last week, got your membership for $89. You always have a risk of clicking the wrong button and send the promo to ALL your list, including those who already joined for a higher price. No fun for those and then you bite your tongue.

I wanted to use a single list with segments, but ended up with separate lists. If i want to send to my ENTIRE mailing list, i send to one list at the time, but twice or three times. And when one person from one list purchases the membership, i move it to the other list. Of course, i do not have a HUGE list to manage so it helps and if i had thousands of names on the lists, i might need to consider another method.

Anyways, it is at least something to consider.

[jdcohan]

Thanks for weighing in, Cassel.

I understand the risk of sending a message to people who shouldn't get the message. But I don't see how maintaining separate lists for different membership levels helps avert the problem in your scenario.

More to the point, the downsides of maintaining multiple lists are many and significant. (You mentioned one: having to send the same message multiple times to multiple lists.) MailChimp itself urges using a single list with Groups and Segmenting. They endorse separate lists only for agencies managing e-mail campaigns for multiple clients.

What I'm trying to find out is whether the s2Member API system allows us to work with a single MailChimp list. (The idea is that my list would have a group called s2MemberLevel whose options would include Level_1, Level_2, Level_3, and Level_4.) I'm hoping one of the developers will chime in.

Thanks again.

[cassel]

It sure would be nice also if it could manage multiple ccaps (since i am not using levels but ccaps). I'll keep an eye on this thread anyways, because i sure can hope to get a LARGE list that would need to be managed automatically!

[Cristián Lávaque]

Hi Jeff. Here's a quote from the changelog for v1106045

(s2Member/s2Member Pro). MailChimp® Interest Groups. Ability to use Interest Groups with Mailchimp List IDs. For examples, please check your Dashboard under: s2Member -> API List Servers -> MailChimp.

So you can try the same list with different groups for the different levels.

Cassel, you can use merge fields with custom capabilities. Look at this thread for more info: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14727&p=33399#p33399

I hope this helps.

[jdcohan]

Thanks, Cristián. I missed this (bolded) part in the Dashboard:

New Level #1 Members will be subscribed to these List IDs.
Ex: 4a44fRio5d, 434ksvviEdf, 8834jsdf923, ee9djfs4jel3
Or: 4a44fRio5d::Group Title::Group|Another Group

Let me see if I understand...

I could create a MailChimp Group Title called "s2MemberLevel" with possible group names (I wish MailChimp referred to them as "option values") of "Level-0", "Level-1", "Level-2", "Level-3" and "Level-4".

Then, for my Level-1 members, I would enter this in the "List ID(s) for Level #2 Members" box:

Code: Select all

4a44fRio5d::s2MemberLevel::Level-1

And so on.

Is that right?

[Jason Caldwell]

Exactly. You've got it!
Thanks for reporting back on this.

[MarkMBravura]

Hi guys,

So my question is this... Is it possible to have 1 mailchimp list and use the groups/segment feature of mailchimp to track specific subscribers who signed up on specific pages?

For instance, let's say i've got a main squeeze page on the main domain landing page and another seperate squeeze page with a different optin offer on a different page. Is it possible to somehow individually track the signups from each individual squeeze page using only one mailchimp list? And if so, how would i best go about it? If not, what would be a viable alternative?

In the net result all subs will go to the same member login landing page. The only thing i am ultimately trying to accomplish is to determine which subs came from which advertising campaigns.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Mark

[MarkMBravura]

Anyone?

[Jason Caldwell]

Thanks for bringing this thread to my attention.
~ I'm reviewing your question now. One moment please.

[MarkMBravura]

Much appreciated, Jason!

[Jason Caldwell]

Hi guys,

So my question is this... Is it possible to have 1 mailchimp list and use the groups/segment feature of mailchimp to track specific subscribers who signed up on specific pages?

For instance, let's say i've got a main squeeze page on the main domain landing page and another seperate squeeze page with a different optin offer on a different page. Is it possible to somehow individually track the signups from each individual squeeze page using only one mailchimp list? And if so, how would i best go about it? If not, what would be a viable alternative?

In the net result all subs will go to the same member login landing page. The only thing i am ultimately trying to accomplish is to determine which subs came from which advertising campaigns.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Mark

With s2Member, it is possible to configure different MailChimp® Interest Groups for each Membership Level, as seen in your Dashboard under s2Member -> API List Servers ... (see attached screenshot). So you could have only ONE mailing list ID, but subscribers get broken down into various Interest Groups that you configure in your MailChimp® administration panel, and then reflect in your s2Member configuration.

---

However, even this can be limiting if you are trying to track specific information based on a marketing campaign. This is why s2Member makes the custom="www.example.com|my-custom-value" Shortcode Attribute available for you to fill in your Payment Buttons/Forms.

If you need to track some additional custom information, you can fill the value of the custom="" Shortcode Attribute with PHP perhaps. Please see this reference article: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1604

---

Now, once you are collecting a pipe-delimited custom value in your Shortcode, you can further your custom integration with s2Member, by adding custom MERGE fields for MailChimp, which might pass your custom value over to MailChimp automatically. There is a reference article here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15345&p=48213#p48213

For example, you might create this directory and file:
/wp-content/mu-plugins/s2-hacks.php
( these are MUST USE plugins, see: http://codex.wordpress.org/Must_Use_Plugins )

Code: Select all

<?php
add_filter("ws_plugin__s2member_mailchimp_merge_array", "my_filter");
function my_filter($merge, $vars)
    {
        // $merge /* Array of existing MERGE fields that s2Member passes by default. */
        // $vars /* Array of defined variables in the scope/context of this Filter. */
        // print_r($vars); // Lots of good stuff in this array.
        
        $user_id = $vars["user_id"];
        
        $user_custom = get_user_option("s2member_custom", $user_id);
        $my_custom_merge_vars = array("S2_CUSTOM" => $user_custom);
        
        return array_merge($merge, $my_custom_merge_vars);
    }
?>

* Based on this example, you would need to add a new MERGE field to your MailChimp list, with the name: S2_CUSTOM, which will hold the value of your custom="" Shortcode Attribute. You can then filter your email campaigns sent out by MailChimp®, based on the value of this field. Or perhaps, just keep it on file for each subscriber, so you'll know where they originated from (i.e. based on some custom value that you track in a marketing campaign).

See Also: MailChimp MERGE Tags.
http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/getting ... merge-tags

---

Obviously, all of this is VERY advanced stuff. We'd like to extend s2Member in ways that make these types of custom integration easier. Those improvements will come in a future release. For now, if you're not comfortable with this, you might seek assistance from a freelancer to help you complete this custom integration with MailChimp®.

s2Member® / Hot Tip: ( s2Installs.com! )

Recommended by s2Member® Lead Developer (Jason Caldwell). Their rate for a standard installation is $125. They're highly trained. Just request their service!

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[MarkMBravura]

Hi Jason,

Yes, definitely hyper-advanced stuff. Nonetheless thank you for such a detailed answer. It is something well worth looking into outsourcing.

Best regards,

Mark