Mailchimp
Overview
Mailchimp is the most widely-used email marketing platform — and the easiest receiver to connect in AFI. Generate an API key in Mailchimp, paste it in AFI’s settings, done. No OAuth flow, no developer console. From there every matching form submission adds (or unsubscribes) a contact in the audience you choose.
If you’re new to AFI, Mailchimp is the perfect first integration. See Your First Integration for the 5-minute golden-path walkthrough using CF7 + Mailchimp.
Supported actions
- Subscribe To List (Free + Pro) — adds a contact to a Mailchimp audience with merge fields.
- Unsubscribe From List (Free) — opts a contact out of an audience.
Pro doesn’t add new tasks for Mailchimp. What Pro does add is broader field mapping: name + email work on the free version, while phone, address, custom merge fields, and tag values map only with Pro.
Quick reference
| Need to… | Do this |
|---|---|
| Subscribe new form leads | Subscribe To List; pick the audience; map email + first / last name. |
| Populate a custom merge field | Pre-create the merge field in Mailchimp (Audience > Audience fields and *|MERGE|* tags). AFI Pro then exposes it for mapping. |
| Apply tags for segmentation | Map the form value (or a static tag string) into the Tags field — requires AFI Pro to expose. |
| Update an existing subscriber | By design — Mailchimp merges by email and updates the existing subscriber automatically. |
How to Use
Obtaining Mailchimp API Key
Before start, you are required to save the API Key in plugin settings.
- Go to the [direction]WordPress admin area > AFI > Settings[/direction] menu and activate Mailchimp.
- Login to your Mailchimp account.
- Go to Account > Extras > API Keys. Copy the key.
- Go to the WordPress admin area, click AFI > Settings.
- Select the Mailchimp tab.
- Paste the Key in the API Key input box and click Save Changes.
Create New Integration
Once API Key is saved you can start creating new integration. Click on Add New under AFI menu, New Integration page will appear.
Title
A default title will be auto-generated with an auto incremental number. You can rename it to something related to the task. It will help you to quickly recognize the correct one when there is multiple integrations setup.
Trigger
Select Correct Form in Form Provider dropdown. Desired Form plugin must be installed and activated otherwise you won’t see it listed. After selecting Correct Form, all forms built under that form will be fetched and auto-populated in the Form/Task Name dropdown. Select the form that you want to integrate.
Action
Select Mailchimp in Platform dropdown. In Pro version you’ll get the option Mailchimp [PRO]. Select that.
Map Fields
Available contact lists will be auto-populated. Select the desired one. Map Email, First Name, Last Name, etc., and other fields that you want. Skip the fields that not needed. Finally, click the Save Integration button.
Troubleshooting
After the integration is made, when users fill up the form and submit it, the plugin initiates the process of sending data to the configured platform. It also saves a log that includes what data it tried to send, and what it got in response from that platform. So if you find an integration is not working, your first task is to check the logs. Go to AFI > Log menu and check the recent logs.
Common issues & fixes
Tags aren’t being applied
Tagging is an AFI Pro feature. The basic version supports email + first / last name only; tags, custom merge fields, notes, and segments require Pro.
Same email submitting twice / where’s the second subscriber?
Mailchimp merges by email — re-subscribing the same email updates the existing subscriber rather than creating a new one. Look in the Activity tab on the subscriber to see successive form submissions.
All fields aren’t available for mapping (only name / email)
The free version exposes name + email only. Custom merge fields, phone, address, dates, and tags all require AFI Pro.
Cleaned / unsubscribed contact won’t re-subscribe
Mailchimp blocks API re-subscribes for contacts in the cleaned or unsubscribed state — the contact must opt themselves back in via a public Mailchimp signup form.
API key won’t connect
In Mailchimp, go to Account > Extras > API Keys, regenerate the key, and re-paste in AFI > Settings > Mailchimp. Watch for accidental whitespace when copying.
Notes & caveats
- Audience vs List — Mailchimp renamed Lists to Audiences in 2019; the terms are interchangeable in the dashboard.
- Double opt-in is configured per audience under Audience > Settings. If enabled, contacts receive a confirmation email and only count as subscribed once they click.
- Single audience per integration — to add a contact to multiple audiences, create one AFI integration per audience.
- Merge tag naming — Mailchimp uses uppercase merge tags (
FNAME,LNAME,EMAIL, plus your custom names).