How to switch from Mailchimp to Mailrelay

How to import contacts from Mailchimp to Mailrelay

There are two ways to export contacts from your Mailchimp account and add them to your Mailrelay account.

You can either export the contacts manually or extract them directly to the Mailrelay panel.

How to import contacts from Mailchimp to Mailrelay
1. Extracting the contacts to import them
2. Extract contacts with the Mailchimp API
- 2.1 Getting the API key
- 2.1 Import using the API key

You can use the formula most comfortable for you. If you decide to export and subsequent import manually, you get a backup of your contacts in CSV which you can save on your computer, while the option of extracting them doesn't offer this backup but is faster.

1. Extracting the contacts to import them

The first thing to do is to export your contacts. To do this, you must be logged in to your Mailchimp account. Now, click on Audience>>All contacts and then click on the Export Audience button.

This will bring you to a new window indicating that you will receive an email to download the contact list.

Locate and open the email and click the Download List Data button. This will download a .zip file that you must unzip in order to access the contacts in your account.

This file contains two .CSV files, one with a name similar to subscribed_members_export_xxxxxxx.csv and one with a name similar to unsubscribed_members_export_xxxxxxx.csv, which are respectively the list of active contacts and the list of contacts who have unsubscribed from your campaigns.

1.1 Importing active contacts

Now you just need to import the active contacts from the subscribed_members_export_xxxxxxx.csv file into Mailrelay, you must click on the Subscribers - Imports menu and click on the +New import button.

This will take you to a new window and, among the available options, select Import files (.csv or txt) and drag the subscribed_members_export_xxxxxxx.csv file on the Drag the file or click here to select it screen or click Drag the file or click here to select it to manually upload the file.

After that, the system analyzes the file and identifies the different fields present in the file and offers a preview of them.

If you want to change the field they will be associated with, just change the value in the drop down menus of the Field column.

Now, in the Import to groups area, you can choose the group you want to import the contacts to by selecting it from the Groups drop-down menu, or create a new group for the email list.

If you want to create a new group, click New group and type the desired name for the group in the New group name field.

Below, there is the Additional options area, where you should indicate what to do with the contacts you want to import that already exist in your database.

If you don't select the Update existing subscribers' data option, the contacts that already exist in your account will not be imported, as explained below:

If it is not checked, existing subscribers will be ignored and only new subscribers will be uploaded.

On the other hand, if you check the Update existing subscriber data option, the system will show you a new option called How do you want to update existing subscriber groups? which in turn offers two possibilities:

Keeping the subscribers in their current groups and adding them to the newly selected groups. If you check this option, imported contacts that already exist in other groups will be kept in those groups and will also be added to the new group.
Remove subscribers from current groups and add them to the new selected groups. As the name suggests, this option will remove the corresponding subscribers from the groups they are already in and will add them only to the new group they were imported to.

Now, simply check the box: I declare that the imported data complies with GDPR (if applicable to my account) and international anti-spam regulations and have been verified by double optin, releasing Mailrelay from any liability for any damage, loss, liability, resolution or disbursement (including additional costs) arising from any claim or legal action if this is not the case.

With everything ready, click Import and the import process will start. When the import is complete, the system will display a summary so you can check what happened to your contacts.

With the list of imported emails and the result obtained for each of them, you will be able to confirm the import, in case there was any error or problem with the email process.

1.2 Importing contacts who unsubscribed from your mailing list

Contacts who have unsubscribed have made it clear that they don't wish to receive further messages from you, so we recommend that you import them into your Mailrelay account, but in the blacklist, to avoid sending emails to these contacts by mistake.

To do this, click on Subscribers>>Blacklisted imports and then click on the +New blacklisted import button.

This will bring up a new window in which you have to upload the file you want to import. After uploading, select the option Create blacklisted subscribers, even if they have not been imported previously and finish by clicking on the Import button.

1.3 Recovering a blacklisted email

If you have exported an email to a blacklist and the subscriber wants to receive your emails again, it is possible to retrieve it and put it back on the list of active contacts. To do this, go to Subscribers >> Subscribers, enter the email in the Email contains box and click Search. With this, in the results area, you will see the contact with the status Disabled.

To revert this status, click the green Edit button (pencil icon) to access the subscriber's details. Now, click the Actions drop-down menu and select Remove from Blacklist.

After that, you will see a confirmation pop-up window. Click Yes and the subscriber will be removed from the blacklist.

2. Extract contacts with the Mailchimp API

This second option you can use establishes a communication between the two accounts and imports the contacts using the Mailchimp API.

2.1 Getting the API key

In your Mailchimp account, click on your user icon (top right) and you will see several options, among them select Account & billing.

Now click on Extras>>API keys >>Create new key and you will see the window to generate the API.

In it, enter a descriptive name for your API key under API Key Name, for example Contacts and click on the Generate Key button.

This will take you to a new screen in which you will see the API key you need to use to import the contacts; you can copy it manually or click the Copy to Clipboard button to copy it. When you are ready, click Done to finish and log out of your Mailchimp account.

2.1 Import using the API key

Once you have obtained the API key, it is time to import the contacts to Mailrelay. To do this, click on Subscribers>>Import and click on +New import.

You will see a new window where you must select Import from Mailchimp and below you will see the API Key - Mailchimp option where you must paste the API key obtained in the previous point (a sequence of alphanumeric characters similar to e58e23743434b3349f2dae2747ech43434fc2-us3) and press Enter.

Similarly, you will see a drop-down list in Mailchimp where you will have to select the list of contacts you want to export to your Mailrelay account.

Once selected, click on Import from Mailchimp.

After that, the system analyzes the file and identifies the different fields present in the file and associates them with the fields that already exist in your account.

To make changes, simply change the value in the drop-down menus of the Field column.

Now, in the Import to groups area, you can choose the group you want to import the contacts to by selecting it from the Groups drop-down menu or you can create a new group for the email list.

If you want to create a new group, click on New group and write the desired name for the group in the New group name field (for example: Imported by API MC).

Below is the Additional options area, where you should indicate what to do with the contacts you want to import that already exist in your database.

If you don't select the Update existing subscriber data option, the contacts that already exist in your account will not be imported, as you can read below: If this option is not checked, existing subscribers will be ignored and only new subscribers will be uploaded.

On the other hand, if you check the Update existing subscribers data option, the system will show a new option called How do you want to update existing subscriber groups? which in turn offers two possibilities:

Keeping the subscribers in their current groups and adding them to the newly selected groups. If you check this option, the imported contacts that already exist in other groups will remain in those groups and also be added to the new group.
Remove subscribers from current groups and add them to the new selected groups. As the name suggests, it removes the corresponding subscribers from the groups where they already exist and adds them to the new groups into which you are importing the contacts.

Now just check the box: I declare that the imported data complies with GDPR (if applicable to my account) and international anti-spam regulations and have been verified by double optin, releasing Mailrelay from all liability for any damage, loss, liability, resolution or disbursement (including additional costs) arising from any claim or legal action if this is not the case.

With everything ready, click on Import and the import process will start.

When the import is complete, the system will display a summary of the email list, so you can check what happened to the imported database and the result, in case there were any errors or problems with the process.