Mailchimp

The Sesamy Mailchimp integration keeps your audience up to date — automatically syncing user data, tags, and activity from Sesamy straight into Mailchimp.

Overview

Mailchimp is one of the most popular email marketing platforms, and integrating it with Sesamy allows you to automatically sync your subscribers and manage your email marketing campaigns based on user subscription data.

Once connected, Sesamy gives Mailchimp a real-time feed of subscription and purchase data — so you can stop juggling spreadsheets and start running highly targeted, personalized campaigns.

How It Works

• 🔄 Automatic Sync – User data is always up to date in Mailchimp
• 🏷️ Smart Tagging – Tags are added/removed based on subscription status
• 📊 Activity Tracking – User actions appear as Mailchimp activities
• ⚡ Real-time Updates – Sync happens instantly as users interact with Sesamy

Setup

To set up the Mailchimp integration, you need to provide the following information to Sesamy support:

1. API Key

This key allows Sesamy to write data to your Mailchimp account.

Follow Mailchimp's guide to generate an API key (see the "Generate an API key" section).

💡 We recommend creating a dedicated key for Sesamy instead of reusing an existing one.

2. Audience (List) ID

This ID tells us which Mailchimp audience (list) to update.

See how to find your Audience ID.

3. Merge Fields

Sesamy enriches your Mailchimp audience with subscription and activity data. To ensure this works, you need to create the following merge fields in your audience:

Field Name	Type	Description
FNAME	Text	User's first name
LNAME	Text	User's last name
SESAMYUSR	Text	Unique Sesamy user ID
PHONE	Phone	User's phone number
SMYLASTSEE	Date	When user was last active
SMYSUBSC	Text	Has active subscription (True/False)
SMYARTPUR	Number	Number of articles purchased
SMYACTSUBS	Number	Number of active subscriptions
SMYCANSUBS	Number	Number of canceled subscriptions
SMYEXPSUBS	Number	Number of expired subscriptions (naturally expired)
SMYENDSUBS	Number	Total ended subscriptions (canceled + expired)
SMYISSREM	Number	Issues remaining in subscription

See Mailchimp's official guide: Getting Started with Merge Tags.

⚠️ Make sure the merge field names match exactly as listed above. If fields are missing, Sesamy cannot sync the corresponding data.

4. Complete the Setup

Once you have your API key, Audience ID, and the merge fields created, contact Sesamy support to finalize the integration.

Features

Merge Fields

Each contact in Mailchimp is enriched with fields from Sesamy. You can use these fields in your campaigns for personalization, for example:

"Hi |FNAME|, you have |SMYISSREM| issues left."

Automatic Tags

All Sesamy-managed tags start with sesamy_, so they're easy to recognize.

🔒 Note: Only tags that start with sesamy_ are modified by the integration. All your existing/manual tags remain untouched.

Subscription Status Tags

• sesamy_active_subscriber – User has at least one active subscription
• sesamy_overdue_contract – User has overdue payments
• sesamy_has_external_access – User has external access permissions

Product & Content Tags

• sesamy_active_entitlement_[ProductName] – Access to a specific product
• sesamy_active_sku_[SKU] – Access to a specific SKU
• sesamy_active_sku_po_[SKU-Option] – Access to a specific SKU option
• sesamy_made_single_purchase – Has purchased individual articles
• sesamy_tag_[CustomTag] – Custom tags from user profile

Examples:

• sesamy_active_entitlement_Premium Magazine
• sesamy_active_sku_MAG001
• sesamy_active_sku_po_MAG001-DIGITAL

💡 If you're unsure of your SKU or Purchase Option IDs, reach out to Sesamy support and we'll help you locate them.

Tag Management

• ✅ Safe Integration – Only Sesamy tags are modified
• ✅ Preserved Tags – Your existing/manual tags remain intact
• ✅ Automatic Cleanup – Outdated Sesamy tags are removed automatically
• ✅ No Conflicts – Works smoothly alongside other Mailchimp tools & automations

User Activities Tracked

User actions on Sesamy are logged into Mailchimp as contact activities.

Activity	Triggered When…
user_created	A new user registers
contract_purchased	User buys a subscription
checkout_completed	User completes a purchase
contract_cancel_requested	User requests a cancellation

Learn more: About Contact Profile Pages.

Using This Data for Campaigns

Segmentation Ideas

• Active Subscribers → sesamy_active_subscriber
• Churned Users → sesamy_overdue_contract (great for win-back campaigns)
• Product-Specific → use product/SKU tags for tailored offers
• Single Purchasers → sesamy_made_single_purchase for upsell campaigns

Personalization

Drop merge fields into your templates for a personal touch:

• First name → FNAME
• Active subscriptions → SMYACTSUBS
• Issues remaining → SMYISSREM

Use Cases

• Welcome email series for new subscribers
• Re-engagement campaigns for expiring subscriptions
• Premium content newsletters for active subscribers
• Renewal reminders before subscription expiration
• Win-back campaigns for users with overdue contracts

Important Notes

• Sesamy tags are limited to 99 characters (duplicates are removed automatically)
• New users are added to Mailchimp with status "subscribed"
• Archived users are automatically reactivated when they become active again
• The integration respects Mailchimp's API limits

Alternative Integration Method

For more advanced integrations, you can use both APIs directly:

• Use Sesamy Webhooks to receive subscription events
• Call the Mailchimp API to sync subscriber data

Resources

• Website: https://mailchimp.com
• Mailchimp API Documentation: https://mailchimp.com/developer/
• Sesamy Webhooks Guide: /guides/webhooks