Mailchimp Transactional Zapier integrationAutomate Mailchimp Transactional with Zapier.
The Mailchimp Transactional Zapier integration gives you 1 trigger and 3 actions, and no search. The trigger is instant, the actions send emails, plain or from a template. Here is what each one does, what it costs and where it goes wrong.
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What the Mailchimp Transactional Zapier integration does for you
It connects the service that sends your one-to-one emails to the rest of your tools. Other apps can ask it to send a message, and it can tell other apps what happened to the messages it sent. Each link is a Zap: one starting event, then one or more steps that run each time.
Emails sent by your other tools. A new signup in your form tool can fire Send Email, with your sender name and address, so the welcome message leaves without anyone writing it.
Branded messages without rebuilding them. Send Template reuses a template you already designed in Mailchimp Transactional and fills its variables with data from the earlier steps.
A record of what happened after sending. New Catch Hook picks up the events Mailchimp Transactional sends out and reports them instantly, on every plan. Send them to a spreadsheet and your team can read them without opening the sending dashboard.
What Zapier does not do here: there is no search, so a Zap cannot look up a past message or a template's content. Nothing sent before the Zap was switched on is picked up. And beyond the two sending actions, the only way further is API Request (Beta), which is a technical tool, not a form to fill.
Working with n8n instead? See our Mailchimp Transactional n8n integration page.
Zapier vocabulary in one minute
Eight words come back throughout this page. Here they are, in plain English.
- Zap
- The automation you build on Zapier: one starting event, then one or more steps that run every time it happens.
- Trigger
- The event in an app that starts the Zap. Once the Zap is switched on, Zapier waits for that event.
- Action
- What the Zap does after it starts: the step that sends, writes or updates something in an app for you.
- Task
- What Zapier bills: one action your Zap completes successfully. Your monthly allowance counts these.
- Instant trigger
- A trigger the app reports itself: it calls Zapier when the event happens, so nothing waits for a timer.
- Polling trigger
- A trigger Zapier checks on a timer, asking the app for new items at a set interval. None of this app's work that way.
- Filter
- A step that lets the Zap continue only when the incoming data meets your condition, and stops it otherwise.
- Multi-step Zap
- Any Zap beyond one trigger and one action. A filter or a second action makes one, and it needs a paid plan.
What it costs, in tasks
The trigger is free. Each email that one of the three actions sends successfully costs one task.
- Trigger0 task
- Successful action1 task each
- Failed actionNot counted
- Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps only
- This appNot reserved for paid plans, works on Free
A Zap that sends a welcome email costs one task per signup; if it also adds a row somewhere, two. An action that fails is not counted. The free plan gives you 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps, each limited to two steps: one trigger, one action. The interval grid below is the general rule for polling triggers; it does not apply to New Catch Hook, which is instant on every plan. Sending is where the tasks go, so count your emails before you count your Zaps.
Connect your Mailchimp Transactional account
- 01
Open the Apps page
In Zapier, go to Apps and click + Add connection. A connection is your Mailchimp Transactional account linked to Zapier once, then reused by every step that sends through it.
- 02
Pick Mailchimp Transactional
Search Mailchimp Transactional in the dialog, select it, then click Add connection. Make sure the name in the list reads Mailchimp Transactional before you confirm.
- 03
Sign in and grant access
Sign in to Mailchimp Transactional in the tab that opens and allow Zapier to use the account. You need an account on the app, plus read or write access on anything you do not own yourself and want the Zap to touch.
Your first Zap: tell the team about sending events
GoalThe sending events you care about reach your team chat the moment Mailchimp Transactional reports them.
- 01
Build the Zap
Create a Zap, pick Mailchimp Transactional as the app and New Catch Hook as the event, then choose your connection to the sending account.
- 02
Test the trigger
Run the test and read what comes back before you map anything. The fields you see are the ones Mailchimp Transactional actually sends, not a guess.
- 03
Add the filter
Click the plus icon, pick Filter, then set the field, the rule and the value that mark the events you want. Use a text rule on a text field. The filter makes the Zap multi-step, so it needs a paid plan.
- 04
Add the message
Add your chat tool as the action and map the fields from the event into the message. Keep it short: what happened, to which recipient, using what the test returned.
- 05
Test, then publish
Test each step and check the message in your chat. When it looks right, click Publish. Because the trigger is instant, each matching event goes through right away.
The Mailchimp Transactional trigger
1 event starts a Zap when something happens in Mailchimp Transactional, and one of them is instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.
New Catch Hook
Instant triggerIn Zapier“Catch and trigger off of any webhook that Mandrill sends.”
Catches the event notices Mailchimp Transactional sends out about your messages, whatever kind they are, and starts a Zap with each one. It is the only way, on Zapier, to get information out of this app rather than into it.
The 3 Mailchimp Transactional actions
Mailchimp Transactional gives you 3 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.
Send Email
ActionIn Zapier“Send an email through Mandrill's system!”
Sends one email you compose in the Zap: sender name, sender address, recipients and subject are all required. You can also switch open and click tracking on.
Send Template
ActionIn Zapier“Send an email via a template.”
Sends an email built on a template stored in your account, filling it with data from the earlier steps. The layout stays the one saved in the template.
key|{{field}}.API Request (Beta)
ActionIn Zapier“This is an advanced action which makes a raw HTTP request that includes this integration's authentication.”
An advanced step that sends a raw request of your own to Mailchimp Transactional, reusing the connection you already set up. You choose the method and the address.
When the Zap breaks
Zapier attaches a help article called Common Problems with Mailchimp Transactional to this app. The cases below are the limits every Zap shares.
Four of them matter with this app. If a Zap still misbehaves after these checks, open our Zapier troubleshooting guide.
Earlier events never come through
A Zap only reacts to what happens after you switch it on. Events from emails sent before that are not picked up, and moving that history is a separate job.A Zap that keeps setting itself off
A Zap that writes into the place its own trigger watches can restart again and again and burn tasks. Before you publish, check where each action writes and test the Zap once.A sudden flood is held back
When a trigger suddenly returns a huge batch, after a bulk send or a migration, Zapier's flood protection can hold those items back instead of running them all.Template fields left in the wrong format
Send Template needs its variables one per line, as key and value separated by a pipe. With a different layout, check at the test that the values reach the template.
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