Applicable to: Association and Club Administrators
Application(s): Admin Portal > Settings > General > Integrations

This article will cover the following:

1. Understanding the PlayHQ x Mailchimp integration
2. Connecting your PlayHQ organisation to Mailchimp
3. How contacts synchronise between PlayHQ and Mailchimp
4. Understanding Mailchimp tags
5. Monitoring synchronisation status
6. Disconnecting from Mailchimp

Related articles:

• Creating and managing Posts in PlayHQ

Introduction to Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an external email marketing platform that enables administrators to easily communicate with participants registered to their organisation through PlayHQ. This integration allows you to send targeted communications about upcoming events, programs and competitions using your external Mailchimp account.

Connecting to Mailchimp

Creating a connection to Mailchimp is the first step in enabling PlayHQ to send data to Mailchimp. You'll need to authenticate the connection and select the Mailchimp audience that will receive your PlayHQ participant data.

1. Access Integrations

   Navigate to Settings > General in the Admin Portal, and select the Integrations tab.

2. Start the Connection process

   Click Connect in the Mailchimp section.

3. Log in to Mailchimp

Click Log in to Mailchimp

4. Enter Mailchimp Credentials

Enter your Mailchimp Username and Password, and click Log In. Alternatively, you can Create an Account from this step.

5. Authorise the Connection

Click Allow to grant PlayHQ access to your Mailchimp account

6. Select your Audience

Once logged in, you'll need to select a Primary Audience in Mailchimp. This is where your PlayHQ contacts will be synchronised.

7. Complete the Connection

Click Save & Connect. PlayHQ will immediately begin synchronising your contacts.

How contact synchronisation works

Once connected, PlayHQ will start synchronising your organisation's contacts to Mailchimp. After the initial synchronisation, updates occur automatically every night.

What gets synchronised?

It's important to note that only the primary account holder details are synchronised. Individual participants or additional parent/guardian contact details are not synchronised.

• New Contacts: If a contact does not exist in Mailchimp, PlayHQ will create one.
• Existing Contacts: If a contact already exists in Mailchimp, their details will be updated with the latest information from PlayHQ.

The following participant details are synchronised to Mailchimp:

• Contact Information: First Name, Last Name, Email, Mobile, Address, Suburb, State, Postcode, Country
• Registration Data: Date first registered
• Tags: PlayHQ creates Mailchimp tags for participants based on their competition and program registrations

Understanding Mailchimp Tags

PlayHQ assigns tags in Mailchimp for every participant, which synchronise with Mailchimp to help you organise and target your communications effectively.

Tags are based on participant registrations, so all participants registered to the same competition or program will share common tags. These tags are only visible within Mailchimp itself.

Tag Format

The number of tags created and their format depend on the participant registration and the organisation type. Clubs, Associations and Administrative Body organisations synchronise different tag formats as detailed below:

Monitoring Synchronisation Status

You can check the status of your Mailchimp synchronisation at any time by visiting the Integrations tab in Settings.

Sync Status Indicators

The Mailchimp integration screen displays a Sync Status that provides information about the current state of synchronisation.

• IN PROGRESS - Displayed when the synchronisation is still in progress. No action is required, please allow the process to complete.
• COMPLETED - Displayed when there has been successful synchronisation.
• FAILED - Displayed when there are logic or timeout issues with the synchronisation. Action is required: 
  • Try refreshing the webpage to trigger synchronisation again
  • If refreshing doesn't work, try disconnecting and reconnecting to Mailchimp
  • If problems persist, contact your sport's support team

Last Synchronisation Timestamp

The Last Synced date/time indicates when synchronisation was last successful. Your Mailchimp contacts, subscription status, and tags will be accurate as of this date/time.

Disconnecting from Mailchimp

If you need to disconnect your PlayHQ organisation from Mailchimp, you'll need to complete steps in both PlayHQ and Mailchimp for a full disconnection.

Disconnect in PlayHQ 

1. Access Integrations

   Navigate to Settings > General in the Admin Portal, and select the Integrations tab.

2. Disconnect

   Click Disconnect in the Mailchimp section. A confirmation prompt will appear. Click Disconnect to confirm.

Important

If you plan to reconnect in the future, you must also disconnect within Mailchimp (see next tab).

Disconnect in Mailchimp

In addition to disconnecting in PlayHQ, you should also remove the application within Mailchimp to fully revoke access.

Follow Mailchimp's instructions for removing an application from your account.

This typically involves:

1. Logging into your Mailchimp account
2. Navigating to Account Integrations
3. Finding PlayHQ in the list of authorized applications
4. Clicking "Remove" next to the PlayHQ integration

Support with using Mailchimp

Once you've successfully connected Mailchimp and your contacts have synchronised, you can use Mailchimp's platform to create and send targeted communications to your participants.

Refer to Mailchimp's Help Center for guidance on:

• Creating email campaigns
• Using tags to segment your audience
• Setting up automated email workflows
• Designing effective email templates
• Analyzing email performance metrics