Home → Arctic Reservations → Email List Integration → Setting Up Email List Integration
19.1. Setting Up Email List Integration
Arctic has the ability to integrate with Mailchimp to keep your email list subscriptions up to date and in sync automatically. The integration allows Arctic and Mailchimp to communicate email list subscription and un-subscription information.
When a guest is added to Arctic and you select the “subscribe to email list option”, Arctic will send his/her email information to Mailchimp to ensure that they are part of your email list (but don't worry, it will only add them if they are not already on the list). This process also works in reverse, if you use a subscription widget on your website where guests can subscribe to your email marketing list, Mailchimp will send new subscriber information to Arctic. If the email address is associated with an existing customer in your Arctic database, Arctic will update their email subscription information. If the email address is not associated with an existing record in your customer database, Arctic will not add the email address as a customer record since these entries are most often just email addresses and do not include names or other pertinent information. This also ensures that your Arctic database is only filled with guests who are either solid customers or solid inquiries and is not polluted with entries for those people who are only tangentially interested. The same works for un-subscriptions. If a guest unsubscribes from your mailing list, Mailchimp will send this information to Arctic as well which will then uncheck the guest's “Email Mailing List” option. If you select “No” in the drop down menu for the “Email List” field for a guest who was previously subscribed, Arctic will also send this un-subscription information to Mailchimp.
To set up the Email Marketing Integration, go to the "Settings" page under "Integration" and click the "Pencil" icon next to "Connect with Email Marketing Provider".
On the "Existing Email List Connector" page, click either the green "+ Connect" button to link an existing Mailchimp account or the blue "Sign Up" button if you need to set up a Mailchimp account.
If you click the blue "Sign Up" button, Arctic will transfer you to Mailchimp where you can then create an account. Once you set up your Mailchimp account you will return to the "Email List Connector" page and click the green "+ Connect" button.
When you click the green "+ Connect" button, Arctic will open the "Create New Email List Connector" window.
Here you can give the service a name, i.e. "Mailchimp", enter the API Key from your Mailchimp account, select the mailing list you want to sync with and then choose to send a "Double Opt-In" email to your clients to ensure they all wish to be part of your email marketing promotions.
Important: Abusing opt-in practices can lead to a suspension of your Mailchimp account. Enable double opt-in Emails to keep your emails CAN-SPAM compliant.
Enabling the double opt-in email means that every guest who is subscribed to your email list through Arctic will receive a confirmation email that will include a confirmation link. The guest will have to click the confirmation link saying they want to receive your email list before they are added. This practic provides pretty iron-clad consent to receive marketing emails, and is considered a best practice and helps keep your email addresses from being classified as spam.
If the "double opt-in" feature is disabled, be sure that reservationists verbally check with guests or otherwise communicate consent to receive marketing emails before checking the subscription option. If guests are subscribed without verbal or written consent, and if there are enough complaints, MailChimp may shut down the account. The double opt-in can be especially important if you have your "Subscribe to Email List" set to "Yes" by default.
Sending the double opt-in email helps keep your email marketing account in good standing and helps reduce the number of participants who mark your emails as spam thus ensuring the integrity of your email messages.
(For more information about CAN-SPAM compliance see section 14:10 of the support documentation.)
To obtain the API key to connect your Mailchimp account to Arctic, click the "?" or "Help" icon next to the API Key field, then click the "Click Here" link.
This will take you to a Mailchimp login page where you can log into your Mailchimp account. Once you are logged in your will be taken immediately to a page with an API Key on it. Copy the API Key shown and enter it into Arctic on the "Create New Email Connector" form in the "API Key" field.
When you enter the API Key in the "Create New Email Connector" form, Arctic will connect to your Mailchimp account and allow you to select an email list you want to sync with Arctic. Select the list you want to sync with Arctic from the "List" drop down menu.
Finally choose your "Double Opt-In" preference and then click "Submit" to save the connection to Arctic. Arctic and Mailchimp will now start communicating all future subscription and un-subscription information to keep your lists in sync.
Note: Arctic and Mailchimp will not communicate past subscription information. To sync Arctic and Mailchimp initially, it is recommend that you run a filter for your Arctic database that will pull all of the guests currently subscribed to your email list and then import the results into Mailchimp. Again Mailchimp, will only import the email addresses it doesn't currently have in its system. This will ensure that your Mailchimp database has all of your current Arctic information and they are synchronized at the start. All future subscription and un-subscription data will be automatically managed by the Email Marketing Integration feature.
For example filters for exporting your current Arctic subscription information and for filters for more specific targeted email lists, see the next section of this chapter.