How to switch from Mailchimp

What makes the Mailchimp exit easy

Mailchimp's audience export is genuinely good: one export gives you subscribed, unsubscribed and cleaned contacts as separate files with consent timestamps. That's everything WeZend needs — the whole migration hinges on importing those three files in the right order.

Step 1 — Export the audience

In Mailchimp: Audience → All contacts → Export Audience. You'll receive a ZIP containing separate CSVs for subscribed, unsubscribed and cleaned (hard-bounced) contacts, including merge fields, tags and opt-in timestamps. If you use multiple audiences, export each one.

Step 2 — Import in the safe order

1. Unsubscribed + cleaned first → Audience → Suppressions → Import in WeZend (POST /v1/account/unsubscribes/api/import). Cleaned addresses are hard bounces — importing them as suppressions means WeZend will never waste a send (or your reputation) on them.
2. Subscribed second → Audience → Contacts → Import, one import per Mailchimp audience so provenance survives.

With suppressions in place before the subscriber import, no ordering mistake later can message someone who opted out.

Step 3 — Merge fields become custom fields

In the import mapping screen, Mailchimp's merge fields (FNAME, LNAME, and your custom MMERGE* fields) map to WeZend custom fields — create missing ones on the spot. Tags come along as tags; groups usually translate best to lists or a tag per group, and interests you actively target should become topics in the preference center — a straight upgrade from Mailchimp's group checkboxes.

Step 4 — Domain, then warm-up

Mailchimp may have sent from its shared infrastructure or your authenticated domain. Either way: verify your domain in WeZend (Settings → Email domains, live DNS checks) and ramp volume over 2–3 weeks starting with engaged contacts. If you sent from Mailchimp's shared domains until now, this is where your deliverability starts being yours — a real long-term win that costs a little patience up front.

Step 5 — Templates and content

Copy each template's HTML out of Mailchimp's editor and paste into a WeZend template in raw-HTML mode, or rebuild in the visual builder. Replace *|FNAME|*-style merge tags with {{first_name}}-style variables as you paste — search for *| to catch them all. Set a default value per variable so a missing field never renders as an empty gap.

Step 6 — Customer Journeys → journeys (and further)

Mailchimp automations are rebuilt manually on the journey canvas. The mapping is direct — trigger, delay, condition, send — but you gain what Mailchimp's email-first canvas can't do: branch to SMS or WhatsApp for the people who don't open email, respect frequency caps and quiet hours automatically, and attach a revenue goal so the ROI report prices every journey.

Step 7 — Forms, then cutover

Swap Mailchimp embedded forms and landing pages for WeZend lead forms with double opt-in. Then run both platforms for 2–3 weeks: campaigns from WeZend, journeys activated one at a time while the matching Mailchimp automation is paused. Finish with a delta export of late unsubscribes, import it, archive the account.

What does NOT come along

• Past campaign reports — export the CSVs you want to keep before closing.
• Automation history — journeys start counting fresh.
• Landing pages — rebuild on your own site with a WeZend form; the form endpoint is public and safe in browser code.