Connect Gravity Forms to Mailchimp

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Updated

To add people who fill out a Gravity Form to a Mailchimp audience automatically, connect the Gravity Forms Mailchimp add-on to your Mailchimp account, then add a Mailchimp feed to the form. For the footer newsletter signup, see Set up a newsletter signup in the footer.

You'll need Gravity Forms, its Mailchimp add-on, and a Mailchimp account. If there's no Mailchimp item under Forms → Settings, the add-on isn't active. Turn it on or ask your site admin.

Connect your Mailchimp account

  1. Go to Forms → Settings → Mailchimp.
  2. Click Connect to Mailchimp.
  3. Sign in to Mailchimp and approve access.
  4. You'll return to WordPress once the connection is confirmed. The page shows Connected to Mailchimp as: and your Mailchimp username.

The audience you want to use must already exist in Mailchimp. Create it there first if it doesn't.

Add a Mailchimp feed to the form

A feed tells Gravity Forms where to send each signup.

  1. Create or open your signup form. It needs an Email field; add Name if you want it. New to forms? See Build a contact form with Gravity Forms.
  2. In the form, open Settings → Mailchimp.
  3. Click Add New.
  4. Give the feed a name you'll recognize later.
  5. Choose the Mailchimp Audience (your list) that signups should join.
  6. Under Map Fields, match the form's email field (and name, if you have one) to the Mailchimp fields. Leave the rest blank, unless a field is set as required in your Mailchimp audience.
  7. Optionally pick Mailchimp Groups, add Tags, and turn on Double Opt-In if new subscribers should confirm by email.
  8. Leave Conditional Logic off to send every submission to Mailchimp, or turn it on to send only some (see below).
  9. Click Save Settings.

To send the same form to more than one audience, add another feed.

Only subscribe people who opt in

If the form does more than sign people up, such as a contact or quote form, subscribe only the people who ask for it. Many privacy laws, including GDPR, expect that.

  1. In the form editor, add a Consent field (under Advanced Fields) with a label like "Send me the monthly newsletter." Don't make it required.
  2. In the Mailchimp feed, under Conditional Logic, check Enable Condition.
  3. Set Process this feed if to your Consent field is Checked.
  4. Click Save Settings.

People who leave the box unchecked are still saved as entries, but aren't sent to Mailchimp. If your audience has GDPR fields turned on, the feed's Marketing Permission setting can also opt people into those, based on a condition.

Put the form on a page

  1. Edit the page where the form should appear.
  2. Add the Form / Gravity Forms block and choose your form.
  3. Publish, then sign up with your own email and check that you appear in Mailchimp.

If signups aren't reaching Mailchimp

Start with the entry. Go to Forms → Entries, open the test submission, and scroll to Notes. When Mailchimp turns a signup down, the add-on saves its error there, often "Unable to add/update subscriber".

What you see Likely cause Fix
No error note, and the person isn't in Mailchimp The feed is turned off, its condition didn't match, or the form has no feed Check the form's Settings → Mailchimp list and the feed's Conditional Logic
An error note A field Mailchimp requires isn't mapped or was left empty, or a choice doesn't match Mailchimp's Map every required Mailchimp field. Drop-down, radio, and checkbox choices must match Mailchimp's values exactly, including capital letters
An error mentioning the address Mailchimp's Address field needs a full address, including street and ZIP code If you only collect city and state, add a text field to the audience in Mailchimp and map them to that
Double Opt-In is on and the person isn't in the audience yet They haven't clicked Mailchimp's confirmation email Ask them to check spam. They join once they confirm
A returning subscriber doesn't reappear They unsubscribed earlier. Mailchimp doesn't let a form resubscribe them They need to sign up again through a Mailchimp signup form
The entry is under Spam Gravity Forms doesn't send spam entries to Mailchimp Click Not Spam on the entry. The feed runs then

For more detail, turn on logging under Forms → Settings → Logging, submit the form again, and read the Mailchimp add-on's log. Turn logging off afterwards.

Tips

  • If email isn't mapped, Mailchimp rejects the signup.
  • Don't add a Mailchimp embed code to the same page unless you want two separate signup forms.
  • Test with an address that has never been on the audience, or one you haven't unsubscribed.

On a Dirigible site

The footer newsletter signup and the site-wide pop-up can both show a Gravity Form. Add a Mailchimp feed to that form and signups from either place reach Mailchimp. Dirigible's spam guards discard obvious bot submissions before they're saved, so they never reach your audience either.

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