MailChimp Integration…

I have read everything on this forum that I can bear about MailChimp integration, and I still do not understand. Looks like a mess. Everything else about S2 seems very well done, thank you. But the MC integration… not simple, or clear, and I can find no step-by-step process, anywhere. I see hacks, workarounds, and a lot of “try this and hope.”

1. I created some custom fields in my S2 registration form — these fields do not show up in the MC database. I get just first name, last name, and e-mail in MC. I can find nothing in the S2 Forum to explain how to get the fields to match.

Can you tell me how to get all my S2 form fields to be duplicated in MC?

2. I do not want double opt-in. For my site all I want is for members to register, get either a free or paid membership level, and get one thank you e-mail — with their login and password details. As it is, S2 sends e-mail, and MC send various e-mails when someone registers — very confusing to members who just want to register, login, and get access to my site. I would prefer for MC to send NO post registration e-mail — at all. (My members do not want MailChimp, they did not sign up to get MailChimp… they just want my content. MC should be invisible!)

Can you show me how to set this up so my system sends just ONE S2 e–mail to my members after they register?

If I can solve these two issues, I’m in business.

Thanks for your help; S2 is great.

To save the s2 custom fields as MC merge fields, you’ll need a hack similar to this one: http://www.primothemes.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15676&p=50619#p50550

Customize it to send the custom profile fields instead of the custom capabilities. These would help:
Codex get_user_field()
Codex get_s2member_custom_fields()

About the single opt-in, see this hack: http://www.primothemes.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6408#p15725

See also: Knowledge Base » Hacking s2Member® Via Hooks/Filters

I hope that helps. :)

Thank you Cristian for your help, but what you are telling me s that S2 does not work with MailChimp; not really. Of course, if all I want is name and e-mail address, it may work. Of course if I want to write my own code to make it work… anything is possible.

But if I had known that S2 was not fully integrated with MC, I would not have purchased it. I thought you had solved the problem, based on your marketing literature.

To use MailChimp, of course I need to segment my lists by all kinds of criteria — not just name and e-mail. Thus I have to get all of my registration data, such as city, age, gender… into MailMonkey. And when a member changes their info — in WordPress/BuddyPress — the MailChimp database needs to update accordingly. Of course…

May I ask, what e-mailer/autoresponders are other S2 users implementing? Surely there is something that works out of the box — I do not have the time or the patience to write my own API routines.

S2 needs some mail management program/partner that uses the WordPress database, directly — maintaining two databases is just crazy. Requiring members to register twice… crazy. Keeping two database in sync…!

I humbly ask: How do I use S2 to manage a real business, with thousands of members? I need a solid solution that is not a hack, a system that integrates with a solid autoresponder that does not require my members to register twice for two different databases. What am I missing? I cannot be the first person to run into this difficulty.

S2 gets high ratings from users — but I cannot agree. So perhaps I am doing something wrong. Maybe the registration flow I want to implement is just not possible.

Can you advise me as to a how to implement a reasonable flow? There must be a way.

What I want seems so simple and obvious:

1. A single registration flow with NO double opt in — not needed for my members. (I can live with double opt-in, but why subject my members to this? I know MailMonkey tries to prevent spammers — so be it. I am not a spammer. I want to control my registration flow, so maybe I need a different autoresponder…)

2. When a member registers — and enters their full information (location, age, gender, specialty…) — they are automatically entered into my autoresoponder, with no additional, secondary, registration. And they get IMMEDIATE access to their member benefits/info.

3. All Members (free and paid) are added to my mail list — to opt out, they simply cancel their membership.

Is this possible with S2, without me writing my own code?
Must I force my members to register once for membership, then register again for my mail list?

I appreciate any advice you can offer. S2 is really well done in every other way — but integration with MailMonkey…

You can see my site at:
http://www.allianceforhealing.com

Thank you very much for the feedback. This is the integration we have, available in the free version, and the Pro upgrade doesn’t change anything about it. We’re working on an improved integration with email service providers, as well as a built-in one, for the new s2Member we’re develping. I took note of your comments for it. :)

1. A single registration flow with NO double opt in

This is doable with a very simple hack I linked to above. See: http://www.primothemes.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6408#p15725

2. When a member registers — and enters their full information (location, age, gender, specialty…) — they are automatically entered into my autoresoponder, with no additional, secondary, registration. And they get IMMEDIATE access to their member benefits/info.

I imagine you’re talking about segmentation in MailChimp based on those fields. Like I said, it’s possible to add those as MailChimp merge fields with a hack, but there isn’t an interface for it yet.

If I’m not mistaken, you can then segment using the merge fields. http://mailchimp.com/resources/research/effects-of-list-segmentation-on-email-marketing-stats/#section_segment_by_merge_field

3. All Members (free and paid) are added to my mail list — to opt out, they simply cancel their membership.

Yes, on cancellation of the membership they can be removed from the list you integrated s2Member with. See the settings here: [hilite path]Dashboard -› s2Member® -› API / List Servers -› Automate Unsubscribes/Opt-Outs[/hilite]

You may find this video helpful to see what the current integration does: Video » s2Member (API List Servers)

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I hope that helps!