Some initial thoughts on Mailchimp and PayPal

Here’s some things I’ve noticed from initial testing. Perhaps some more testing needed but:

Mailchimp:

1. S2 member does add/change user groups on registration and upgrade which is brilliant
2. Doesn’t seem to delete the user from Mailchimp if an account is deleted
3. Turning off the “show subscribe checkbox” still sends out a Mailchimp confirmation email to the user and (if memory serves), user still has to double-opt in. I’m assuming that shouldn’t happen.

Paypal sandbox:

1. Just awful, looks simple enough to setup but doesn’t work. Currently using alternative $0.01 debit card method which isn’t ideal for lots of testing but works — I understand this is a PayPal issue and not a S2 Member one.
2. The sandbox “login to Paypal” fake admin account to change some of the settings which (I think) would fix this issue, redirects to my proper account. Can’t see a way around that!
3. On the pro forms, when “Paypal” is selected, the credit card details still show? Maybe I’m doing something wrong but I would expect it to dynamically change to “sign into PayPal” or something.

Might have another crack at it, but it’s definitely not an easy setup. I’m hoping for Stripe or GoCardless in the upcoming rewrite ;)

Finally…

Finally, I don’t like the auto-redirect to payment page so want to find a better solution for usability, but will create a separate support request later — I’m thinking styling it with a class as well as a lightbox.

Thanks

Thank you for your thoughts.

We will take these into account in future version of s2Member. :-)

2. Doesn’t seem to delete the user from Mailchimp if an account is deleted
3. Turning off the “show subscribe checkbox” still sends out a Mailchimp confirmation email to the user and (if memory serves), user still has to double-opt in. I’m assuming that shouldn’t happen.

MailChimp won’t tell s2Member when a User is deleted, so there’s no way for s2Member to do that. As far as double opt-in goes, s2Member can only control the box that is displayed on your site. You can’t disable the opt-in message MailChimp sends through s2Member. I believe there is an option for this in MailChimp, though.

1. Just awful, looks simple enough to setup but doesn’t work. Currently using alternative $0.01 debit card method which isn’t ideal for lots of testing but works — I understand this is a PayPal issue and not a S2 Member one.

We normally suggest this method. PayPal Sandbox was just recently changed and it’s a bit different now. I think they’re still working on changing some things around, but last time I tried it (maybe a month ago) it still worked properly.

3. On the pro forms, when “Paypal” is selected, the credit card details still show? Maybe I’m doing something wrong but I would expect it to dynamically change to “sign into PayPal” or something.

It is supposed to change to a PayPal button when you select PayPal. Sounds like there is a JavaScript error on this page. Could you send us a link to your Pro Form?

MailChimp won’t tell s2Member when a User is deleted, so there’s no way for s2Member to do that. As far as double opt-in goes, s2Member can only control the box that is displayed on your site. You can’t disable the opt-in message MailChimp sends through s2Member. I believe there is an option for this in MailChimp, though.

Yep, I’ve already put in my vote for tighter Mailchimp API integration as disabling the double opt in is definitely possible with the API, as is creating static groups on the fly (rather than having to have pre-set ones). I’m pretty certain you can delete an account via the API also.

Failing that, perhaps having some way to show deleted users (if there isn’t already?), so we can cross reference this on other services — for instance, if we were to sync with custom code, how can we tell between these two:

• The user the hasn’t been synced on signup for some reason
• The member has deleted their account

It is supposed to change to a PayPal button when you select PayPal. Sounds like there is a JavaScript error on this page. Could you send us a link to your Pro Form?

I can do once it’s set up again, using the bog standard buttons for now.

Thanks!

Failing that, perhaps having some way to show deleted users (if there isn’t already?), so we can cross reference this on other services — for instance, if we were to sync with custom code, how can we tell between these two:

The user the hasn’t been synced on signup for some reason
The member has deleted their account

Not that I’m aware of. I’ll have our development team look into this for the next major version of s2Member, but it’s just not possible right now. Sorry.