How do I send Instagram leads to Mailchimp?

Before you start

• This needs Trendsetter and above. It works only through Flow Automation (a multi-step chat you build on the web). Lead Gen does not sync.
• Your flow must ask with an Email question. An email asked with a Text question is not sent.
• In Mailchimp, create an API key. The How to get your API key link in InstantDM opens Mailchimp’s help page for this.

Steps

1. Click Account Settings in the sidebar and open the Integrations tab.
2. Under “Available”, click Mailchimp.
3. Paste your key into API Key.
4. Type the Server Prefix: the letters and number at the end of your key, after the dash (for example us1). If you leave it empty, InstantDM reads it from the key.
5. Optional: type your Audience / List ID (optional). If it is empty, the first audience in your Mailchimp account is used.
6. Click Save at the top of Settings. The tag changes to Connected.
7. Open Flow Automation and click your flow (or click New Flow Automation → Instagram).
8. Make sure the flow has an Email question (Collect Email in the bottom toolbar). Add Name and Phone questions if you want those in Mailchimp too.
9. Click Integrations (top right) and switch on Mailchimp.
10. Under When to push data, choose On every answer, then click Done.
11. Click Set Live.

On the phone app

Use the web app at app.instantdm.com for this. The phone app can’t edit flows or integration keys.

What your followers see

Nothing changes for them. They answer your questions in the DM. What Mailchimp sends afterwards depends on your Mailchimp settings.

Good to know

• What Mailchimp gets: the email, the first name (from a Name question) and the phone (from a Phone question). New contacts are added as subscribed, with the tag instantdm.
• Why On every answer: with On flow completion, Mailchimp only gets the lead when the flow fully ends. Flows that end on a button or link message never count as finished, so nothing is sent.
• If you ask the name after the email, On every answer sends the contact again with the name. Mailchimp updates the same contact.
• There is no test button and no delivery log for Mailchimp. Test from a second Instagram account and check your audience.

What you can’t do

• Choose a different audience per flow. The audience is set once for the account.
• Send other answers (for example budget or city) to Mailchimp fields.
• Sync Lead Gen or Send Link automations.

How to turn it off

Open the flow, click Integrations, switch off Mailchimp, click Done and Set Live.

If it doesn’t work

• Leads land in the wrong audience: fill in Audience / List ID (optional) and click Save.
• Nothing arrives: check that the question type is Email, that Mailchimp is on in this flow, and that When to push data is On every answer. Click Set Live after any change.
• Some people are missing: their email failed the format check. See answer rules.