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Troubleshooting Email Lists with Missing or Extra Recipients
Troubleshooting Email Lists with Missing or Extra Recipients

How to figure out why a specific email address is or is not syncing to MailChimp or Constant Contact.

Melanie Dupont avatar
Written by Melanie Dupont
Updated over a week ago

This article will cover four scenarios related to email lists and syncs. We'll show you how to research these scenarios (for MailChimp and Constant Contact) and the steps to correct the discrepancy. 

Scenario #1: An email recipient is showing in your Novi Group, but is not showing in your MC/CC email list.

Scenario #2: An email recipient is not in any of your Novi Groups, but is showing up in your MC/CC email list.

Scenario #3: An email recipient is in Novi and MC/CC, but is not receiving email communications.

Scenario #4: An email recipient is in Novi and CC, but is showing an error in the Novi Group sync status.


Please find the scenario and email platform combo below that most closely matches your situation. Also, be sure to read the Items of Note at the end of the article!


Scenario #1 - MailChimp

Recipient is in Novi, but not in MailChimp

[1] Are they in a Group or Event attendee list? 

  • If no, that is why they are not in MailChimp. The "fix" for a group depends on how it is set up - recipients are either manually added or they are pulled based on condition(s) - learn more about group setup. For an event, you may need to update the attendee registration so their email address can sync over to MailChimp - click Edit on the Attendees tab, add the correct email address, and save.

[2] Does the recipient have a contact email address in Novi? 

  • For groups, check the member's record (Details tab > Professional Contact Email). If they don't have an email address listed, add and save.

  • For events, check the attendee registration. If they are registered for an event as a guest, the email address may be different or blank. Edit the attendee info as needed.

[3] Is the email address unique (within the group/event)? 

  • Use the search function on the Group list or the Event Attendee list to search by the email address.

[4] Has the recipient requested to not receive marketing communications?

  • Go to the member's record in Novi (on the Settings tab) and look to see if the "Do Not Send Marketing Emails" box is checked. If yes, that is why they are not showing in MailChimp.

[5] In MailChimp, look to see if the email address has been archived. This can happen if they bounced or if they were manually archived by an admin. More info on archived contacts.

[6] In MailChimp, look to see if they unsubscribed. More info on unsubscribed contacts.

  • To see a list of all unsubscribed emails from the specific interest group, download the list from MailChimp, and two files will be downloaded (the subscribed segment and the cleaned segment). The cleaned segment will show the emails from the interest group that are unsubscribed.

[7] Other factors: Keep in mind that MailChimp can also remove an email address from their lists for a variety of other reasons: looking like spam, invalid email addresses, un-subscribes, bounces for other reasons, etc. Check out MailChimp's help center for more information!


Scenario #1 - Constant Contact

Recipient is in Novi, but not in Constant Contact

[1] Are they in a Group or Event attendee list? 

  • If no, that is why they are not in Constant Contact. The "fix" for a group depends on how it is setup - recipients are either manually added or they are based on condition(s) - learn more about group setup. For an event, you may need to update the attendee registration so their email address can sync over to Constant Contact - click Edit on the Attendees tab, add the correct email address, and save.

[2] Does the recipient have a contact email address in Novi? 

  • For groups, check the member's record (Details tab > Professional Contact Email). If they don't have an email address listed, add and save.

  • For events, check the attendee registration. If they are registered for an event as a guest, the email address may be different or blank. Edit the attendee info as needed.

[3] Is the email address unique (within the group/event)? 

  • Use the search function on the Group list or the Event Attendee list to search by the email address.

  • If more than one member is using the same email address, Constant Contact will most likely remove duplicates and only send the email campaign once (to the first recipient that was synced over with that email address).

[4] Has the recipient requested to not receive marketing communications?

  • Go to the member's record in Novi (on the Settings tab) and look to see if the "Do Not Send Marketing Emails" box is checked. If yes, that is why they are not showing in Constant Contact.

[5] In Constant Contact, look to see if the email address bounced. 

[6] In Constant Contact, look to see if they unsubscribed.

[7] Other factors: Keep in mind that Constant Contact can also remove an email address from their lists for a variety of other reasons: looking like spam, invalid email addresses, un-subscribes, bounces for other reasons, etc.


Scenario #2 - MailChimp

Recipient is not in Novi, but is in MailChimp

Research:

  1. Go to the recipient's record in MailChimp.

  2. Check to see if the recipient was added manually via API. If it was added manually, that could be causing the issue. All recipients should be added to Groups or Events in Novi, and then synced over to MailChimp via API.

  3. Check to see which Interest Group(s) they are subscribed to - these will correspond to either a Novi Group or a Novi Event. Click the Edit link next to "Groups" to view the full list. However, do not actually edit the settings here because the next sync will override any updates made in MailChimp.

  4. Check to see if they've received any other email campaigns recently.

Fix Options:

Once you've determined where they're syncing from, you can do one of the following (based on the situation):

  • Another option is to go to the Group or Event in Novi and remove the sync, if the contact is coming from Novi. Note: This will remove all recipients from that group/event.


Scenario #2 - Constant Contact

Recipient is not in Novi, but is in Constant Contact

Research:

  1. Go to the recipient's record in Constant Contact.

  2. Check to see if the recipient was added manually via API. If it was added manually, that could be causing the issue. All recipients should be added to Groups or Events in Novi, and then synced over to Constant Contact via API.

  3. Check to see which list(s) they're in - these will correspond to either a Novi Group or a Novi Event. 

Fix Options:

Once you've determined where they're syncing from, you can do one of the following (based on the situation):

  • In Constant Contact, edit the "Permission to send" setting on the recipient's record so they won't receive any marketing communications.

  • Another option is to go to the Group or Event in Novi and remove the sync. Note: This will remove all recipients from that group/event.


Scenario #3 - Both MailChimp & Constant Contact

Recipient is in both systems, but is not receiving marketing email communications

  • Check if they are in the specific Group or Event attendee list (in Novi) that was used for the email campaign (sent from MailChimp or Constant Contact).

  • Check with the member that the email address is spelled correctly.

  • Check the bounce list for the specific email campaign.

  • Check to see when they last received an email from MailChimp/Constant Contact.

  • Ask the member to check with their IT department to see if an internal setting blocked the email from delivering to their Inbox.


Scenario #4 - Constant Contact

Recipient is in both systems, but is showing an error for the sync status in Novi

Research:

  • Confirm if the member is receiving email campaigns from Constant Contact. If yes, then it's possible the sync error in Novi is due to the permission level the member has in CC. This can happen when an unsubscribed contact is re-subscribed, or if they were manually added with limited permission.

Fix Option:

  • Make sure they have "Express" permission in CC (not "Implied" permission).


Items of Note:

  • Do not manually add or remove recipients from MailChimp or Constant Contact, because the Novi sync will override any updates.

  • All edits should be made in Novi, unless you are archiving/unsubscribing them in MailChimp/Constant Contact. Otherwise, the list may not be syncing from Novi.

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