Connecting Novi groups to MailChimp or Constant Contact is a great way to easily communicate with your members. When setting up a Novi group, each group offers the option to sync the group member emails into your chosen email platform.
When these syncs occur, Novi provides transparency when a group or specific email has or hasn't been synced over.
Read on below to learn more about:
Overall Group Sync Status
The Sync Process
Once a group is saved, Novi will begin calculating the group members. While calculating, spinning circles appear in the members and beneficiaries columns.
Once the group members are calculated, the email sync will begin and the number of emails synced will display in the group details page.
Saving the group without making any changes does not trigger a sync.
Groups that fail to calculate or sync properly will be listed in the Daily Digest email.
Where to Find
Once a group is synced, find the sync status in these places:
1. On the main Groups list, in the "MailChimp Sync" or "Constant Contact Sync" column. Groups that are synced have a green checkmark.
The name of the column will reflect either MailChimp or Constant Contact, whichever is used. If using both, both columns display separately.
Tip: Use the Filter to quickly sort to the groups that are syncing.
2. On the Group detail page, in the top section beneath the group name the sync status will be listed.
The name of the sync will reflect either MailChimp or Constant Contact. If using both, both statuses display separately.
The different statuses that may appear include:
XX emails synced: When a sync completes successfully, the number of emails synced will display
N/A: A status of N/A means that the group is not connected to a MailChimp or Constant Contact list and will not sync.
Specific Group Member Sync Status
View the sync status of a specific group member (if the group is synced) in these places:
Group: Email Sync tab
The Email Sync tab columns include:
Email: The email address that is synced.
Main Customer: The customer record that is synced.
Shared emails: If more than one record share an email address, those records are listed here.
MailChimp / Constant Contact: The date and time of the sync, or the error message if the sync for that record is unsuccessful.
Action: Sync a specific record's email.
Group: Members tab
Use the list view options (gear on the right above the list) to add the available Group Details column for MailChimp or Constant Contact:
Reports > Email Sync:
Email Sync Status
The sync status displays in the column MailChimp or Constant Contact, depending on which email platform you're using.
When a record is syncing, a spinning icon to indicates that a sync is in progress. Once the spinning is complete, the email platform has updates on their end complete, meaning the process may not be finished - it just means that Novi has completed sending information to the platform.
Members who were successfully synced over will show a Contact Synced message and date in their row.
Members who failed to sync will show an N/A or a red error exclamation point and error reason (if there is an error with the sync).
Reasons for an N/A could include:
This member doesn't have an email address
The group isn't set up to sync primary members / beneficiary members
Member has "Do Not Send Marketing Emails" checked
Member is a company whose email is the same as a person’s in the group (people will always win in this scenario).
Member is a person whose email is the same as another person's in the group, and the other person has higher priority.
Do Not Send Marketing Emails Column
If this says "Yes," it means that the Do Not Send Marketing Emails setting on this member's record in Novi is checked. This is separate from if a member has unsubscribed in MailChimp or Constant Contact. Unsubscribed members will show “Contact is Unsubscribed” in the MailChimp or Constant Contact column.
If your goal is to include or exclude members for a group depending on if they have Do Not Send Marketing Emails checked, you can add Do Not Send Marketing Emails as a condition within a group.
Failed Syncs
As a best practice we recommend attempting to re-sync records on a record-by-record basis. This can be accomplished by clicking "Sync Email" in the action column on the far right of the group members list.
Duplicate Email Addresses
Email marketing providers, like Mailchimp and Constant Contact, use email addresses as their unique identifier. This means Novi can’t sync multiple records that share the same email address.
When there are multiple records with the same email address, Novi must choose one record to associate with the email address in MailChimp and/or Constant Contact.
When two or more records share an email address, Novi automatically determines the order of email sync priority, always prioritizing people records first.
If multiple people share an email address, the logic is based alphabetically by last name.
When two companies share an email address and no people share that same email, the logic will choose the company alphabetically by company name.
Novi follows this priority order when deciding which record "wins" to be synced:
Primary Contact
Billing Contact
Management Access Contact
Person without management access
Company
Following this priority order ensures that each email address is linked with the most relevant record.
Additionally, note the following:
If multiple records match in priority, the system will alphabetize them by name (Last Name, First Name) and choose the first record.
When determining the priority:
If there are multiple Primary Contacts (#1 from the list above) then the system will check to see if one of them is higher in the family tree. If unable to tell, or if they have unrelated parents, it will default to alphabetical. This same approach is applied if there are multiple Billing Contacts (#2).
If there are multiple people with management access (#3), the system will prioritize a person that is using the email address as their user account (login). If no user accounts exist, it will default to alphabetical. This same approach is applied if the people do not have management access (#4).
If Novi detects that MailChimp or Constant Contact has the email address associated with a record lower on the priority list, then Novi will update the MailChimp or Constant Contact record accordingly.
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