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Email Syncs - N/A Status & Errors Explained
Email Syncs - N/A Status & Errors Explained

A guide to specific email sync N/A statuses and errors you may see within your Novi groups.

Melisa Smith avatar
Written by Melisa Smith
Updated over a week ago

Novi group email sync statuses give you the transparency and power to know when an entire group, or a specific record within a group, can't sync over to your MailChimp or Constant Contact account, and what to do about it. This allows you to quickly troubleshoot these sync issues, and (bonus!) keep your member's email data clean.

One important distinction to start with:

The difference between a sync status of N/A and an error.

  • N/A means that we haven't attempted to sync the record, for various reasons that are explained in this article.

  • A red error means that we've sent the information to the email platform, but they have sent back an error.

  • In either case, you can hover over the status to see more information. The items you'll see upon hover are the items listed and explained below.

  • Remember: For successful group syncs, the group list will give you a quick link to a filtered list of exactly which records within the group weren't able to sync over.

  • For the reasons explained in this article, It is very common and expected, that your Novi group and email platform lists won't be an exact number match. So, unless you have a very small or limited group synced over, you should almost always expect that filter to be there for you.

Learn more about the specifics below!

When you see N/A, possible reasons include:

For N/A on the main groups list:

  • If you see an N/A next to a group in the main groups list, rather than an "Up To Date" message, this means that the group itself has not been "told" to sync over to the email platform. If you'd like to sync it over, go to the group's Integrations tab, turn the email sync toggle to ON, and save the group.

For N/A on a specific record within a group, hover over the N/A and you'll see one of the following messages:

  • This member lacks an email address.
    ​We only sync over records from Novi who have an email. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to send anything to them!

  • This member's contact details have been skipped because another member is using the same email address.
    ​We'll only send over one record if two or more records in your group are using the same email address. If both (or all) of the records using the email are individuals, we'll send over the first person. If one record is a company and one is an individual, we'll always send over the individual.

  • This group does not sync primary and/or beneficiary member emails.
    ​Seeing one of these errors means that your group settings (in the Email section) say not to sync over this record because you haven't selected the checkbox for the type of member of the group they are.

  • This member has elected to not receive marketing emails. To change this, please visit the member's settings tab and uncheck the box labeled 'do not send marketing emails'.
    ​This record has the "Do Not Send Marketing Emails" checkbox checked on the Settings tab of their record, meaning that an admin has marked them so that they do not sync over to the email platform.

When you see a red error, possible reasons include:

Red errors can be a bit broader since many of the errors we show you via the groups come directly from MailChimp or Constant Contact. While we can predict some of these errors, the list below isn't definitive.

Most of the time, the error can be resolved in the email platform. Depending on the error itself, you may want to reach out to MailChimp or Constant Contact support for further information on an error.

NOTE: As the errors come from the email provider, the list below will be updated as we see new/different errors. If you receive an email sync error that's different from the ones listed below, please let us know and we'll add it to the list.

Unsubscribe, Bounce, Compliance, etc. Errors

These types of errors mean that something about the record's status inside the email platform isn't allowing it to sync. It could be that the contact has is on a bounce list for an invalid email address, or just generally is not being accepted by the platform for one reason or another.  

To troubleshoot these general errors, please check the record inside of MailChimp or Constant Contact. You'll be able to see their status within the platform.

  • MailChimp: There was a problem syncing this member to MailChimp. (Member email) is in a compliance state due to unsubscribe, bounce, or compliance review and cannot be subscribed.

  • Constant Contact: This member's contact info failed to sync to Constant Contact. This most likely happened because the contact has been unsubscribed in Constant Contact. Please visit Contact Contact and check the "Activity Log" for further details. If you don't think this is the issue, you'll also want to check their permission level - it should be "Express" (not "Implied").

Merge Field Errors

Merge field errors occur when audience fields/merge tags, specifically for MailChimp users, have been manually edited in the MailChimp Settings > Audience fields and *|MERGE|* tags section. 

  • These errors may appear as a simple statement on your groups like "Your merge fields were invalid" or as a more complex error showing you exactly which merge field needs to be updated/removed.

  • If you see an error pertaining to merge fields, navigate to the section mentioned above in MailChimp and delete the offending field.

Background:

  • The merge fields we add data to are first name, last name, email, and company.

  • The system looks for a set of simple "text" values from merge fields (besides email of course), like the "FNAME" and "LNAME" fields that are synced over from Novi.

  • While additional "text" merge fields are okay to add, when you start adding complex merge field types like "ADDRESS," this causes discrepancies in what the system (Novi) is looking to sync with.

  • Any additional merge fields added should be in text-format only, if necessary, but we highly recommend against editing or adding any merge fields, as Novi should be the system of record for all other information.

Errors From Deletion (Lists, Interest Groups, API Key, etc.)

API Key Deletion in MailChimp:

  • If your API Key (what connects Novi to MailChimp) is deleted within the platform, all groups will show an error.

  • This would need to be re-created so the connection can resume.

If the main Novi AMS Audience is deleted in MailChimp: 

  • The Novi AMS list/audience does not exist in MailChimp and we were unable to create it. Please make sure the Novi AMS list/audience exists in MailChimp and try again.

  • To fix this, create an Audience in MailChimp called Novi AMS.

If a Novi AMS Interest Group (in MailChimp) or the list (in Constant Contact) has been deleted:

  • MailChimp: Can't sync list because the MailChimp interest group with ID X has been deleted. Please re-save the group to clear this message, or toggle the sync back on if you would like this group's contacts to continue to sync to MailChimp.

  • Constant Contact: Can't sync list because the Constant Contact group with ID X has been deleted. Please re-save the group to clear this message, or toggle the sync back on if you would like this group's contacts to continue to sync to Constant Contact.

As mentioned in the error, you'll need to turn the email sync toggle to ON again in the Novi group Integrations tab to allow the sync to re-create the Interest Group/list. These errors would more likely be seen on the Novi group as a whole, rather than for a specific record within a group.

Note that you should not see an error if you've simply renamed an Interest Group or list - only if it has been deleted.

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