Add WhatsApp Subscribers to Mailchimp with Consent

This recipe adds people who agree in chat to your Mailchimp audience, with a record of their consent and what they are interested in. Part of connecting Mailchimp to WhatsApp and AI chat.

What happens today

Customers ask about a launch, a restock or the next sale on WhatsApp and Instagram, and say they want to hear about it. The person replying means to add them to Mailchimp later. Some get added without a record of how they agreed, some get added twice, and many never get added. The interest they mentioned is lost.

The flow that works

AeroChat answers the customer’s question first.
It asks whether they want to hear from you by email, and says what they will get.
Only after a clear yes, it asks for their email if it does not have it.
It looks them up in Mailchimp, so a returning subscriber is updated instead of added twice.
It adds or updates them in your audience and records the channel, the date and what they asked about.
If they say no, it carries on helping and adds nothing.

The recipe

Copy this into AeroChat

When someone asks about our products, offers or upcoming launches, answer their question first from our knowledge base. Then follow these steps.

If they show interest in future offers, launches or news, ask: “Would you like us to email you about this and other offers? You can unsubscribe at any time.”

Only if they clearly say yes, ask for their email if we do not have it.

Search Mailchimp for a member with that email in our Newsletter audience (example).

If they exist, update their first name if it is missing and set their status to subscribed. If not, add them with status subscribed, their first name and their email.

Add the tag source-chat and a tag for what they asked about, such as interest-new-arrivals (example values).

Add a member note: “Agreed to marketing emails in chat on [date] via [channel].”

Confirm to them that they are signed up and what they will receive.

Never add anyone who has not said yes in this conversation. If they say no or do not answer, carry on helping and do not ask again. Reply in the customer’s language.

Change the example names and values to the ones your Mailchimp account uses before you paste it.

What to connect

Mailchimp. An account owner or admin creates an API key in Mailchimp under Account, Extras, API keys, and copies it. Paste it in when AeroChat asks.
Your knowledge base. Upload your product or service details to AeroChat so it can answer before it asks.

After you paste the recipe, AeroChat builds the workflow as a draft and shows a checklist: connect Mailchimp, add your knowledge base if the recipe uses one, then switch it on. If it built the connection from Mailchimp’s public documentation, the checklist asks you to check it once against the current docs.

Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.

Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.

What you still decide

The wording of the consent question and what you promise to send.
Which audience new subscribers join, and which tags AeroChat sets.
Whether new subscribers confirm by email first. To use double opt-in, add them with status pending instead of subscribed.

The result to expect

Every chat contact who wants your emails is in Mailchimp with a record of when and where they agreed, and what they asked about. Your campaigns reach people who asked for them, and nobody is added without saying yes.

Measure it with your own numbers: subscribers added from chat, and their open and click rates, for a month before and after.

Next: answer subscription questions and unsubscribe on request.

Works on every chat channel

This workflow runs the same way on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, the chat on your website and email, with the same Mailchimp connection behind it. See what each channel does on the Mailchimp integration page.

Add your first chat subscriber to Mailchimp

Paste the recipe, add your Mailchimp API key, and sign up with your own email in the chat.

Start your 7-day free trial. No credit card needed.

On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.