The default messaging service available through BusyPaws is perfect for any and all transactional messages you need to send out to your clients and prospects, but what about your marketing material? BusyPaws makes it easy to manage newsletters or drum up interest in an event by providing two different options for marketing messages: email campaigns configured through your BusyPaws account or integration with your Mailchimp account. In this guide, we will take a look at the Mailchimp integration, which can be used to automatically sync your clients and prospects to your contacts in MailChimp.

For more information on email campaigns within BusyPaws, check out our Marketing Messaging help guide.

You will need to be logged into a user account with either Business Owner or Manager access level designation to be able to set up this integration. Once logged in, click the "Links/Integrations" icon in the left-hand menu bar.

This will take you to the management page for all of your account's client page links, BusyPaws integrations, and third-party integrations. The cards for your QuickBooks, Mailchimp, and Webcam integrations can be found in the Third-Party Integrations section partway down this page. Locate the Mailchimp card and select the "Connect to Mailchimp" button.

You with then be prompted to log in to your Mailchimp account. Once logged in, click the "Allow" button to authorize BusyPaws.

Once you have successfully connected your account, you will be taken to the Mailchimp Settings screen, and a green confirmation message will appear at the top of the page.

If you have more than one Audience on your Mailchimp account, the first step, "Select Audience", will allow you to choose the Audience to which you want to link your BusyPaws integration. If you have just one Audience available, it will be chosen by default and you will be automatically redirected to Step 2.

The second step, "Configure Events", allows you to set up the Mailchimp events you want to link to a range of customer behaviours in BusyPaws. Events in Mailchimp allow you to set up automated marketing and followup emails for specific groups within your client list. You can then have those automations send messages to clients who have not rebooked with you for a certain period of time, set up mailing lists for clients that have registered for a specific service, and more. For more information about how to start using your events in Mailchimp, check out Mailchimp's guide on behavioural targeting.

Use the "Event Name" field at the bottom of the form to add a new event to your Mailchimp account. These events will be available to link to specific customer behaviours in BusyPaws. You can edit the specifics of what each event triggers through your Mailchimp account once you have saved your changes. To delete an event from the list, click the trash can icon at the right side of its name field.

To add another event field, click the "Add Event" button. You can do this to create as many new events as desired.

When you are happy with your event list, click the "Save & Continue" button to save your changes and move to the next step.

Step 4 will then prompt you to assign events to a variety of customer behaviours. The first component of this step is to set up the Defaults for different actions. This section will include "Assign default event" drop-down menus for creating a new Service, Series, Package, Membership, and Course. This allows the system to automatically assign the chosen event to anything you set up after you have configured your integration. Selecting an event field will open a drop-down menu with a full list of the available events that can be linked to the action, as well as a "No event" option.

The BusyPaws Events section follows next, with event fields for all of your existing customer actions in BusyPaws, starting with when a client signs up as a new Prospect or a new Customer.

The sections for customers registering for a Service and completing a booking will include drop-down menus for each of your existing Services.

Likewise, the sections for customers registering for a Series and completing a Series will include event fields for each of your existing Series options.

This step also includes sections for clients purchasing packages, purchasing memberships, and completing courses. As for the previous sections, each of your current packages, memberships, and courses will have their own event-selection field within the relevant section.

When you have set up your events as desired, click the "Complete and Sync" button at the very bottom of the form to save your selections and begin syncing your BusyPaws client list with Mailchimp.

This will redirect you to your main Links & Integrations page. A green notification will display at the top of the page, confirming setup completion.

While the system works to sync your existing customers and prospects, a grey "Sync in Progress" field will display on the Mailchimp integration card. When the sync is complete, that field will become a black "Sync Now" button.

That's it! Your Mailchimp integration is now setup, allowing you to easily manage and maintain your mailing lists for marketing materials and set up processes to increase customer retention. As new clients are added to your customer list in BusyPaws, their information will be automatically synced with your Mailchimp audience.

Once your Mailchimp integration has been configured, you can easily adjust any of the settings from the Links & Integrations page. When your Mailchimp account is properly connected, a green "Connected" indicator will display in the top-right corner of the card. The bottom of the card will also include the date and time of the most recent sync.

You can stop the integration at any time by selecting the "Disconnect" button at the top-right corner of the Mailchimp card. This will immediately cease all event and client syncing between BusyPaws and Mailchimp.

To make any changes to the assigned events for your integration, click the "Settings" button.

The Mailchimp Settings page will include all the same sections as those explored in Step 4 of setup, discussed earlier in this guide. The first part of the settings page will include the options for Defaults, while the second will include options for all of your current BusyPaws Events. This includes certain customer actions related to your customer/prospect lists, services, series, packages, memberships, and courses.

Use the event fields to make any desired changes, then scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Save Changes" button to apply your updates.

You may also use the "Edit Events" button at the top of the page to configure your available events. Click this button to open the Configure Events form.

On the Configure Events form, select an event field to edit the event's name, or click the trash can icon to delete the event. Use the "Add Event" button to add more events to the list. When you are done, click the "Save Changes" button to go back to the Mailchimp Settings page. You can also use the "Cancel" button at any time to go back without saving your changes.

Once you have set up your Mailchimp integration, each client's profile will indicate their mailing subscription status. They will be listed as either "Subscribed" or "Unsubscribed" under their email in the Contact Details section of their profile page.

You will also have the option of including a "Subscribe to Mail" checkbox on any of your forms and contracts. This setting will be available on both the New Intake Form and Edit Intake Form pages, and is similar to the toggles for requiring a signature and the "Accept Terms" checkbox.

Turning the toggle ON (purple) creates a "Subscribe to messages from us" checkbox at the bottom of the form, allowing clients to choose whether or not they wish to subscribe to your mailing list.

You can manually change the subscription status of any of your customers by clicking selecting "Edit" on their Customer Profile, then adjusting the "Mailchimp Subscribed" toggle.

The Mailchimp integration is a great way to send marketing messages to clients. Use your mailing list to contact large groups of your clients, target specific groups within your customer list, followup to encourage further registrations, and more. Automate your messaging to help keep your clients informed and encourage them to check out even more of your available service offerings.