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Migrating from Mailchimp & Mandrill

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Why Teams Switch from Mailchimp

• Unified Platform: Send both high-velocity transactional emails and visual marketing broadcasts from the same dashboard, API, and domain reputation.
• Fair Contact Pricing: Stop paying for contacts who unsubscribed months ago. Mailofly only bills for active sending and engaged audiences.
• Modern Merge Syntax: Replace quirky *|MERGE_TAGS|* with standard {{variable}} handlebars syntax or React Email components.
• Instant Developer API: Direct REST API and typed SDKs replace Mandrill’s legacy API endpoints.

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1. Syntax Comparison: Merge Tags vs Variables

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2. Replacing Mandrill Transactional API

import mailchimpTx from "@mailchimp/mailchimp_transactional";

const mandrill = mailchimpTx(process.env.MANDRILL_API_KEY!);

const response = await mandrill.messages.send({
  message: {
    from_email: "orders@acme.com",
    from_name: "Acme Orders",
    to: [{ email: "customer@example.com", type: "to" }],
    subject: "Your receipt #9821",
    html: "<p>Thank you for your order, *|FNAME|*!</p>",
    global_merge_vars: [
      { name: "FNAME", content: "Alex" }
    ],
  },
});

import { Mailofly } from "@mailofly/node";

const mailofly = new Mailofly({
  apiKey: process.env.MAILOFLY_API_KEY!,
});

const { id } = await mailofly.emails.send({
  from: "Acme Orders <orders@acme.com>",
  to: ["customer@example.com"],
  subject: "Your receipt #9821",
  html: "<p>Thank you for your order, Alex!</p>",
});

console.log("Sent with Mailofly:", id);

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3. Migrating Audiences, Tags & Suppressions

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Step 1: Export Contacts from Mailchimp

1. In the Mailchimp dashboard, navigate to Audience → All contacts.
2. Click Export Audience → Export as CSV.
3. Mailchimp will generate a ZIP archive containing separate CSV files:
   • subscribed_members_export.csv
   • unsubscribed_members_export.csv
   • cleaned_members_export.csv (Hard bounces and bad emails)

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Step 2: Import Suppressed & Unsubscribed Members

1. In the Mailofly dashboard, go to Audiences > Contacts.
2. Click Import CSV.
3. Upload unsubscribed_members_export.csv and select Mark as Unsubscribed.
4. Repeat for cleaned_members_export.csv, marking them as Suppressed / Bounced.

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Step 3: Import Active Subscribers

1. Click Import CSV and select subscribed_members_export.csv.
2. Map your columns:
   • Email Address → email
   • First Name → first_name
   • Last Name → last_name
   • Custom tags and groups → Mailofly Custom Properties or Topics.

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4. Migrating Marketing Broadcasts

1. Create Broadcast: Choose between our visual rich-text/block editor, raw HTML, or React Email templates.
2. Audience Segmentation: Target specific groups using Topics (e.g. Weekly Changelog, Special Offers) or dynamic Segments based on subscriber properties.
3. One-Click Unsubscribe Compliance: Mailofly automatically injects RFC-8058 compliant List-Unsubscribe and List-Unsubscribe-Post headers into every broadcast, ensuring 100% compliance with Gmail and Yahoo 2024+ sender requirements.

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5. Webhook Events Comparison

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Migration Checklist

• Add sending domain in Mailofly and verify DKIM (mailofly._domainkey) and SPF.
• Export Mailchimp Audience CSVs (Subscribed, Unsubscribed, Cleaned).
• Import Unsubscribed and Cleaned contacts into Mailofly Suppressions.
• Import Subscribed contacts into Mailofly Contacts with Topics and Properties.
• Update merge tags in your email templates from *|TAG|* to {{variable}}.
• Replace @mailchimp/mailchimp_transactional code with @mailofly/node.
• Test transactional sends and broadcast previews.
• Downgrade or cancel your Mailchimp subscription to eliminate contact storage costs.