How to switch from Mailchimp to Zeffy

Move your nonprofit's email from Mailchimp to Zeffy by exporting your contacts, importing them, recreating your lists, rebuilding your email designs, setting up your sender, and replacing your newsletter signup form.

This guide walks you through each step in order. You can stop after your contacts are in and your first newsletter is out, or keep going to bring more of your CRM into Zeffy.

Before you start: decide what to import

If your main goal is to use Zeffy to send newsletters and emails, start by importing your contacts. If you also want to use Zeffy as your nonprofit CRM, import your historical donation records as well so you can segment contacts by their giving history later.

Contact imports and payment imports are separate workflows. You can start with contacts and add donation history afterward.

Step 1: Export your contacts from Mailchimp

Mailchimp exports your audience as a CSV file, which you then import into Zeffy. Only Mailchimp account Owners and Admins can export an audience.

1. In Mailchimp, go to Audience.

2. Click Export audience.

3. Choose Export CSV.

The export includes subscribed, non-subscribed, unsubscribed, and cleaned contacts, along with audience fields, contact data, notes, and tags. It does not include email engagement metrics or purchase history.

Step 2: Import your contacts into Zeffy

Zeffy imports contacts from a file. Use the contact import workflow and its template so your data matches Zeffy's fields.

1. In your Zeffy dashboard, go to Contacts.

2. Click Add contact.

3. Select Import contacts.

4. Choose Import a file, then Upload file, and select your file.

5. Wait for the Job completed status.

6. Review the column-to-field mapping, click Continue, then Submit.

Email is the primary identifier for a contact in Zeffy. Keep email addresses consistent and add one email per contact to avoid duplicate records. Imported contacts are automatically added to a list named Import [month/day/year] so you can find the batch again.

Step 3: Recreate your lists and segments

Zeffy groups contacts with lists, not tags. Recreate the Mailchimp tags and segments you used as lists so you can email those groups again.

Zeffy supports two list types: automatic (dynamic) lists that update as contacts meet your filter rules, and manual lists that stay fixed until you change them. Contacts previously grouped with tags in Zeffy were converted into manual lists.

1. Go to Contacts.

2. Click + Filter next to the search bar.

3. Choose a filter type and condition, such as Fundraising Campaign or Lifetime Amount.

4. Click Save filters as list.

5. Choose Save as a dynamic list or Save as a manual list.

For the full list of filter types and conditions, see Create lists and segments.

Step 4: Import historical donations (optional)

If you want your supporters' giving history in Zeffy, import past donations through the payment import workflow. This is separate from the contact import.

1. Go to Payments > New Payment > Import.

2. Use the payment import template and set the transaction type to donation.

3. Submit the file. Contacts are created or linked automatically by matching email.

Imported donations appear as historical records. Active recurring payment schedules cannot be transferred automatically, so donors will need to start a new recurring payment through a Zeffy form. See Importing historical payments into Zeffy and Importing recurring payments and donations.

Step 5: Rebuild your email designs

Zeffy's email builder is block-based, so you recreate your newsletter layout with headings, text, images, buttons, dividers, and other blocks rather than importing Mailchimp HTML.

1. Go to Communications.

2. Click New Email.

3. Choose a Zeffy template or start from scratch.

4. Add and arrange content blocks to match your old newsletter.

Zeffy templates cover newsletters, fundraising appeals, event recaps, invitations, and follow-ups. You can upload your own images or choose from Zeffy's image library, and save any design as a reusable template. For the full builder guide, see Designing emails with Zeffy's email builder and templates.

Step 6: Set up your sender

Before sending, set up the sender address supporters see and, optionally, authenticate your own domain for better deliverability and branding.

By default, Zeffy sends bulk emails from [email protected]. You can customize the sender name while composing, and replies go to the reply-to address you choose.

To send from your organization's own domain instead, add a custom domain in Settings > Add custom domain. This requires access to your domain's DNS settings and can take up to 48 hours to propagate. A custom domain also raises the per-email recipient limit from 5,000 to 30,000. See Customizing your email sender domain.

Step 7: Send your first email

Choose who receives your email from your lists or filtered contacts, then review and send.

1. In the email builder, click Next to set the subject line and sender details.

2. Click Next again to select recipients from your lists or filtered contacts.

3. Optionally send a test email to yourself.

4. Review the recipients, subject line, sender information, and content.

5. Click Send now or schedule it for later.

Zeffy supports up to 5,000 contacts per email, or 30,000 with a custom domain. For the full sending guide, see Sending emails and newsletters through Zeffy.

Step 8: Replace your newsletter signup form

Replace the Mailchimp form on your website with a Zeffy signup form so new subscribers go straight into your Zeffy contacts.

1. Go to Contacts > Sign-up Forms.

2. Click Create Form.

3. Customize the title, colors, and fields. First name, last name, and email are included by default.

4. Choose which list new subscribers should join.

5. Open Share and choose Embed to paste the code into your website HTML, or Stand-alone page to share a link.

See Create a newsletter sign-up form for the full walkthrough.

Step 9: Track your newsletter results

After sending, review how your email performed in Zeffy's email dashboard.

1. Go to Communications.

2. Open the Emails tab.

3. Select the sent email.

The dashboard shows summary metrics for Open rate, Click rate, and Purchase rate, plus a recipient status table with Delivered, Pending, Opened, Clicked, Purchased, Unsubscribed, and Bounced or Failed. A recipient marked Purchased completed a transaction after clicking your email. See Tracking email performance.

Optional: Bring more of your CRM into Zeffy

Once your newsletters run in Zeffy, you can manage more of your supporter relationships with Zeffy's CRM features.

• Import historical donations or payments.

• View a contact's fundraising history.

• Create advanced contact segments with filters.

• Add custom contact properties.

• Add notes and follow-up reminders to contacts.

• Group contacts into households or associate them with companies.

You don't need to configure all of this before leaving Mailchimp. If you're mainly switching your newsletter tool, start with your contacts, emails, sender, and signup form, then expand your CRM setup when you're ready. See Getting started with Zeffy's CRM.

Mailchimp to Zeffy migration checklist

Before cancelling your Mailchimp subscription, confirm you've completed the following.

• Exported your Mailchimp contacts as a CSV file.

• Imported your contacts into Zeffy and reviewed the results.

• Recreated your lists and segments in Zeffy.

• Rebuilt or recreated the email designs you want to keep.

• Configured your sender information.

• Sent yourself a test email.

• Created your Zeffy newsletter signup form.

• Replaced the Mailchimp signup form on your website.

• Confirmed new subscribers are added to the correct Zeffy list.

• Sent your first newsletter from Zeffy.

Once everything works as expected, you're ready to manage your nonprofit's newsletters directly from Zeffy.