Migrate from Mailchimp to Send & Retain
Bring your audience and unsubscribes, then rebuild your automations here, paused. Mailchimp's automation flows aren't readable through its API, so your agent rebuilds those from your notes.
✓Free to start. Unlimited contacts on every tier.
Inventory before cutover
Inventory
Source material read
Rebuild
Created paused
Verify
Real inbox test
Switch
One trigger first
Destination automation
Paused until validation and explicit cutover
[ 01 / 05 ]Step by step
How do I migrate from Mailchimp?
One audience export covers contacts and unsubscribes. Automation flows take a little more care.
Connect Mailchimp read-only
Create an API key from an account with Manager access or higher and paste it on your sending settings page. It reads any classic automations, Mailchimp's older builder.
Export your audience
Audience → Export audience. You get a ZIP with separate files for subscribed, unsubscribed, and cleaned contacts. Only Owners and Admins can export.
Import the block list first
Import the unsubscribed and cleaned files as your block list, before a single send.
Import contacts
Import the subscribed file as contacts. Drop Mailchimp columns like MEMBER_RATING and OPTIN_IP first, or they become junk attributes.
Rebuild your automations here, paused
Classic automations come across through the connector. For automation flows (formerly Customer Journeys), share screenshots or describe each one, and your agent rebuilds it as a paused automation.
Test, then switch one trigger
Send each email to your own inbox, move one trigger, and turn the Mailchimp version off when the new one works.
[ 02 / 05 ]Example prompts
What can I ask my agent to do?
Paste these into any agent connected to Send & Retain.
Rebuild
“Read our Mailchimp automations and rebuild the welcome one here, paused.”
Flows
“Here are screenshots of our Mailchimp automation flows. Rebuild each as a paused automation and list anything you had to guess.”
Merge tags
“Convert the *|FNAME|* merge tags in our old emails into template variables with fallbacks.”
Tags
“Which of our Mailchimp tags still matter? Turn those into segments and ignore the rest.”
[ 03 / 05 ]Mailchimp vs Send & Retain
What changes when I leave Mailchimp?
Pricing
Grows with your audience size
Priced on sends. Unlimited contacts on every tier
Newsletters
Campaigns to whole audiences
No blasts. Every email goes to one person
Automations
Automation flows (formerly Customer Journeys), plus classic automations on older accounts
Automations triggered by product events, always created paused
Contacts
Separate audiences can hold the same person twice
One record per person. Lists and groups become tags
Who does the work
A marketer in the dashboard
Your AI agent over MCP, with your approval
[ 04 / 05 ]Honest limits
What doesn't move from Mailchimp?
Your audience, unsubscribes, and classic automations move. Some things need your help.
- Automation flows (formerly Customer Journeys). No Mailchimp API exposes them, so your agent works from screenshots or notes.
- Open and click history stays in Mailchimp.
- Newsletters. If a weekly newsletter is your main job, Mailchimp may still be the better fit.
- Images hosted by Mailchimp. Move them before you close the account.
[ 05 / 05 ]Related
Related pages
Questions people ask us
Bring your audience. Leave the lists behind.
Import your unsubscribes first, rebuild one automation paused, and switch it when it works.