✅ HubSpot as Your “Source of Truth”

  • You manage and update your contact info in HubSpot only—names, email addresses, tags like CE Season Pass Holder, AI Interest, etc.

  • HubSpot becomes your central CRM where all your notes, activity, deals, and segmentation logic live.

📨 Mailchimp as Your Email Blaster

  • You use Mailchimp only to send out bulk emails—newsletters, CE reminders, marketing updates.

  • You don’t try to maintain contact info in Mailchimp—just send to the list that lives there.

🔁 Syncing: Exporting from HubSpot → Importing to Mailchimp

When you want to send a new campaign or update your Mailchimp list:

  1. Export a segment or full list from HubSpot (as CSV).

  2. Import it into Mailchimp, choosing the option to update existing contacts rather than overwrite or replace your audience.

  3. This will:

    • Add any new contacts.

    • Update emails, names, and custom fields (like tags or interest groups) for existing contacts.

    • Keep existing Mailchimp-only data like open rates, campaign history, unsubscribes, etc.

💡 What You Won’t Lose in Mailchimp

When you import updated contacts from HubSpot into Mailchimp:

  • You won’t lose open/click activity.

  • You won’t reset engagement stats or unsubscribe status.

  • You can update fields (like name or tag) without messing up Mailchimp’s behavioral data.

🏷 Example

Let’s say:

  • Someone was tagged in HubSpot as CE Season Pass Holder.

  • Their email changes from jane@example.com to jane.doe@gmail.com.

  • You update that in HubSpot.

  • Next time you export from HubSpot and import to Mailchimp:

    • The email change is applied.

    • The tag or group is applied if you mapped it correctly.

    • Mailchimp keeps Jane’s open/click history (associated with the old and new email, as long as she’s still opted in).

⚠️ Just Be Careful With…

  • Make sure you’re using “Update existing contacts” when importing to Mailchimp—not “Replace audience”, which would delete old data.

  • Be cautious with email address changes—Mailchimp treats different emails as new subscribers. If someone changes their email address, it’s better to add the new email and mark the old one as inactive/unsubscribed if necessary.

✅ Final Thought

Yes, you’ve got it: HubSpot manages your data, Mailchimp sends your emails, and you bridge the two manually with smart imports. It’s a low-tech solution that works well until (or unless) you outgrow it.

Want help creating a shared field system (e.g., custom properties in HubSpot that map cleanly into Mailchimp groups or tags)? That’ll make syncing even smoother.