MailChimp is one of the most popular email marketing platforms out there. Their free version lets you add 2,000 subscribers and send up to 12,000 emails per month. MailChimp also integrates with hundreds of third-party platforms, including WordPress, and many of the email marketing plugins built for WordPress.
Getting other platforms to work with MailChimp is done using the MailChimp API. API stands for Application Programming Interface. Essentially, that’s just tech talk for “one web application communicating with another.”
If you use MailChimp for email marketing, chances are you’re using other applications along with it, and you’ll need the two to talk to each other. Let’s explore the MailChimp API, how to find your API key, and start integrating MailChimp with other platforms.
Table of Contents
- How to find your MailChimp API Key
- View and/or remove applications using your API key
- Where to find your MailChimp API stats
- Why & how to create multiple MailChimp API keys
- API Safety
- Mandrill API keys
How to Find Your MailChimp API Key
If you’re wondering where to find your MailChimp API key, here’s a quick little animation:
- Login to your account
- Click on your name/organization in the top-right corner. Then select Account.
- Now go to Extras > API keys
You can also just login to your account, and then go to the following URL:
https://us1.admin.mailchimp.com/account/api/
Under the section labeled Your API keys, you’ll find your API key, along with some additional information.
- the date it was created
- the user who created it
- an optional label to identify it
- the status (ON or OFF)
Once you have found your MailChimp API key, copy it to your clipboard. You can then go back to whatever application you are integrating with MailChimp, and paste your API key in the appropriate input field.
MailChimp Authorized Applications
Any time you use your MailChimp API key to connect to another application, it will appear here in this list. You’ll see…
- the name of the application, along with a description
- the user who authorized the connection
- an option to remove the connection to that application
You might want to periodically check this list to make sure there aren’t any applications that you didn’t authorize. Or if you are no longer integrating MailChimp with some of these applications, you should delete them (aka: remove the connection).
MailChimp API Stats
You’ll also find some basic statistics on the usage of your MailChimp API key. The following two graphs are available:
- Historical API calls by day
- Last 24 hours of API calls
These stats will typically only be used by developers. Non-technical users shouldn’t have to worry about these stats.
Why & how to create multiple MailChimp API keys
Ideally, you want to give each integration its own API key. This way, if your key becomes compromised, you can disable just that API key, without affecting your other applications/integrations.
You can create a new MailChimp API key by…
- Navigate to the API keys page in your account
- Under Your API keys, click the Create A Key button
- Hover over none set, which can be found in the Label column
- Add a label to describe which application the API key is being used for
MailChimp API Safety
Quoting MailChimp’s knowledgebase:
API keys grant full access to your MailChimp account and should be protected the same way you would protect your password.
Needless to say, it’s important to keep your API key safe. If someone were to get a hold of it, they could make changes to your MailChimp account, just as you would if you logged in as an administrator.
Mandrill API Keys
Mandrill is a sub-service of MailChimp, used for sending transactional emails (as opposed to marketing emails). It used to operate as a separate entity, but in 2016, MailChimp made it a part of their main product (and consolidated pricing). The old Mandrill website is no longer being used, and now points you back to mailchimp.com.
It appears as though Mandrill API keys are still created under the separate Mandrill app. Even though MailChimp moved Mandrill under its main MailChimp service, clicking the “Create Mandrill API key” button still takes you to mandrillapp.com.
I don’t use MailChimp’s Mandrill service, so I cannot confirm this. If you know the process for creating a Mandrill API key, please let us know in the comments.
Developers
If you’re a developer planning to utilize MailChimp’s API for something you’re building, check out the official documentation.
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