Automate Mailchimp With n8n: 14 Operations, 6 Trigger Events

Why automate

What does the Mailchimp n8n integration cover?

The integration is a pair of nodes that ship with n8n. The Mailchimp node calls the Mailchimp API to create, read, update and delete members, add and remove member tags, drive campaigns and read interest groups. The Mailchimp Trigger registers a webhook, meaning a URL that Mailchimp calls, so a workflow starts within seconds of an audience or campaign event.

The first scenario is a signup that lands everywhere at once. A form submission, a checkout or a new row picked up from Google Sheets goes through member.create with a status of subscribed or pending, and the same run can attach a source tag through memberTag.create. No copy and paste, no weekly CSV import.

The second scenario runs the other way. The trigger fires on subscribe or unsubscribe, and the workflow pushes that change to the rest of the stack: a message in Slack for the sales channel, a follow-up through Gmail, a matching record in ActiveCampaign. Consent stays consistent across tools, which is the part that usually breaks.

The third scenario is campaign housekeeping. campaign.getAll lists what went out and filters on sent status, campaign.replicate clones last month's newsletter as a starting point, and campaign.resend builds the Resend to Non-Openers version of a campaign that already shipped. A scheduled workflow can prepare the copy and hand a draft to a human before campaign.send ever runs.

Reach for the HTTP Request node when the operation is not in the list. Reports, automations, e-commerce stores and audience creation are not covered by the 14 operations, and the HTTP Request node hits any Mailchimp endpoint while reusing the same credential through predefined authentication. That keeps one set of keys for the whole workflow.

Two limits are worth knowing before building. Members are addressed by email address, not by an internal identifier, so the workflow needs the exact address it used on the way in. And listGroup.getAll reads interest groups but the node has no operation to create or edit them, so group structure stays a manual job in Mailchimp. If the choice between platforms is still open, the n8n review goes through hosting, pricing and the visual editor in detail.

Connect

How do you connect Mailchimp to n8n?

01
Generate the API key
Open the API keys section of the Mailchimp account and create a key. In n8n, go to Credentials, pick the Mailchimp API credential and paste the value into the API Key field. A credential is created once and reused by every workflow, so both the node and the trigger pick it from the same dropdown. Mailchimp itself suggests the API key route when the code only touches data inside your own account.
02
Or register an OAuth2 app
OAuth2 is the other supported method, and it is the one to use when a workflow reaches into someone else's Mailchimp account instead of your own. Register an application on the Mailchimp developer side, then create the Mailchimp OAuth2 credential in n8n and complete the consent flow. The tradeoff is setup time against the ability to hand access back without sharing a raw key.
03
Select the audience in the node
Drop a Mailchimp node on the canvas, choose the credential, then pick the resource and the operation. Most operations ask for List Name or ID, which is the audience the call applies to. The dropdown loads the audiences from the account, so there is nothing to memorize, and an expression such as {{ $json.listId }} works when the audience comes from an earlier node.

Triggers

What starts a Mailchimp workflow?

Mailchimp Trigger is the node that starts a workflow when something happens in Mailchimp. It listens to 6 events, listed below by family. Pick one or several, activate the workflow: n8n registers the webhook on your Mailchimp account.

What you see in n8n

Every event, by family

One row per object, one chip per action. The event to tick in the node is object.action; hover a chip to read exactly when it fires.

campaign.*1

campaign.
- campaign

cleaned.*1

cleaned.
- cleaned

profile.*1

profile.
- profile

subscribe.*1

subscribe.
- subscribe

unsubscribe.*1

unsubscribe.
- unsubscribe

upemail.*1

upemail.
- upemail

Configuration notes

01Set up the Mailchimp TriggerThe trigger node is the entry point of the workflow, the block that reacts to something happening in Mailchimp rather than being called by another node. It runs on webhooks: n8n registers its URL with Mailchimp when the workflow is activated, and each event arrives within seconds, with no polling loop in between.

The trigger node is the entry point of the workflow, the block that reacts to something happening in Mailchimp rather than being called by another node. It runs on webhooks: n8n registers its URL with Mailchimp when the workflow is activated, and each event arrives within seconds, with no polling loop in between.

Key parameters

List Name or ID: the audience that fires the events. One trigger watches one audience, so a second audience needs its own trigger node.
Events: the checkboxes that decide which of the 6 event types reach the workflow. There is no catch-all option, so tick only what the workflow handles.
Sources: the origins that are allowed to fire the webhook, so a change made in the Mailchimp interface can be treated differently from one made through the API.

When to use it

any time Mailchimp holds the fact first and another system needs to hear about it, rather than the other way around.

02Subscribe and UnsubscribeThese two events cover the audience growing and shrinking. subscribe fires when a subscriber is added to the list, unsubscribe when a list member opts out. Together they are the pair most workflows start with, because they carry the consent state the rest of the stack has to respect.

These two events cover the audience growing and shrinking. subscribe fires when a subscriber is added to the list, unsubscribe when a list member opts out. Together they are the pair most workflows start with, because they carry the consent state the rest of the stack has to respect.

Key parameters

Events: tick Subscribe, Unsubscribe, or both on the same trigger and branch afterwards on the event type.
Sources: useful here to separate a signup that came from a Mailchimp hosted form from one pushed by an API call, since the follow-up is rarely the same.

Use cases

a new subscriber gets a welcome sequence and a row in the CRM, an unsubscribe flips a flag in the product database so no other tool emails that person again.

03Profile Updated, Email Address Updated and CleanedThis family is about data quality on an existing contact. profile fires when a subscriber updates their profile, upemail when the email address itself changes, and cleaned when Mailchimp removes an address from the list after it stops accepting mail.

This family is about data quality on an existing contact. profile fires when a subscriber updates their profile, upemail when the email address itself changes, and cleaned when Mailchimp removes an address from the list after it stops accepting mail.

Key parameters

Events: Profile Updated, Email Address Updated and Cleaned can share one trigger, since the downstream job is usually the same record update.
List Name or ID: the audience being cleaned, which matters because a product list and a newsletter list are usually watched by separate workflows.

Use cases

an address change is mirrored into the billing system before the next invoice bounces, and a cleaned address opens a task to reach that customer another way, by phone or through whoever owns the account on the sales side.

04Campaign SentThe campaign event covers the send itself: it fires when a campaign is sent or cancelled. It is the one event in the set that is about the message rather than about a person, which makes it the natural start for reporting and for anything that has to happen once per send.

The campaign event covers the send itself: it fires when a campaign is sent or cancelled. It is the one event in the set that is about the message rather than about a person, which makes it the natural start for reporting and for anything that has to happen once per send.

Key parameters

Events: Campaign Sent on its own, kept away from the member events so the workflow does not have to branch on every run.
Sources: worth restricting when campaigns are scheduled by hand in Mailchimp and also triggered by another workflow through campaign.send.

Use cases

a send logs a line in the reporting sheet, posts a short recap to the marketing channel and triggers the internal checklist for the next issue.

Actions

What can the Mailchimp node do?

The Mailchimp node exposes 14 operations across 4 resources. For each one: the node as you configure it in n8n, the required fields, and our field notes.

Resources × operations matrix
Resource	Create	Get	Get Many	Update	Delete	Replicate	Resend	Send
Campaign		✓	✓		✓	✓	✓	✓
List Group			✓
Member	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Member Tag	✓				✓

Campaign

6 operations

01

Delete a campaign

campaign.delete

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Deleting removes the campaign from the Mailchimp account permanently, drafts and scheduled sends included. The node returns once Mailchimp confirms the removal.

Key parameters

Campaign ID: the campaign to remove, picked from the list of campaigns or passed as {{ $json.id }} from a previous node.

Use cases

a monthly cleanup workflow lists drafts older than a set date and clears the ones nobody finished, so the campaign screen stays readable.

02

Get a campaign

campaign.get

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

One campaign in, one item out, with the settings and metadata Mailchimp holds for it. Handy as a lookup step in the middle of a longer workflow.

Key parameters

Campaign ID: the identifier of the campaign to read, not its subject line or title.

Use cases

after the trigger reports a send, this operation pulls the full campaign record so the recap message quotes real settings instead of what the workflow assumed.

03

Get many campaigns

campaign.getAll

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Listing returns the campaigns of the account as separate items, with filters that narrow the set before anything downstream runs.

Key parameters

Return All: on, n8n walks every page of results; off, Limit caps how many campaigns come back.
Status: restricts the response to sent, sending, save or schedule.
Since Send Time and Before Send Time: a date window on the send, which is how a report covers one month only.
Sort Field and Sort Direction: order by create_time or send_time, ascending or descending.

Use cases

a Monday workflow lists last week's sent campaigns and writes one row per campaign into the reporting sheet.

04

Replicate a campaign

campaign.replicate

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

A copy of an existing campaign appears in the account, content and settings included, as a fresh draft that nobody has sent yet.

Key parameters

Campaign ID: the campaign to clone, which stays untouched by the operation.

Use cases

a recurring newsletter is duplicated from the previous issue at the start of each cycle, so the template, the audience and the sender details carry over and only the content has to change.

05

Resend a campaign

campaign.resend

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Non-openers get a second pass: the operation creates a Resend to Non-Openers version of a campaign that already went out, targeted at the people who did not open the first one.

Key parameters

Campaign ID: the campaign that was already sent. A draft has no open data, so it has nothing to resend to.

Use cases

a workflow waits a few days after a product announcement, then builds the second version automatically instead of relying on someone remembering.

06

Send a campaign

campaign.send

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

This one pushes the campaign out for real. Mailchimp starts the send immediately, which makes it the operation to guard with an approval step.

Key parameters

Campaign ID: the draft to send, usually the identifier returned by the replicate step earlier in the same workflow.

Use cases

an editor approves the draft in a chat message, the workflow reads that approval and only then sends, which keeps the human check without keeping the manual work.

List Group

1 operation

07

Get many list groups

listGroup.getAll

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Interest groups live inside a category on an audience, and this operation reads them so a workflow can match a label to the group identifier Mailchimp expects.

Key parameters

List Name or ID: the audience holding the groups.
Group Category Name or ID: the category to read, since groups are always nested under one.
Return All: on for the whole category, off to stop at Limit.

Use cases

a signup form sends a topic name, the workflow looks up the matching group before writing the subscriber, and an unknown topic is routed to a review branch.

Member

5 operations

08

Create a member

member.create

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Adding a person to an audience is the operation most workflows are built around. Mailchimp stores the address and the consent state you pass, and returns the created member.

Key parameters

List Name or ID: the audience receiving the contact.
Email: the address, often {{ $json.email }} from the form or order that started the run.
Status: subscribed adds the person straight away, pending sends the confirmation email first.
Merge Fields: the named values behind the placeholders in the template, such as a first name.
Tags: a comma separated list applied at creation.

Use cases

a webinar registration creates the member with the session name as a tag, ready for the reminder sequence.

09

Delete a member

member.delete

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Removal takes the address out of the audience entirely, which is stronger than an unsubscribe and leaves no subscriber record behind.

Key parameters

List Name or ID: the audience to remove from, one audience per call.
Email: the member's email address, the only handle the node accepts here.

Use cases

a data deletion request arrives through the support desk, and the workflow clears the address from every audience it knows about in a single run.

10

Get a member

member.get

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Reading one subscriber returns the record Mailchimp holds: status, merge fields, tags and the rest of the profile.

Key parameters

List Name or ID: the audience to look in.
Email: the address to fetch.
Fields and Exclude Fields: comma separated lists that trim the response, which keeps the item readable when only the status matters.

Use cases

before sending a transactional message, the workflow checks whether the address is still subscribed and skips the send when it is not.

11

Get many members

member.getAll

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Pulling the audience returns one item per subscriber, with filters that keep an export focused rather than exhaustive.

Key parameters

List Name or ID: the audience to read.
Return All: on, every page is fetched; off, Limit decides how many subscribers come back.
Status: keeps only subscribed, unsubscribed, cleaned, pending or transactional members.
Since Last Changed: restricts the result to subscribers whose information changed after a given moment.

Use cases

a nightly sync reads only the members changed since the last run and updates the data warehouse with that slice.

12

Update a member

member.update

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Changes land on an existing subscriber: status, profile values or interest groups, without touching the fields left alone.

Key parameters

List Name or ID: the audience holding the contact.
Email: the address that identifies the subscriber to update.
Merge Fields: the values to overwrite, such as a company name that changed in the CRM.
Skip Merge Validation: accepts the data even when a normally required merge field has no value, which unblocks partial records.

Use cases

a plan upgrade in the product sets a merge field to the new tier so the next campaign can segment on it.

Member Tag

2 operations

13

Create a member tag

memberTag.create

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Tags are how Mailchimp segments an audience, and this operation adds one or more of them to a subscriber who already exists.

Key parameters

List Name or ID: the audience the subscriber belongs to.
Email: the address to tag.
Tags: the labels to add, written as a comma separated string.
Is Syncing: on, Mailchimp automations based on those tags will not fire, which is what you want during a bulk backfill.

Use cases

a first purchase adds a customer tag, so the newsletter stops treating that person as a prospect.

14

Delete a member tag

memberTag.delete

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Taking a tag off a subscriber is the counterpart operation. The person stays in the audience, only the label goes.

Key parameters

List Name or ID: the audience concerned.
Email: the subscriber losing the tag.
Tags: the labels to remove, comma separated like on the way in.
Is Syncing: on when the cleanup should stay silent and not wake up tag based automations.

Use cases

a churned customer loses the active tag at the end of the billing cycle, which moves them into the win back segment.

Need help

Need help automating Mailchimp with n8n?

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FAQ

Mailchimp and n8n, the usual questions

01Is the Mailchimp n8n integration free?

Yes on the n8n side. Both the Mailchimp node and the Mailchimp Trigger ship with n8n, so there is nothing to install and no add-on to buy, on n8n Cloud as well as on a self-hosted instance running the Community Edition under the Sustainable Use licence. A workflow built on one runs the same way on the other. What the Mailchimp account itself costs depends on the plan you hold with Mailchimp, and that side is not covered here. The credential is created once in the Credentials menu and reused by both the node and the trigger, so there is nothing extra to configure between the two.

02What credentials do you need to connect Mailchimp to n8n?

Two methods are supported: an API key or OAuth2. The API key is generated in the API keys section of the Mailchimp account and pasted into the API Key field of the credential in n8n, which takes about a minute. OAuth2 needs an application registered on the Mailchimp developer side first, then a consent flow in n8n. Mailchimp's own guidance is to use an API key when the automation only touches data in your own account, and OAuth2 when it needs to reach another account's data. Either credential is created once in the Credentials menu and reused by the node and the trigger in every workflow.

03What are the limits of the Mailchimp node in n8n?

It depends on what you need. The node covers 14 operations across 4 resources: campaigns, members, member tags and list groups. Anything outside that set, reports, automations, e-commerce data or creating an audience, has no dedicated operation, and the HTTP Request node covers it by calling the Mailchimp API directly while reusing the same credential through predefined authentication. Two other points matter in practice. Members are addressed by email address rather than by an internal identifier, so the workflow has to carry the exact address. And list groups can be read with listGroup.getAll but not created or edited from n8n.

04Does the Mailchimp Trigger react in real time?

Yes. The Mailchimp Trigger works over a webhook, which is a URL that Mailchimp calls as soon as something happens. n8n registers that URL with Mailchimp when the workflow is activated, and events arrive within seconds, with no polling interval to configure and no delay while a schedule waits for its next run. Six events are available: subscribe, unsubscribe, profile, upemail, cleaned and campaign. There is no wildcard option to catch everything at once, so tick the ones the workflow handles in the Events parameter, and remember a deactivated workflow no longer receives anything.

05n8n or Make for Mailchimp?

It depends on three things. Hosting first: n8n can be self-hosted with Docker or npm or used on n8n Cloud, while Make is hosted only, so if the subscriber data has to stay on your own infrastructure the choice is already made. Cost model second: Make bills per operation, which adds up on a workflow that loops over a whole audience with Return All. Control third: n8n lets you drop into the HTTP Request node for the Mailchimp endpoints the dedicated node does not cover, and that escape hatch matters here given the 14 operations available. Make remains a solid visual editor and the comparison is not one sided.

Generate the API key

Or register an OAuth2 app

Select the audience in the node

Every event, by family

Configuration notes

Need help automating Mailchimp with n8n?