MailChimp Newsletter Sidebox
If you're looking for a way to improve the quality of your newsletter, take a look at MailChimp (www.mailchimp.com). They offer html templates, double opt-in, archive management, multiple lists and loads more features for a very affordable price. They only charge per email (not a monthly fee like Constant Contact), so it's quite affordable for the small merchant who only sends newsletters once in a while.
Code to integrate the "subscribe" form for MailChimp as a sidebox is provided here:
http://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=425
Even if you're not yet ready to start a newsletter, it's worth visiting their site to check out some of the resources and guides they offer to anyone considering email marketing.
Good luck,
That Software Guy
Re: MailChimp Newsletter Sidebox
If you are using this contribution, you may also wish to use the Newsletter Discount contribution, which has an option to determine whether the customer is a MailChimp newsletter subscriber. See the support thread at:
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showth...664#post534664
Scott
Re: MailChimp Newsletter Sidebox
Hi!
I am installing the MailChimp contribution and it says in the instructions:
Your signup URL will look like this:
http://list-manage.com/subscribe.phtml?id=1234567890
Mine looks like:
http://list-manage.com/subscribe?u=a...&id=a97ddaa914
So can I just paste that into includes/languages/english/extra_definitions/mailchimp_sidebox_defines.php as is or will it break the form?
I did try but got: An error occured; please try later.
So I thought I'd ask just in case!
Thanks
Ernie
Re: MailChimp Newsletter Sidebox
You want both parms. I have updated my documentation on the web and will update the README file next time I release the contribution.
Re: MailChimp Newsletter Sidebox
Hi!
OK, thanks - I am still getting the error message though.
In your example it says my sign up link should look like:
http://list-manage.com/subscribe.phtml?.....
but mine doesn't it begins:
http://list-manage.com/subscribe?.....
(but the form in the sidebox naturally references /subscribe.phtml)
Do I need to change something in tpl_mailchimp_sidebox.php as well?
Thanks
Ernie
Re: MailChimp Newsletter Sidebox
I have updated the doc.
You are right, the form should reference subscribe not subscribe.phtml. This is the new API.
But you shouldn't be getting errors; I'm still using the old style signup on my site. You should talk to MailChimp if you're getting errors.
Re: MailChimp Newsletter Sidebox
Does this mod work with v1.3.8a?
Where can I find the updated documentation?
Re: MailChimp Newsletter Sidebox
Yes it works with 1.3.8 a.
The documentation is on my home page. The URL is provided in the README file in this contribution.
Re: MailChimp Newsletter Sidebox
Quote:
Originally Posted by
swguy
I have updated the doc.
You are right, the form should reference subscribe not subscribe.phtml. This is the new API.
But you shouldn't be getting errors; I'm still using the old style signup on my site. You should talk to MailChimp if you're getting errors.
does not work for me either. perhaps new accounts on mailchimp are not able/allowed to use the old API?
Re: MailChimp Newsletter Sidebox
from the mailchimp form example looks like we need both params in form:
Code:
<form action="http://list-manage.com/subscribe/post" method="POST">
<input type="hidden" name="u" value="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx">
<input type="hidden" name="id" value="yyyyyyyyyy">
or:
http://list-manage.com/subscribe?u=x...&id=yyyyyyyyyy