I was testing the Mailchimp integration and noticed a couple of things that, IMHO, need improvement.
A new Mailchimp list has, by default 3 fields:
- Email Address (mandatory, can't be removed)
- First Name (optional, can be removed)
- Last Name (optional, can be removed)
Since Freshdesk has just a Full Name field (not a First Name and a Last Name), the integration tries to be smart and splits the Freshdesk Full Name field into a Mailchimp First Name and a Last Name.
I'd much rather prefer that the integration is not based on the default Mailchimp fields but on custom Mailchimp fields. This would make installation and configuration a bit more difficult but would add useful functionality.
Changes:
- Instruct users to create a new Mailchimp list (say 'Freshdesk list')
- Instruct users to remove the First Name and Last Name Mailchimp fields from the list
- Instruct users to add new Mailchimp fields for Full Name (the contact name) and Company (and, possibly, fields for Title, Work Phone, Mobile Phone, Address, Time Zone, Language and other data that Freshdesk can provide) with prearranged tags.
These changes would mean that the integration passes on to Mailchimp a wealth of useful information.