How to Resolve Multilingual Form Issues with MC4WP and WPML

If you run a multilingual WordPress site with WPML and use MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress, you might encounter a common issue: newsletter signups from different languages are all being sent to the same Mailchimp audience. This guide will explain why this happens and walk you through the most effective solutions.

Why Does This Happen?

By default, a standard MC4WP form is configured to subscribe users to a single, pre-selected Mailchimp audience. When you create multiple forms for different languages without additional configuration, they will all use that same default audience setting. The core issue is that the form's audience or list selection is not automatically tied to the website's language.

Common Solutions

Solution 1: Use the Dedicated WPML Add-on

The most straightforward method to handle multilingual signups is to use the official MC4WP WPML add-on. This add-on is designed specifically for this integration and provides two primary ways to manage subscribers:

• Separate Audiences: You can configure the add-on to subscribe users from different languages to entirely different Mailchimp audiences.
• Language Field: Alternatively, you can set the add-on to send the WPML language code to a specific field in Mailchimp (like the language field). You can then create segments within a single audience based on this language data for targeted email campaigns.

Solution 2: Create and Assign Language-Specific Forms

If you are using the premium version of MC4WP, you can create a unique form for each language on your site. The process is as follows:

1. Create a new form in MC4WP for each language (e.g., "Newsletter Form - DE", "Newsletter Form - IT").
2. Within each form's settings, specifically set the Mailchimp Audience to the desired list for that language.
3. Use WPML's functionality to display the correct language-specific form on the corresponding pages.

This method gives you precise control over which audience each form subscribes to and also allows you to fully translate all form messages for each language.

Solution 3: Use Hidden Fields with Language Variables (Advanced)

For developers comfortable with custom code, you can use MC4WP's dynamic variables to pass the user's language to Mailchimp. This is useful for segmenting users within a single audience by their language.

You can add a hidden field to your form code with a value set to {language}. This variable will automatically populate with the site's current language code.

<input type="hidden" name="MC_LANG" value="{language}" />

You would then need to ensure this field is mapped to a Mailchimp merge field (like a text field called "MC_LANG") in your form settings. Once the data is flowing into Mailchimp, you can create segments based on the values in this merge field. Snippets for custom integrations can often be found on the ibericode/mc4wp-snippets GitHub repository.

Important Considerations

• Polylang vs. WPML: The official WPML add-on is specifically built for the WPML plugin. If you use Polylang for multilingual functionality, a direct integration to send the language automatically is not available. The custom code approach (Solution 3) would be the recommended path for Polylang users.
• Translation of Form Text: For translating the text within your forms (labels, buttons, messages), using a translation plugin like Loco Translate is a common approach. However, some themes or configurations might require additional steps for these translations to display correctly on the front end.

By understanding these methods, you can effectively configure MC4WP to work seamlessly with your multilingual website and ensure subscribers are correctly sorted by language in Mailchimp.