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Understanding and Controlling Your Mailchimp for WooCommerce Initial Sync

33 threads Sep 16, 2025 Plugin → Mailchimp for woocommerce

Content

One of the most common points of confusion for store owners setting up the Mailchimp for WooCommerce plugin is the initial synchronization process. Many users are surprised to find their entire customer base, including historical contacts, being imported into their Mailchimp audience. This article explains how the sync works and the options available to you.

How the Initial Sync Works

By design, the Mailchimp for WooCommerce plugin is built to sync your entire WooCommerce customer and order history upon installation and connection. This is intended to provide a complete marketing picture within your Mailchimp audience, allowing you to segment and target customers based on their entire purchase history, not just future orders.

The Challenge: Existing Customer Import

The core of the issue for many users is that this default behavior can conflict with their specific needs:

  • Mailchimp Plan Limits: Importing thousands of historical contacts, even as non-subscribed 'Transactional' members, will often count against the contact limits of a paid Mailchimp plan.
  • List Hygiene: Stores with long histories may have many outdated, bounced, or previously unsubscribed email addresses that they do not wish to re-import.
  • Lack of Explicit Consent: Users who never explicitly opted-in for marketing emails are added to the audience, though their status is marked as 'Transactional'.

As confirmed in the support threads, the plugin team states: "At the moment there isn’t an explicit option for preventing all previous customers from syncing over to Mailchimp." and "Out of the box, the plugin is designed to sync all customers and orders."

Available Workarounds and Settings

While a simple toggle to ignore all past data does not exist, you can influence the process with the following settings and understandings:

  1. The 'Auto Subscribe' Setting: During the initial plugin setup, you are presented with a setting labeled "During initial sync, auto subscribe the existing customers". It is critical to understand what this does:
    • If this box is UNCHECKED, your existing customers will be synced to Mailchimp but their status will be set to 'Transactional'. They will not be subscribed to marketing emails.
    • If this box is CHECKED, all existing customers will be set to 'Subscribed' in Mailchimp. This will likely trigger a welcome email if you have one configured.

    To avoid sending unwanted emails, it is highly recommended to disable any Mailchimp welcome email automations and disable double opt-in in your Mailchimp audience settings before starting the sync if you plan to check this box.

  2. Post-Sync Cleanup: The most practical approach for many is to allow the initial sync to complete and then manage the list directly within Mailchimp.
    • You can segment and delete truly unwanted contacts (e.g., those with old bounced addresses) from your Mailchimp audience.
    • Important Note: Be aware that if a deleted contact is later updated in WooCommerce (e.g., they place a new order), the plugin will likely push that customer data back to Mailchimp and recreate the contact.
  3. Selective Syncing for Developers: For those with development resources, the plugin's behavior can be modified using WordPress filters. The official plugin wiki on GitHub contains information on available filters for editing member tags and potentially influencing sync behavior. This approach requires custom code.

Best Practices for a New Setup

  • If you absolutely cannot have historical contacts sync, consider creating a new, separate Mailchimp audience to connect to your store. This will ensure your primary audience remains untouched.
  • Before syncing, audit your Mailchimp automation settings (welcome emails, double opt-in) to prevent unintended emails from being sent to a large batch of customers at once.
  • Understand that the plugin syncs both customers and orders. Even if a customer is 'Transactional', their order data (including revenue) is valuable for analytics and abandoned cart workflows.

Ultimately, the plugin's design prioritizes a complete data sync for marketing purposes. By carefully configuring the 'auto subscribe' option and being prepared for post-sync list management, you can align the plugin's operation with your specific business requirements and consent practices.

Related Support Threads Support