Migrate from Mailchimp

Add your sending domain under Settings → Domains in Plunk. Plunk shows three CNAME records named <token>._domainkey, pointing to <token>.dkim.amazonses.com. Add them at your DNS provider and Plunk marks the domain verified once they resolve.

You do not need to remove anything first. Mailchimp authenticates with its own two CNAME records, and Mailchimp Transactional with mte1._domainkey and mte2._domainkey. Plunk’s DKIM selectors are different, so both sets of records can live side by side and Mailchimp keeps working while you move.

Plunk also offers an optional custom MAIL FROM domain: an MX and an SPF TXT record on a plunk. subdomain. It aligns bounces with your domain and is worth adding, but sending works without it.

In Mailchimp, open Audience, pick the audience and choose Export audience. You get a ZIP with a separate CSV for each status. That split is the useful part, because each file maps to one subscription state in Plunk:

1. 1

   Rename the address column

   Mailchimp calls it Email Address. Plunk needs a column named email, and skips rows without one.
2. 2

   Add a subscribed column

   Set it per file as in the table above. Combining the four files into one CSV is fine.
3. 3

   Tidy the field names you will use

   Headers are lowercased on import, so First Name becomes first name. Renaming it to firstname gives you {{firstname}} in templates.
4. 4

   Import

   Contacts → Import in Plunk. Files are limited to 5 MB, so split a large audience into several.

Tags arrive as a text field. A segment with the contains operator on it rebuilds each tag as an audience you can send campaigns to.

For custom-coded templates, choose Export as template in Mailchimp to download the HTML, then paste it into a Plunk template in HTML mode. Mailchimp cannot export drag-and-drop templates, so rebuild those in Plunk’s visual editor.

Merge tags become Liquid variables named after your imported columns:

Mailchimp cannot export automation flows; it can only copy them to another audience in the same account. Write down each flow’s trigger, emails and delays, then rebuild it as a Plunk workflow.

Flows that start when someone joins your audience map to a workflow on the contact.subscribed event or on entering a segment. Flows that start from something in your product become a workflow on a custom event you send to POST /v1/track.

If you send receipts or password resets through Mailchimp Transactional (formerly Mandrill):

const response = await fetch('https://send-api.akmarketingseo.com/v1/send', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.PLUNK_SECRET_KEY}`,
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    to: 'ana@acme.com',
    from: {email: 'hello@acme.com', name: 'Acme'},
    subject: 'Your receipt',
    body: '<p>Thanks, {{firstname}}. Your order is on its way.</p>',
    data: {firstname: 'Ana'},
  }),
});

if (!response.ok) {
  throw new Error(`Plunk returned ${response.status}`);
}

If your app sends through Mailchimp Transactional’s SMTP server instead of the API, only the settings change:

# Before (Mailchimp Transactional)
host:     smtp.mandrillapp.com
username: any string
password: your Transactional API key

# After (Plunk)
host:     smtp.useplunk.com
port:     587 (STARTTLS) or 465 (TLS)
username: plunk
password: your Plunk secret key (sk_...)

Plunk has no global webhook setting. Instead, you create a workflow that starts on an event and add a Webhook step that posts to your URL. One workflow per event you care about, each with its own URL and headers if you want them.

Plunk’s email.open and email.click fire on the first open and first click of each email, not on every one. The payloads differ, so the code that reads them needs updating. Plunk’s payload for each event is listed in the webhooks guide.

1. 1

   Send to yourself first

   Send a few real templates from Plunk to your own inboxes and check rendering, links and variables. Gmail’s “Show original” should report DKIM pass for your domain.
2. 2

   Move one kind of email at a time

   Switch one flow, such as password resets, and watch delivery in Plunk for a day before moving the rest. Mailchimp stays available as a fallback the whole time.
3. 3

   Remove the old records last

   Once nothing sends through Mailchimp any more, wait a few days for any retries to settle, then remove its DNS records and cancel the plan.