Migrate from Zinc to Mailchimp

Zinc contact and candidate records map directly to Mailchimp subscribers. Every record with a valid email address becomes a subscriber in the target audience. Records without email addresses are excluded and reported in the pre-migration audit — they cannot be imported to Mailchimp.

Zinc first-name property maps to Mailchimp's built-in FNAME merge field. If Zinc stores the name in a single field, it is split on the first space. Empty or null values are preserved as empty strings — Mailchimp handles those gracefully in personalization tags.

Zinc last-name property maps to Mailchimp's built-in LNAME merge field. Compound surnames are preserved as-is. Null values are handled the same as first name — empty string passed to Mailchimp. Hyphenated or multi-part surnames are kept intact. When a last name is absent, the merge field receives an empty string, which Mailchimp displays as a blank in personalization strings; alternatively, a tag such as 'no_last_name' can be applied for segmentation.

The email field is the primary key for the migration. Mailchimp uses email address as its unique identifier per audience. If the same email appears multiple times in Zinc (duplicate candidate entries), the migration tool flags them and applies the most recently modified record.

Zinc phone number property maps to Mailchimp's built-in PHONE merge field. Number formatting is preserved as-is — if Zinc stores international formats (with country code), those carry over without transformation. If missing, the merge field receives an empty string. For SMS campaigns, ensure numbers are E.164 formatted; otherwise, reformat after import.

Zinc company name stored on the candidate record maps to a text merge field (COMPANY). This field can be used for Mailchimp segmentation by organization after migration. If blank, Mailchimp receives an empty string. You can set a default placeholder like 'Unknown' to avoid blank segmentation, and later build Mailchimp segments on the COMPANY field to filter contacts by organization.

Zinc custom properties on candidate records require Mailchimp merge field creation. Field types must match: text properties become text merge fields, date properties become date merge fields, and pick-list values become dropdown merge fields. Mailchimp limits merge field names to 30 characters and alphanumeric characters only — names are truncated and sanitized accordingly.

Zinc tags applied to candidate records are transferred as Mailchimp tags. Tags in Mailchimp are flat — there is no tag hierarchy in Mailchimp. If Zinc uses nested or hierarchical labels, they are flattened to a single-level tag string (e.g., 'Stage 3 / Passed / HR Approved' becomes a single tag).

Zinc verification status values (background check results, reference check completion) have no Mailchimp equivalent as a subscriber attribute. These are mapped as tags on the subscriber — e.g., 'bg_check_passed', 'reference_complete' — so segmentation by verification state is possible in Mailchimp.

Zinc records the candidate creation timestamp. Mailchimp does not expose a built-in created-date field. We create a custom merge field (CREATED_DATE) as a date type and populate it from Zinc's create timestamp. This preserves reporting continuity for historical analysis. The timestamp is converted to Mailchimp's required YYYY-MM-DD format. If the date is missing, the merge field stays empty and a warning is recorded.

Zinc tracks last-modified timestamps on candidate records. A custom merge field (LAST_MODIFIED) is created in Mailchimp to store this value. This field is useful for identifying stale contacts after migration. The timestamp is stored in ISO 8601 format and converted to Mailchimp's required YYYY-MM-DD date. If the last-modified value is absent, the merge field receives an empty string and a warning is logged.

Zinc tracks candidate communication history including bounces and unsubscribes from HR communications. These email addresses are exported and imported into Mailchimp's suppression list as non-sendable contacts. Suppression data does not create Mailchimp subscriber records — it prevents accidental re-sending to those addresses.

Zinc reference check responses, interview scores, and hiring notes have no Mailchimp equivalent. These are exported as a structured CSV and stored as a tagged reference file. The CSV can be attached to the Mailchimp account as a supporting document or imported into a connected CRM for future reference.

Zinc workflows triggered by reference-check completion, stage transitions, and candidate status changes have no Mailchimp equivalent. These must be rebuilt in Mailchimp's Customer Journeys tool using the migrated subscriber data and tags as starting conditions. We export workflow definitions as a rebuild reference document.