Error message when subscribing

Hi @annacolawp2,

I remember seeing this problem with an older version of the plugin. Are you on the latest version?

Also, I can imagine this problem could occur if you chose to save your GDPR compliance text as the Email field. Could that be the problem? In the GDPR plugin did you choose the option to “Save Checkbox Opt-In as a Merge Field” and if so, which field did you choose?

Let me know.

Cheers,
Kevin.

Hi Kevin,

thank a lot you for your quick reply.

#1 These are the versions I am actually using that I downloaded yesterday:
– Easy Forms for MailChimp: 6.4.11
– GDPR Compliance for MailChimp: 1.2.1

#2 … chose to save your GDPR compliance text as the Email field?
I am not sure I have understood. Could you please explain better? Where exactly in the plugin? Or do you mean somewhere in Mailchimp?

#3 In the GDPR plugin did you choose the option to “Save Checkbox Opt-In as a Merge Field” and if so, which field did you choose?
Yes, and I choose Email Address

Thank you
Anna

• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by AnnacolaWP2.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by AnnacolaWP2.

Hi Anna!

Okay the issue is definitely with #3. The field you choose in that dropdown is meant to store an arbitrary value that signals whether the user opted in. This is not a required option but GDPR regulations do require that you can demonstrate opt-in consent. Additionally, it can be helpful to have a field in MailChimp that signals whether or not a user has opted-in (allowing you to make segments, etc. for your subscribers).

Ergo, you should add a new MERGE field to your form on MailChimp.com (something akin to “Opted-in” or “WordPress Opt-in,” etc.). Then choose this new merge field as the one to “Save Checkbox Opt-in.”

Does that make sense?

Thank you,
Kevin.

Hi Kevin,
thanks for your super quick reply.

I don’t know if it can help, but having used another plug in before, I segmented my list so that who didn’t give the consent to GDPR or opted out, goes directly out of the official list. Infact, in some of the subscriber’s profiles I found “GDPR Opted in” field empty.

And that was my initial problem with this previous plug in, because I noticed that some of my new EU-subscribers seemed not to opt in. Which make no sense if they wanted to subscribe to my newsletter.

Please let me know, thank you.
Anna

Hi Anna,

It sounds like the previous plugin allowed sign ups even if the consent wasn’t given? However, the general set up (i.e. having a field to store sign ups) is good though.

Our plugin will force the checkbox to be clicked when submitting the form… I don’t imagine you will have subscribers whose opt-in field will be empty going forward.

All the best,
Kevin.

Hi Kevin,

no, it couldn’t. I did segmentation following Mailchimp’s instructions complying GDPR.
But that error still appear at the very beginning of the subscription form (front end) and is reported in the debug log field, too.

So what could you suggest me?

Thanks
Anna

Hi Anna,

You need to change the field you chose for “Save Checkbox Opt-In as a Merge Field.” This should not be your email field. (I’m going to make a ticket to update the plugin to exclude the email field from this list).

Please leave this dropdown empty or, even better, set this to a new text field that you create.

Does that make sense?

Hi Kevin,
thank you for your patience.

So, I add a new merge field called “Opted-in” in my Mailchimp form. It is not visible and not required for the subscribers (options available in Mailchimp)

I left empty the dropdown in the “Save Checkbox Opt-In as a Merge Field” because I did not see the new created merge field.

Is that correct?
Now do you update the plug in and everything should work fine?

Thank you again.
Anna

Hi Anna,

No problem ??

So at the moment, your form should be working.

In order to see your new field, you probably need to clear the API cache: https://yikesplugins.com/support/knowledge-base/api-cache-settings/. Sorry, I forgot about this step!

Once you do that, you should be able to see and select your newly added merge field.

Cheers,
Kevin.

Hi Kevin,
I tested with another email and it subscribed to my newsletter but I noticed these three issues:

#1 the email profile on Mailchimp doesn’t show marketing permissions: so the subscriber did not choose between newsletter, direct email or both (the correspondent mail “Sign up form” with these two check boxes and preferred format html/ text options did not go out). In fact in the profile story in Mailchimp I can see two opted-out one for Direct email and one for Newsletter

# 2 the email address did not go in the segmented lists that allow to receive the newsletter (a consequence of the previous issue, I suppose)

# 3 the Opted in field appears, as I followed your instructions, in the profile information, but not in the GDPR field of Mailchimp created following their instructions here: Collect Consent with GDPR Forms: https://eepurl.com/dyik1f

How could we fix them all?

Thank you again.
Regards
Anna

Hi Anna,

All of these issues are fundamental to the way we handle GDPR compared to the way MailChimp handles GDPR.

I should’ve stated this up front: we do not use MailChimp’s native GDPR functionality. This is because MailChimp doesn’t let us use it. The three checkboxes and default fields that MailChimp provides aren’t provided to us (via the MailChimp API).

This means that the way you have your lists setup in MailChimp won’t work with our plugin.

If you want to use our plugin, you’ll need to use the custom opted-in field that we created earlier instead of MailChimp’s opted-in field, and you’ll need to get consent for all of your mailings via the checkbox (and then you can ignore MailChimp’s default checkboxes).

Does that make sense?

All the best,
Kevin.

Hi Kevin,
in fact “opt in” is a double field which creates conflict and so the other mail does not leave, probably.

So, how can I get the marketing permissions (newsletter and/ or direct email) and preferred format (html/ text) through you plug in?

Thanks

Regards
Anna

• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by AnnacolaWP2.

Anna,

My advice would be to get consent for all of your marketing permissions via the single checkbox so you don’t need to worry about which ones they’ve selected. If you’d rather not do this, you can create a new checkbox MERGE field or interest group that allows them to select which type of communications they want (and then split the list via that field/interest group).

In terms of the HTML/text, we don’t have a great option for that. From my experience, most users don’t worry about or understand that field anyway so it’s best to use HTML.

Not the most encouraging answers but I hope that helps!

All the best,
Kevin.

Hi Kevin,
yes, I was thinking of the same solution.
That could be satisfactory.

Just one last thing: do I have to clear log to see eventual new errors?

Thanks

Regards
Anna

Hi Anna,

Awesome!

Nope – any new errors will be added to the log. Are you experiencing something that you think is an error without seeing any new items in the log?

Let me know!

Thank you,
Kevin.