How it works

Tags, data fields & segmentation

The extension enriches every Mailchimp contact with category tags and purchase data fields, so you can build pinpoint segments and automations without any manual work.

This is where the connection pays off: every shopper enriches your audience automatically. Category tags record what they bought; data fields record how much, how often and how recently; shopping scores grade each relationship; and two blocks of order fields capture their first and most recent purchases in detail. The audience fields you used to maintain by CSV now maintain themselves. Everything lands on each contact’s profile in Mailchimp and in the segment builder’s field list, ready for segments, automations and campaign copy.

Category tags

A category tag is added to a contact whenever they place an order that includes a product from that category. Tags follow the format cat:<category path>, mirroring the category tree in your store.

Examples:

Product category	Tag applied
Men → Shoes → Running	`cat:men/shoes/running`
Women → Clothing → Dresses	`cat:women/clothing/dresses`
Electronics → Phones	`cat:electronics/phones`

The full path is used, not just the leaf category, so cat:men/shoes/running and cat:men/shoes are separate tags. Tags are added automatically and never duplicated.

Guest checkouts are tagged too, as long as Update Audience Members from Guest Orders is on in the Contact Sync settings. Tagging is keyed by email address, so one shopper gets one complete set of tags whether or not a given order had an account attached. The setting is off by default; Configuration settings covers it, including how to include guest orders you placed before turning it on.

Turn category tags on or off

Go to Marketing → Intuit Mailchimp → Configuration, open the Customer Tags section, and set Enable Automatic Tags to Yes (the default). Setting it to No stops new category tags from being applied; tags already on contacts in Mailchimp are not removed.

Data fields: the full list

Beyond tags, the extension keeps a set of data fields up to date on every contact. These update each time an order syncs, no nightly batch required.

The names below are the actual Mailchimp merge tags. Type them exactly as written when you build a segment condition or drop one into an email template. Nothing has to be switched on: every field appears as soon as there is data behind it, and stays absent when there is not.

Who they are

Tag	What it holds
`FNAME`	First name
`LNAME`	Last name
`ADDRESS`	Billing address, in Mailchimp’s built-in address field
`BADDRESS`	Billing address
`SADDRESS`	Shipping address
`PHONE`	Phone number from the billing address
`DOB`	Birthday, as month and day
`GENDER`	Gender
`LANGUAGE`	Contact language
`CGROUP`	Magento customer group name

What they have bought

Tag	What it holds	Per currency
`ORDERCOUNT`	Total number of orders, across all currencies	No
`TS_`	Lifetime revenue from this customer	Yes
`AOV_`	Lifetime average order size	Yes
`FIRSTORDER`	Date of their first order	No
`LASTORDER`	Date of their most recent order	No
`TOPCAT`	The product category they have ordered from most	No

Their most recent order

Tag	What it holds
`LASTID`	Order number
`LASTAMT`	Order total, net of refunds, in your store’s base currency
`LASTSKU`	SKU of the headline item
`LASTPROD`	Product name of that same item
`LASTCAT`	Full category path of that same item
`LASTRECIP`	Who the order shipped to
`LASTSELF`	Whether they bought it for themselves, `Yes` or `No`

Their first order

Tag	What it holds
`FIRSTID`	Order number
`FIRSTSKU`	SKU of the headline item
`FIRSTPROD`	Product name of that same item
`FIRSTCAT`	Full category path of that same item

There is no first-order amount. The date, the order number and what they bought are the parts worth keeping.

How well they shop

Tag	What it holds	Per currency
`RFM_`	How recently, how often and how much they buy, as a score	Yes
`RSEG_`	A readable label from that score, such as Champion	Yes

RFM stands for Recency, Frequency, Monetary: the classic measure of how alive a customer relationship is.

Which item an order is described by

When an order has several products, the last-order and first-order fields describe the highest-value line on that order, not whichever item went into the basket first. Value means the line’s own total after its share of any discount. If two lines tie exactly, the earlier line on the order wins, so the same order always resolves to the same item however often it syncs.

LASTSKU, LASTPROD and LASTCAT always describe that one item together, so you can safely put the product name in your copy and segment on its category knowing they refer to the same thing.

Multiple currencies

Four of the fields are tracked separately per currency, and carry the currency code on the end: TS_USD, AOV_EUR, RFM_GBP, RSEG_USD. A customer who has shopped in both USD and EUR has a distinct set for each.

That makes 29 fields for a single-currency store, and 37 if you sell in three. Mailchimp allows up to 80 fields on an audience, so there is comfortable room left for your own.

Note

Data fields update in real time as orders sync, and the Dashboard shows the sync working. See How sync runs. To fill them for contacts who bought before you connected your store, use Rebuild merge fields in the Contact Sync settings.

Map your own fields

Beyond the built-in fields, the Data fields grid in the Contact Sync settings maps any Magento customer attribute to a Mailchimp merge tag of your choice, including dates such as the account creation date. Create the tag in Mailchimp first; it appears in the grid’s dropdown within about fifteen minutes. Mapping is per store view, so each connected store view can carry its own set.

What you can do with it

All of this data becomes available in Mailchimp’s segment builder and Customer Journey triggers. A few practical examples:

High-value customers: segment on TS_USD greater than 500 to send a loyalty reward.
Lapsed buyers: combine LASTORDER more than 90 days ago with ORDERCOUNT greater than 1 to re-engage customers who have bought before but gone quiet.
Category cross-sell: trigger a Customer Journey when the cat:women/clothing tag is added, then recommend accessories from a complementary category.
First-time buyers: ORDERCOUNT equals 1, then send an onboarding sequence.
Reward your best customers: RSEG_USD is Champion, then send VIP early access.
Personal follow-ups: drop LASTPROD into your email copy to name the exact product a customer just bought, or LASTRECIP to greet the person it shipped to.

Tip

Start simple. Pick one data field, TS_ or ORDERCOUNT, and build a single segment. Once that campaign is running, layer in category tags for sharper targeting.

Building the segments and automations themselves happens entirely inside Mailchimp. See Mailchimp’s guides for the how-to:

Questions about tags or fields? Troubleshooting covers the common ones, and ebizmarts support is one email away.

Next: Unsubscribes & consentMailchimp decides who wants to hear from you; your store honors it automatically.