Guide

Importing from Mailchimp or Kit

Silo imports your subscribers with their status and tags intact. The rules are built so that moving platforms never re-subscribes someone who left.

Choose a method

Open Integrations > Import in Silo and pick the list to import into.

CSV export

• Mailchimp: export your audience and upload the ZIP Mailchimp gives you, or the subscribed, unsubscribed and cleaned CSV files inside it.
• Kit: export your subscribers as CSV and upload the file.

Silo maps email, first and last name, tags and status automatically.

API key

• Mailchimp: paste an API key, then choose the audience. Members come across with their status and tags.
• Kit: paste your API key and API secret. Silo brings in active subscribers, then cancelled ones, then each tag's subscribers.

API imports run in the background and the job page updates itself. Your keys are stored encrypted only while the job runs and are deleted when it ends.

What happens to each subscriber

• Anyone already unsubscribed from the target list, or suppressed in your account, is never re-subscribed by an import.
• Silo records where each person came from (for example import:mailchimp) and their original opt-in time when the export includes it.
• Imports don't fire your customer webhooks, so moving 20,000 people doesn't send 20,000 "subscribed" events to your other systems. Check which automations are switched on before importing if you don't want imported people to enter them.
• If an import would take you past your plan's contact limit, it stops with a message. Everyone imported before that point stays.

After the import

• Run list cleaning to catch invalid, role, disposable and no-MX addresses before your first send.
• If your old list hasn't been mailed in a while, start with your most recently engaged subscribers and grow volume over a few sends.