How to Send Bulk Emails with Mailchimp API in PHP

Install Necessary Libraries

• To interact with the Mailchimp API in PHP, you need to use a library such as MailchimpMarketing. Install it using Composer.

composer require mailchimp/marketing

Setup Your Mailchimp API Key and Audience ID

• To authenticate, you need to use your Mailchimp API key. You also need your Audience ID to specify which list you’ll be sending emails to. Retrieve these from your Mailchimp account.

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use MailchimpMarketing\ApiClient;

$mailchimp = new ApiClient();

$mailchimp->setConfig([
  'apiKey' => 'your_api_key',
  'server' => 'your_server_prefix'
]);

$audienceId = 'your_audience_id';

Define Your Email Content

• Create the content and structure for your email. Typically, this will be in HTML format for better visual rendering.

$emailContent = [
  'html' => '<p>This is a test bulk email sent using Mailchimp API</p>',
  'subject' => 'Bulk Email Test',
  'from_name' => 'Your Name',
  'reply_to' => 'your-email@example.com'
];

Prepare Recipients Data

• Collect the data of the recipients who will receive the bulk email. The recommended format is an array of associative arrays representing each recipient's data.

$recipients = [
  ['email_address' => 'recipient1@example.com'],
  ['email_address' => 'recipient2@example.com'],
  // Add more recipients as needed
];

Send Bulk Email

• To send the email, use the Mailchimp API to create a new campaign and then send it to the specified list. This involves creating a campaign and then triggering the send action.

try {
  // Create a new campaign
  $campaignResponse = $mailchimp->campaigns->create([
    'type' => 'regular',
    'recipients' => ['list_id' => $audienceId],
    'settings' => $emailContent
  ]);
  
  $campaignId = $campaignResponse['id'];
  
  // Send the created campaign
  $mailchimp->campaigns->send($campaignId);

  echo "Email sent successfully!";
} catch (Exception $e) {
  echo 'Caught exception: ',  $e->getMessage(), "\n";
}

Handle Errors and Exceptions

• Always ensure to handle any exceptions or errors that may occur while sending emails. This is crucial in understanding any faults in your email sending process.

catch (MailchimpMarketing\ApiException $e) {
  echo 'Mailchimp API Error: ', $e->getResponseBody(), "\n";
}

Manage Campaign Delivery

• Once sending is successful, monitor your Mailchimp account to track delivery statistics like open rates, click rates, and bounced emails for ongoing optimization.

// View campaign report
$report = $mailchimp->reports->get($campaignId);
echo 'Open Rate: ' . $report['opens']['open_rate'] . "\n";