Can I delete Mailchimp audience members from Salesforce?
We know keeping your audience clean is important, especially when you're managing contacts across two platforms. You might want to permanently remove members to free up contact space or comply with data requests, but you're not sure if this can be done from Salesforce or if there's a specific process to follow.
Mailchimp for Salesforce does not support permanently deleting audience members. The integration works with archiving and unsubscribing only. Permanent deletion must be done directly in Mailchimp, and there's an important catch you need to know about to prevent deleted members from reappearing.
The Solution
Your Options for Removing Members:
1. Archive the Member (Most Common)
Archiving removes a member from your active audience while preserving their subscription history and campaign data. This is the recommended approach for most situations.
How to archive: Access the member's Mailchimp record from the Member Detail page (found in the Audience member list or on the Memberships component), then change their status to "Archived" in Mailchimp.
Important: Archived members still count toward your Mailchimp contact billing limit until you permanently delete them in Mailchimp.
2. Unsubscribe the Member
Unsubscribing marks the member as opted out but keeps them in your system. This can be done from Salesforce by updating the member's subscription status on the Membership record.
3. Permanently Delete (Mailchimp Only)
To permanently remove a member and free up contact space in your billing, you must delete them directly in Mailchimp. This cannot be done from Salesforce.
Critical Warning: If you delete a member in Mailchimp but their Contact or Lead still exists in Salesforce and is assigned to that audience, the integration will recreate the member in Mailchimp on the next primary sync. This is because Salesforce treats the assignment as the source of truth.
What Happens When You Delete a Contact or Lead in Salesforce?
If the "Archive Mailchimp Member on Delete" setting is enabled in Mailchimp Settings:
- Deleting a Contact or Lead will automatically archive or unsubscribe (not delete) the corresponding Mailchimp member
- The member's data and history are preserved in Mailchimp
- The archived status won't appear in Salesforce until the next sync runs or you manually refresh the Memberships component
Best Practice for Cleanup:
To properly remove members from both systems without them reappearing:
- Remove the audience assignment from the Contact or Lead in Salesforce (or delete the Membership record)
- Wait for the sync to complete
- Then delete the member in Mailchimp if permanent removal is needed
This ensures Salesforce no longer tells Mailchimp to recreate the member.
