Connect email providers & grow your list

Overview

You can connect Kit, Mailchimp, MailerLite, and Flodesk to Allspice. A connection is used for three things:

• Newsletter opt-ins - when a reader agrees to join your list in the widget, Allspice adds them to the destination you chose.
• Membership events - if you run a site membership, Allspice tells your email platform when someone joins, starts a trial, has a payment fail, or leaves.
• Meal plan promo emails - you can push a draft campaign for a meal plan to your email platform.

Allspice is an engagement tool, not an email collection tool. Most readers use it without creating an account, and only some of those who do sign up will opt in to your list. Keep your existing signup forms as your main way to grow your list; this connection makes sure the opt-ins Allspice does collect reach you.

You can connect more than one provider on a domain. A reader who opts in is added to every enabled provider.

Where to configure

1. In the Publisher Portal, go to Integrate and click your domain.
2. Open the Connections tab and find the Email platforms card.
3. Click +.
4. Pick the provider, paste your API key, and click Next. Allspice checks the key.
5. Pick the destination (list, group, tag, form, or segment, depending on the provider) and click Finish.

Readers are added as subscribed. Double opt-in is off.

Where readers opt in

Opt-in prompts only appear when the domain has at least one enabled email provider. Nobody is subscribed unless they opt in.

On by default once a provider is connected:

• Saved recipes (empty) - on the widget's search screen, a reader with no saved recipes sees “Want fresh recipes in your inbox?” with a join button.
• Membership signup - if you sell a site membership, the checkout step has an email opt-in tick box. It's pre-ticked only where local law allows it, and left unticked in the EU/EEA, Canada, Brazil, other regions that require opt-in, and anywhere the reader's region can't be determined. You can turn it off.

Off until you turn them on: you can also invite readers during signup (while they create an account), after guided cooking (when they finish cooking a recipe), and in AI search (next to results). Turn these on, and write their copy, in the domain's General tab under Email collection.

Consent is recorded per domain with a timestamp. If a reader declines, no provider is contacted.

Provider setup

Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

1. In Kit, go to Account Settings → Developer.
2. Click Add New V4 Key and copy it.
3. In Allspice, paste the key, then choose a tag or a form as the destination.

New subscribers get that tag or are added to that form, and you can trigger Kit automations from either.

Mailchimp

1. In Mailchimp, go to Profile → Extras → API Keys.
2. Click Create A Key and copy the full key (it ends in something like -us18).
3. In Allspice, paste the full key, then choose an audience.

Allspice reads your data center from the end of the key, so there's no separate server prefix to enter. New subscribers are added to the audience. From there you can segment them with Mailchimp tags or automations.

MailerLite

1. In MailerLite, go to Integrations → API.
2. Click Generate new token and copy it.
3. In Allspice, paste the token, then choose a group.

New subscribers are added to the group.

Flodesk

1. In Flodesk, go to My Account → Integrations → API keys.
2. Click Create API key, name it, and copy it. You may not be able to see the full key again.
3. In Allspice, paste the key, then choose a segment.

New subscribers are added to the segment, and you can start Flodesk workflows from it.

Managing providers

Each connected provider appears as a row in the Email platforms card, showing its destination and whether it's enabled.

• Enable / disable - use the switch to pause a provider without deleting its settings.
• Edit - click the pencil to change the destination or replace the key. Leave Secret blank to keep the current key. Editing is only available while the provider is enabled.
• Remove - click the trash icon to disconnect the provider.

If more than one provider is enabled, Allspice tries each one. If one fails, the others still go through.

Membership events

If you run a site membership, Allspice can send membership changes to your email platform so your automations can respond.

Provider support

• Kit, MailerLite, Flodesk - full support. Events add tags (or groups/segments), write the status field below, and update contacts that are already on your list.
• Mailchimp - partial. Mapping an event to an audience adds new contacts to that audience. It doesn't add tags or the status field, and it doesn't change contacts who are already in the audience.

The four events

Where to configure this

1. In the Publisher Portal, go to Memberships → Marketing.
2. In the Email integration card, find the domain and provider.
3. Add one or more destinations to each event.
4. Click Save mapping.

The connection itself (the API key and the newsletter destination) stays in the domain's Connections tab. Only the event mapping lives under Memberships. An event with no destination sends nothing. Event destinations are separate from the newsletter destination, so a reader who cancels isn't added to your newsletter list.

Tags and the status field

Each event adds a tag, and tags build up over time. Use them to trigger automations; for example, a “membership ended” tag can start a win-back sequence.

Tags don't show who is a member right now: someone who joined in March and cancelled in June has both tags. So on Kit, MailerLite, and Flodesk, Allspice also writes a custom field, allspice_membership_status, which is overwritten with the current state each time:

• active - a paying member
• trialing - in a free trial
• payment_failed - renewal declined, access at risk
• canceled - no longer a member

Segment on the field to find current members. Trigger on the tag when you want to act on a change.

Consent

Membership events use the answer from the opt-in tick box at membership signup. Events are sent only for members whose box was ticked when they joined. Buying a membership doesn't count as consent on its own.

What doesn't fire these events

Only memberships fire these events. Meal plans and other product purchases don't, and those buyers are never tagged as members.

Meal plan promo emails

If you sell meal plan products, open a published plan's menu in Meal Plans → Plans and choose Promote by email. Allspice builds an email for the plan. You can copy the HTML, download it, or, for Kit, Mailchimp, or MailerLite, create a draft campaign in your account. Allspice never sends the draft; you review and send it yourself. Flodesk's API can't create campaigns, so use Copy HTML for Flodesk.

Data sent to providers

Newsletter opt-ins: email address, plus first and last name when Allspice has them (Kit receives the first name only).

Membership events: the same contact details, plus the event's tag and the allspice_membership_status field (except on Mailchimp; see above).

Allspice never sends payment details, card numbers, or Stripe IDs to your email provider. Consent is recorded by Allspice and isn't sent to your provider.

Security

• API keys are stored encrypted.
• Keys never reach readers' browsers; calls to your provider are made server-to-server.
• Nothing is sent to a provider unless the reader has opted in.

Troubleshooting

Subscribers aren't appearing

• Check that the provider is enabled in the Email platforms card.
• Check that a destination is selected.
• Check that the API key is still valid. If not, edit the provider and paste a new one.
• Check your provider's automations and filters.
• Remember that most opt-in prompts are off until you turn them on in the General tab.

You renamed or deleted a list, tag, or segment

Edit the provider and choose the destination again.

Membership members aren't tagged in Mailchimp

That's expected. Mailchimp only receives new contacts added to the mapped audience. Use Kit, MailerLite, or Flodesk if you need tags and the status field.

Need another provider?

Contact Allspice support.