Prepare an automation rule

Use Automations to associate a system event with an action for the selected publication. You need permission to edit its rules and an integration owner who can confirm the intended event, provider settings and data mapping.

This example uses City Journal's fictional reader Alex: User profile updated can lead to a Mailchimp action mapping the reader's first name. Confirm that the publication's event catalogue contains the corresponding profile-update event and that the target first-name field exists in its configured Mailchimp audience.

Agree the action before enabling it

The Mailchimp handler attempts to create or update the reader in the configured audience. For an active reader account, it requests subscribed status and sends the email, mapped data and applicable configured interests. An inactive account takes the unsubscribe path.

Reader-account Active and automation-rule Active are different settings. This handler does not use a reader's newsletter choice as a consent check. Confirm the intended subscription and preference handling with the integration owner before enabling the rule. Even a first-name mapping invokes this broader status behavior.

Prepare the rule

1. Confirm the publication, open Automations, then click Add new automation.
2. Review Active immediately: it is selected by default. Clear it while preparing if the external action has not been approved.
3. Select the corresponding User profile updated event in Event, then select Mailchimp in Type.
4. Under the mapping controls, choose User.first_name as the Wallkit field and the owner-confirmed first-name field as the Mailchimp field. For example, select FNAME only if that field is supplied for this audience.
5. Review the mapping and make the intended Active choice before clicking Save.
6. Return to the list and reopen the saved rule to inspect its event, type, mapping and Active state.

Provider field choices can require a provider catalogue request. A missing choice is not permission to invent a field name; ask the integration owner to check the connection and mapping.

Saving persists the rule and its Active state. An active rule can become eligible when the matching event is processed, including an event already queued. There is no separate draft or test-run state established by this form. Saving does not prove that any provider update completed or synchronize the entire existing audience.

Understand the condition controls

The Condition selector is hidden for Mailchimp, and this handler does not apply the generic event-value conditions. Do not expect a condition shown elsewhere to restrict this example.

Other action types can show these controls, with behavior that depends on the selected handler:

These controls are not a general builder for several AND/OR conditions. A handler name or saved condition alone does not establish its execution behavior.

For a missing action, continue to Review automation and integration settings. Use Prepare a third-party integration for the Mailchimp connection prerequisites.