How the Pipeline Runs — GBX Global Reference

Why this doc

This is the same four automation flows you already know — Lead Pipeline, Payment Failure, Membership Expired, Contact Cleanup — written up in one place, kept up to date as the underlying plumbing changes.

Nothing here needs a decision from you. It's a reference: what each step does, which Mailchimp journey runs it, and — marked wherever it applies — what's different now that ChimpLink assigns every lead a permanent Applicant ID the moment they first show up.

What changed · the Applicant ID

The problem this fixed: if a lead applied or signed up using a different email than the one Mailchimp already had for them, we'd end up with two contact records instead of one, and history would split across both. Since 26 July 2026, ChimpLink gives every new lead a permanent ID the moment they're first entered — via the Chrome plugin — and carries it through every step below, so the same person stays one contact no matter how many emails they use along the way. Confirmed working end-to-end in production the same day.

Flow 1

Lead pipeline

First contact — manual entry

Updated

You create a new lead in ChimpLink using the Chrome plugin. You enter Name and Email. ChimpLink adds the lead to Mailchimp with Lead Stage set to First Interaction.

Applicant ID

ChimpLink now also assigns this lead a permanent Applicant ID right here (or reuses their existing one, if this email has applied before) and pushes it to Mailchimp as the ChimpLink-GUID field. Everything else below relies on this ID staying attached to the contact.

Plugin download: chimplink.gbxglobal.org

Auto email trigger

Updated

Mailchimp picks up the new contact via a Workflow automation and automatically sends them an email with the application form.

First Welcome Email — wait 1 week — if Lead Stage is still First Interaction
Second Welcome Email — wait 1 week — same condition
Follow Up Email 1 — wait 1 week — same condition
Follow Up Email 2 — wait 1 week — same condition
Final Call Email — wait 4 days — same condition, then update Lead Stage to Closed

Automation: journey 2232

Applicant ID

Link in the email is now: gbxglobal.org/apply-now/?email=<<Email Address>>&applicant_id=*|MMERGE36|* — the Applicant ID rides alongside the email, so the application in step 3 matches back to this exact lead even if they type in a different email.

To send the form manually, the email-only version still works the same as before: gbxglobal.org/apply-now/?email=

Application form submitted

Updated

When the lead completes the Application Form, all their answers are added to the lead in Mailchimp for your review, you get an email notification, and the Lead Stage auto-updates to Completed Application.

Applicant ID

The Apply Now form now reads the Applicant ID out of the link if it's there and submits it along with the rest of the answers. ChimpLink uses it to find the same lead record instead of matching on email alone — so an application that comes in under a different email still lands on the right contact, not a new one.

Review the application — manual entry

Updated

There's a segment called Leads: Completed Application in Mailchimp for quick manual review. Remember to click Re-run Segment to see the latest view. If you're happy to approve, update the Lead Stage to Payment Link Sent — this triggers the next automation.

Payment Link Email 1 — wait 2 days — if Lead Stage is Payment Link Sent
Payment Link Email 2 — wait 5 days — same condition
Payment Link Email 3 — wait 2 weeks — same condition, then update Lead Stage to Closed and tag Lost on Payment Link Sent

Automation: journey 2233

Applicant ID

Link in the email is now: gbxglobal.org/gbx-packages-private/?dc=pk123&email=<<Email Address>>&applicant_id=*|MMERGE36|*. On the packages page itself, that Applicant ID is now also carried onto the actual Memberful checkout link, so it survives all the way through to sign-up.

Final conversion

Updated

Once the lead completes the Memberful sign-up and pays for their subscription: ChimpLink automatically updates the contact in Mailchimp with full Memberful subscription data, and updates Lead Stage to Converted.

Applicant ID — the whole reason for this fix

ChimpLink now identifies who just converted using the Applicant ID carried through from Memberful's checkout, not the email they signed up with. So if someone changes their email at this very last step, we correctly update their original Mailchimp contact instead of creating a duplicate. Confirmed working end-to-end in production, 26 July 2026.

Flow 2

Payment failure

By this point the lead is a fully converted, linked Memberful member — matched directly by their Memberful ID, so the Applicant ID isn't part of this flow. If an auto-renewal payment fails:

ChimpLink picks up the event from Stripe and tags the Mailchimp contact Payment Failed.
Memberful sends Update payment details 1 — wait 24 hours
Update payment details 2 — wait 24 hours
Update payment details 3 — wait 24 hours

Automation: journey 2237

If payment details still aren't updated after the final attempt, Memberful marks the subscription Expired, and ChimpLink updates the contact's Plan Active field to No. If at any point ChimpLink sees a subscription-renewed event, the Payment Failed tag is removed.

Flow 3

Membership expired

If a contact's Plan Active field is updated to No, the following triggers:

Send first "sorry to see you go" email, with an action to renew.
Wait 1 week — if Plan Active is still No:
Send second "sorry to see you go" email.
Wait 1 week — if Plan Active is still No: tag the contact Churn.

Automation: journey 2238

Flow 4

Contact cleanup

If, after 6 months (26 weeks), a contact still has all of the following, they're archived in Mailchimp to save cost on contact limits:

Lead Stage is Closed
Plan Active is No
Contact has the tag Churn