Question 1

What is Space Monkey?

Accepted Answer

A Mailchimp dashboard and analytics platform. Space Monkey runs an automated pipeline that lands your Mailchimp data in a dedicated Google BigQuery warehouse, then layers campaign analytics, audience intelligence, and subscriber engagement scoring on top. Client-held projects are preferred; an Agency may hold a dedicated project for a fully managed Client. Marketers use the dashboards immediately, while analysts and technical teams keep a durable data foundation for deeper analysis, BI tools, applications, and AI agents.

Question 2

What are Mailchimp intelligence dashboards?

Accepted Answer

Mailchimp intelligence dashboards go beyond isolated campaign totals. Space Monkey connects campaign performance, audience trends, subscriber engagement, A/B testing, send-time analysis, geographic patterns, lifecycle stages, and at-risk detection in one analytical experience.

Question 3

Is Space Monkey a replacement for Mailchimp?

Accepted Answer

No. Mailchimp remains the platform where you build, send, and automate campaigns. Space Monkey adds a customer-owned intelligence layer that helps you preserve history, compare performance, understand subscriber behavior, and reuse your data beyond Mailchimp.

Question 4

Is Space Monkey just another Mailchimp dashboard?

Accepted Answer

No. The dashboards provide immediate value, but they sit on an automated BigQuery pipeline in the project's designated Google Cloud warehouse. Your synchronized Mailchimp data can support dashboards today and custom analysis, BI, applications, or AI workflows later. A fully managed Client's warehouse can be held by its Agency.

Question 5

Who is Space Monkey for?

Accepted Answer

Space Monkey is designed for organizations that depend on Mailchimp and have outgrown campaign-by-campaign reporting or recurring spreadsheet work. It is especially useful for marketing teams, nonprofits, associations, publishers, membership organizations, agencies, and data-aware businesses that need stronger historical reporting and audience intelligence.

Question 6

Do I need a data team?

Accepted Answer

No. Space Monkey supplies configured dashboards and automates the underlying pipeline. Marketers can use the application without SQL, while analysts and technical teams can work with the data in BigQuery or, on Enterprise, through the REST API and MCP server.

Question 7

What analytics are included?

Accepted Answer

Campaign performance with per-campaign drill-down and send-time analysis, presented across three progressively deeper views: Basic, Advanced, and Expert. Start with headline trends and go deeper when needed. Audience intelligence adds a member directory, tags, geography, subscriber growth trends, engagement leaderboards, at-risk detection, activity feeds, per-member timelines, heatmaps, lifecycle stages, and engagement profiles.

Question 8

What is Variate (A/B) campaign analysis?

Accepted Answer

Space Monkey breaks a Mailchimp variate campaign down by variant and runs statistical significance testing, so you can tell whether a winning subject line or send time is a real effect or just noise.

Question 9

Who are Leaders?

Accepted Answer

Leaders are your most engaged contacts. A member qualifies when they land in the top 5% of the engagement-score percentile and carry a Mailchimp member rating of 4 or higher.

Question 10

Can Space Monkey identify at-risk subscribers?

Accepted Answer

At-risk subscribers are previously engaged contacts whose engagement is decaying, surfaced so you can win them back before they churn. Timelines and engagement profiles let your team review the evidence before deciding how to segment, re-engage, or suppress them.

Question 11

Can I analyze individual subscriber engagement?

Accepted Answer

Member-level engagement profiles and timelines show how an individual subscriber's relationship with your campaigns has changed over time.

Question 12

Why don't my numbers exactly match the Mailchimp UI?

Accepted Answer

Open rates use Mailchimp's bot-filtered figures (proxy_excluded_unique_opens), so they line up. Clicks do NOT: Mailchimp filters bot clicks inside its own UI but does not expose a filtered figure through its API, so Click Rate, Unique Clicks, Total Clicks and CTOR will read slightly higher than the Mailchimp UI.

Also note the denominator: rates are calculated against deliveries (emails sent minus hard and soft bounces), not raw sends. Screens affected by the click caveat are labelled "Includes bot activity" in the app.

Question 13

How do you handle bot traffic and internal staff?

Accepted Answer

Two layers. Bot detection flags rapid-fire patterns (three or more events within 60 seconds, or five or more within 300 seconds, for the same member, action and campaign) and strips them both at extraction time and again in the BigQuery scoring views.

Separately, insider rules let you exclude staff by email address or whole domain, so your own team never occupies leaderboard slots or skews engagement percentiles. Low-volume test and internal sends are auto-detected and separated from real campaigns, so a handful of seed-list or test sends can't skew your campaign averages.

Question 14

Can I export the data?

Accepted Answer

CSV and chart image exports are available throughout the app. Authorized users can also query the project's BigQuery dataset directly when its holder grants the required Google Cloud permissions. Viewer access includes both export types, which makes sharing evidence with executives, boards, and clients simple.

Question 15

Can I map my custom Mailchimp merge fields?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Space Monkey discovers your MMERGE merge fields automatically and lets you map them to named slots per project, so custom fields like first name, company or sales rep show up with real labels throughout the app.

Question 16

Do I need my own BigQuery project?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The Client or its Agency supplies the authorized Google Cloud service-account connection; Space Monkey auto-provisions the dataset and tables and keeps the schemas Data Studio (formerly Looker Studio) ready, so an authorized user can point Data Studio or another BI tool at them. Client-held projects are preferred; Agency-hosted Clients each require a dedicated Google Cloud project.

Question 17

Where does my data live?

Accepted Answer

Analytics data lives in the designated BigQuery project, preferably held by the Client. For fully managed Clients, the Agency may hold a dedicated project for each Client. Space Monkey stores account and project metadata plus encrypted Mailchimp and Google credentials. Application access and Google Cloud permissions are separate. For more details, review our Privacy Policy.

Question 18

Do I own my synchronized data?

Accepted Answer

Synchronized data stays in the designated Google Cloud project, where its holder controls Cloud access and downstream use. In a Client-held project, that is the Client; in an Agency-held project, access and any later handoff must be agreed with the Agency. A Space Monkey role or management change does not transfer Google Cloud ownership or permissions.

Question 19

Why does customer-owned BigQuery matter?

Accepted Answer

A customer-owned data layer gives your organization long-term flexibility. You can retain synchronized history, grant access under your own policies, connect BI tools, build internal models, combine Mailchimp activity with other authorized data, and support future applications without beginning another export project.

Question 20

Is BigQuery secure?

Accepted Answer

BigQuery encrypts customer content at rest by default and supports customer-managed encryption keys. It also supports IAM, row- and column-level controls, masking, audit logs, and security perimeters.

Question 21

Can I use the data outside Space Monkey?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Authorized teams can query the synchronized BigQuery data with SQL and connect compatible BI or analytical tools. Enterprise customers can also use the Space Monkey REST API and MCP server for governed programmatic access.

Question 22

What Mailchimp data gets synced?

Accepted Answer

All nine supported Mailchimp objects land in their own BigQuery table: campaigns, lists, members, campaign_reports, automations, segments, tags, email_activities and member_activities.

View our complete column-level schema documentation for the full mapping.

Ecommerce data types are not synced yet. We add data types as we see them in real customer accounts, so tell us during onboarding if your Mailchimp account uses ecommerce data.

Question 23

How much historical data does Space Monkey backfill?

Accepted Answer

Pro includes six months of email and member backfill. Enterprise includes a 13-month lookback, giving teams an immediate basis for full year-over-year campaign comparisons.

Question 24

Is historical backfill unlimited?

Accepted Answer

No. Initial backfill is tiered: six months on Pro and 13 months on Enterprise. After synchronization begins, your history continues growing in the designated BigQuery project. Captured warehouse data remains under its holder's control; Space Monkey application retention is a separate policy.

Question 25

What is the difference between backfill and retention?

Accepted Answer

Backfill is the historical period Space Monkey imports when your project is established. Retention describes what happens afterward: synchronized history continues accumulating in your BigQuery project rather than rolling off after six or 13 months.

Question 26

How often does it sync, and what if a sync fails?

Accepted Answer

Automated daily syncs, with manual runs on demand and weekly as an option. Every run is tracked in a sync log you can pause, resume or cancel. Failed steps retry automatically with backoff, and you get an email alert when a run fails.

Question 27

Will my existing history disappear after the lookback period?

Accepted Answer

No. Six months and 13 months describe the initial backfill available by plan; they are not rolling retention limits. Once data has been synchronized into your BigQuery project, the retained history continues to grow.

Question 28

Why not use Mailchimp's built-in reports?

Accepted Answer

Mailchimp's reports are useful for reviewing campaign activity, and Custom Reports can group, filter, visualize, save, and export selected metrics. Space Monkey is for teams that also want customer-owned history, connected campaign and member intelligence, opinionated at-risk and lifecycle analysis, warehouse access, or programmatic use beyond Mailchimp.

Question 29

Can Mailchimp already compare campaigns?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Mailchimp Custom Reports can group results by campaign, campaign type, audience, or time frame. Space Monkey's distinction is that it combines purpose-built intelligence dashboards with a durable BigQuery data layer controlled by the customer.

Question 30

Does Mailchimp already provide AI analysis?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Mailchimp's Analytics AI analyzes campaign, audience, and connected revenue data and provides conversational recommendations on paid plans. Space Monkey's Enterprise AI story is different: approved external AI clients and agents can access customer-owned Mailchimp intelligence through MCP and API interfaces.

Question 31

Why not export Mailchimp reports to CSV?

Accepted Answer

CSV exports can answer occasional questions, but recurring analysis still requires someone to export, store, combine, clean, and interpret the files. Mailchimp notes that subscriber-specific open and click details are not included in downloaded campaign reports. Space Monkey automates the pipeline and maintains a consistent analytical model.

Question 32

How is Space Monkey different from a generic Mailchimp connector?

Accepted Answer

A generic connector primarily moves source data into another system. Space Monkey combines the pipeline with Mailchimp-specific dashboards, campaign drill-down, A/B significance testing, audience intelligence, at-risk detection, member profiles, data-quality controls, team sharing, and Enterprise programmatic access.

Question 33

Can I analyze Space Monkey data with AI?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Enterprise includes MCP server access, allowing compatible AI clients to retrieve governed Space Monkey intelligence through defined tools. Your synchronized BigQuery data can also support other authorized analytical and AI workflows.

Question 34

What is MCP?

Accepted Answer

Model Context Protocol, or MCP, is a standard that lets compatible AI applications discover and call structured tools. Space Monkey's Enterprise MCP server gives an approved AI client a controlled way to request campaign and audience intelligence instead of relying on manually uploaded spreadsheets.

Question 35

Does Space Monkey include an AI model?

Accepted Answer

Space Monkey provides the data, analytical logic, dashboards, and, on Enterprise, MCP tools that compatible AI clients can use. The MCP Assistant generates prompts, while model execution occurs in the customer's chosen AI client. Action runs are unlimited on every plan. Standard API rate limits apply, and any usage concern is handled by a conversation with our team, never by surprise metering or automatic charges.

Question 36

What can an AI agent do with Space Monkey data?

Accepted Answer

Depending on available tools and permissions, an agent can retrieve campaign performance, compare results, explore audience engagement, investigate member activity, and help prepare structured campaign analysis. Guided prompts cover common workflows, including a call sheet, a brief before each call, and a campaign post-mortem report. AI-generated conclusions should still be reviewed in context, especially where activity may be affected by privacy protections or bots.

Question 37

Is there an API?

Accepted Answer

Yes: the Enterprise REST API, available on the Enterprise plan only. Scoped Bearer keys, a published OpenAPI 3.1.0 specification with a 3.0.3 compatibility rendering, an interactive in-app explorer, and keyset cursor pagination for large result sets. It's served from https://spacemonkey.igods.com under /_api/public/v1/enterprise/. Rate limits are currently 10,000 requests per hour and 1,000,000 per month.

Question 38

What are the Enterprise API limits?

Accepted Answer

Enterprise includes up to five scoped keys, with additional keys available on request, and standard limits of 10,000 requests per hour and 1,000,000 requests per month.

Question 39

Can I increase the API limits?

Accepted Answer

Yes. An API Capacity Pack is available for US$100 per month and adds 2,500 requests per hour plus 250,000 requests per month.

Question 40

How are members identified in the API?

Accepted Answer

By subscriberHash (the hex MD5 of the lowercased, trimmed email address), which is the same identifier Mailchimp itself uses. This is stable and interoperable with Mailchimp's own API.

Question 41

Do you offer an MCP server?

Accepted Answer

Yes: a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server is available on the Enterprise plan. See the MCP Server integration for full setup instructions. It speaks JSON-RPC 2.0 over Streamable HTTP and works with the MCP Inspector, Claude Desktop via the mcp-remote proxy, ChatGPT, Perplexity, or any other MCP-compatible AI client.

It authenticates with the same Enterprise API key (sm_...) sent as a Bearer token: discovery methods like listing tools and prompts require no key, but actually calling a tool does. It exposes 25 read-only analytics tools, guided prompts, and resources for common workflows. There is no write access anywhere in the surface.

Question 42

What privacy and compliance tooling is included?

Accepted Answer

Data Subject Request intake and fulfilment covering access, portability, rectification and restriction; a cookie consent banner with a granular preferences centre; Global Privacy Control signal detection; and a data processor registry.

See our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy for more context.

Question 43

How are data deletion and data-subject requests handled?

Accepted Answer

Space Monkey includes data-subject-request intake and fulfillment tools. Our privacy policy defines the boundaries between what Space Monkey processes on your behalf and what you control in your own Google Cloud project.

Question 44

Do you sell or share my subscriber data?

Accepted Answer

No. We never sell or share your subscriber data. Read our full Privacy Policy to learn how we protect your information.

Question 45

Can I share a project with my team?

Accepted Answer

Owner, Editor, and Viewer access levels, project sharing, and email invitations. Team administrators manage viewer access.

Question 46

Are Viewer accounts limited?

Accepted Answer

No. Viewer logins are free and unlimited. Viewers can review shared dashboards and use CSV and chart exports, while editing and administration remain controlled through team roles.

Question 47

Does Space Monkey make my organization automatically compliant?

Accepted Answer

No software can make an organization automatically compliant. Space Monkey supplies privacy and access-control features, but each customer remains responsible for configuring access, retention, consent, and data-handling practices appropriate to its requirements.

Question 48

How much does Space Monkey cost?

Accepted Answer

Pro is US$475 per month, and Enterprise is US$750 per month at introductory pricing. Both plans include one full seat, free unlimited Viewers, and a first month free with no card required. See our Pricing page for full details.

Question 49

What is included with Pro?

Accepted Answer

Pro includes all nine supported Mailchimp data types, daily synchronization, the customer-owned BigQuery pipeline, six months of email and member backfill, campaign dashboards, A/B significance analysis, audience intelligence, at-risk detection, engagement profiles, exports, data-quality controls, team roles, and privacy tools.

Question 50

What does Enterprise add?

Accepted Answer

Enterprise includes everything in Pro, plus a 13-month lookback, REST API, scoped API keys, programmatic limits, MCP server access, and dedicated support.

Question 51

Is there a free trial?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Your first month is free with no card required. The trial is part of our launch introductory pricing, which exists while we build our early customer base, and we have not decided how long the offer will run. The terms on the pricing page today are the ones that apply.

Question 52

Will the introductory price increase?

Accepted Answer

Early clients are grandfathered while they remain subscribed, so their introductory subscription price does not increase during uninterrupted service.

Question 53

How do seats work?

Accepted Answer

Each plan includes 1 seat. Additional Editors are priced at a flat $175/month per Editor, with volume pricing available for larger teams by contacting us. Viewer accounts are free and unlimited. See our Pricing page for full details.

Question 54

Can I connect more than one Mailchimp account?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Additional Mailchimp accounts can be added for US$400 per month each. Each account represents a separate source and substantial additional data load.

Question 55

Is an annual contract required?

Accepted Answer

No annual commitment is required; subscriptions use transparent monthly pricing.

Question 56

Who qualifies for the Agency program?

Accepted Answer

The program is for agencies serving genuine external Clients and is available by invitation. Active status requires at least one genuine paying external Client beyond the included founding project. That Client needs a successful first payment, active paid service, and a completed initial connection and sync; Space Monkey Admin verifies the qualifying relationship.

The included project, trials, complimentary accounts, and the Agency's own or affiliated businesses do not qualify. Registering an Agency is not a way to obtain a free Client subscription.

Question 57

What does a Founding Agency receive?

Accepted Answer

Approved Founding Agencies receive ongoing complimentary management and one included Enterprise-scoped project while they remain active under the Agency program. The benefit has no scheduled expiry while qualified, but it is not unconditional lifetime access or unlimited usage.

The included project serves a named external Client by default. Using it for the Agency's own business requires an explicit Space Monkey Admin override and does not meet the paying-Client requirement. Enterprise scope applies only to that approved project, with its configured quotas; it does not upgrade every Client or user. Reassigning the complimentary slot also requires Admin approval.

Question 58

How long does an Agency have to activate?

Accepted Answer

You have 30 calendar days from successful invitation acceptance and grant activation to establish qualifying activity. The included founding project is available during activation. A Space Monkey Admin may approve a recorded extension; changing projects, resending invitations or replacing staff does not restart the clock.

If qualification is not established, or is later lost, a separate 30-day management grace period applies. Growth is restricted during grace. Independently entitled Clients retain continuity; the included project's conditional subsidy does not continue indefinitely if qualification is not restored.

Question 59

Can the Agency pay for Clients or have Clients pay directly?

Accepted Answer

Either the Agency or the Client can pay for a separately authorized Client subscription. Agency management access, Client service, billing sponsorship and BigQuery custody are separate responsibilities; complimentary Agency management does not make all Client subscriptions free.

The current payer's organization Owner must approve each increase in billable Client seat quantity and its cost. Paid seat additions are prorated; quantity reductions take effect at renewal, without an automatic midterm refund. Direct Client payment requires that Client payer's verified authorization, not just an Agency linking the Client. The Google Cloud project holder remains responsible for Cloud charges.

Question 60

How are Agency staff and Client seats counted?

Accepted Answer

Agency Owners and Editors count once against the Agency's staff allowance, regardless of how many Clients they manage through Agency assignments. The invitation records the approved allowance; Agency staff and overages are not automatically billed under a paid management plan at launch.

Separately adding the same person as an independent Owner or Editor on a Client team also consumes a seat once for that Client. An Agency project assignment alone does not create that independent membership. Viewers are free; temporary managed custody is not independent Client membership.

Question 61

Can an Agency manage Clients who never log into Space Monkey?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A fully managed Client can receive the Agency's reporting and services without a Space Monkey login. The Agency must attest that it is authorized to act for the Client, manage its team and connections, and arrange the appropriate service and payer authorization.

A Client can hold its BigQuery project without becoming a Space Monkey user, provided the required Google Cloud permissions and connection are arranged. If that is not available, the Agency can hold a dedicated Google Cloud project for that Client. A fully managed Client does not become independently billable without the required payer authorization.

Question 62

Who holds BigQuery for Agency-managed Clients?

Accepted Answer

Client-held BigQuery is preferred when available. If the Agency hosts the warehouse, each Client must have its own dedicated Google Cloud project, rather than a shared project containing several Clients. The recorded project holder controls Google Cloud access and is responsible for Cloud billing.

Any later transfer of Google Cloud IAM, organization membership, billing or warehouse custody needs a separate reviewed handoff. Changing the managing Agency or native Client owner in Space Monkey does not perform that external transfer or delete the warehouse.

Question 63

Can Agency staff see every Client's data?

Accepted Answer

Agency access is limited to explicitly linked Clients and assigned project scope. A Client-controlled relationship requires the Client owner's acceptance; a fully managed relationship requires the Agency's authority attestation. A Client owner can revoke Agency management immediately.

Only one managing Agency is supported per Client in the first release. Joining an Agency team does not provide unrestricted access to every Client, and a change of managing Agency does not grant unrelated payer or Google Cloud authority.

Question 64

What happens if a Client leaves or the Agency closes?

Accepted Answer

The handoff must separately resolve the next operator, Client service, payer, warehouse holder and access. Former Agency-derived access is revoked, while an independently entitled Client keeps its own service. Fully managed departures and Agency organization closure are Space Monkey Admin-assisted; an orderly handoff does not authorize indefinite free service or an automatic Cloud transfer.

If the Client's own service entitlement ends, the approved native Client retention policy provides 30 days of authorized read/export access followed by 60 days of recovery archive. New processing stops, stored connection secrets are removed at day 30, and recoverable application data is cleaned up after day 90 under the policy. BigQuery datasets and the Google Cloud project are never automatically deleted by that application cleanup.

Frequently asked questions

Product Overview

Dashboards and Insights

BigQuery and Ownership

Backfill and Syncing

Mailchimp Comparison

AI, API, and MCP

Privacy and Access

Pricing and Plans

Agencies and Managed Clients

Setup and Support

Still have questions?