How To Set Up Mailchimp

Your Account 

The very first thing you need to do is to set up your Mailchimp account. For this, you will need to enter your name and email. An activation email will then be sent; you can activate your account through this email. 

Once you are logged into your account, the website will take you through the remainder of the setup. You can input all of your details, including links to your social media accounts. Any online products and stores can also be connected online. 

Your List 

Once you have set up your account, you will be able to edit your contact list. The software will automatically compile the list based on the information you input and your social media accounts. From there, you can add and delete contacts, along with being able to edit them. 

You only need one contact list when you use Mailchimp. You will have a lot of useful tools at your disposal to organize your contacts and group them how you wish. 

Your Signup Form 

You have your account, and you have your contact list. The next step is to utilize this list with a signup form. A signup form is also a great way to create contacts for your current list or an empty list. Your signup form can be posted on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media page/website. 

Mailchimp has numerous ways to customize your form so that you get the signup form which fits you and your brand. This also helps you tailor it to get the contacts that you want. Customizing the form is extremely simple to do. 

Once you navigate to the lists page, you can choose your signup form from the drop-down menu. Select the ‘Form builder’ option and then the form you wish to build and edit. Click on the ‘Design it’ tab, and you are ready to build. 

You can click through the other tabs to customize the form, using the fields and drop-down menus to make any changes. You have complete control over the look of the form, including the style, color, and content. Save when you are done, and your form is ready to go. 

Your Campaign 

Once you have your form, you are ready to plan your first campaign. You can share your campaign through email, ads, or any other avenue. An email campaign is one of the most common to start with. 

Launching the campaign builder will allow you to start customizing your campaign. Start with a name and choose the list you want to apply it to (this is a list of your contacts). Click on begin, and your campaign gets started. 

You can use the setup menu to set your emails up exactly as you want them. You will have options to enter the subject, body text, from section, and email address. You can then move onto the template and design of your campaign. Once you are done, click confirm and then you can schedule your campaign. The email could be sent out instantly or at a time of your choosing. 

This is one of the simpler campaign options. Once you get into it, you can create some complex campaigns. 

Your Reports 

Sending your campaign email is just the start of your journey. Once you have sent it off into the world, you want to track how well it is doing. Mailchimp does this by giving you comprehensive reports which will track your user engagement. 

The software will allow you to see how many customers opened your email, how many clicked, and how many unsubscribed from your campaign. You will be able to see which links are clicked, who is looking at your emails, the location of your responders, and more. 

Your Next Steps 

This is Mailchimp at its most basic level. As you can see, you have a lot of power with just one of its simple tools. Of course, there is more power at your fingertips than just email subscriptions, so what else can you expect? 

Mailchimp is great for automation. You can use the autoresponder function to send targeted emails to potential clients. These emails can be sent in number and at specific times and dates. 

You can buy ads through Mailchimp. The software does not charge a fee for this and allows you to use Facebook as a platform for your ads. When you combine this with your campaign data, you can target those people who use social media as well as email. 

Solid developer tools also allow you to fully customize your campaigns. You can use the Mailchimp API to transfer data between Mailchimp and other applications. This gives you complete customization over your data. 

Mailchimp comes with a lot of tools for the light and advanced user. Create simple campaigns or take full control of your incoming and outgoing data.