How to Get Started with Mailchimp. Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing platform that helps you manage and talk to your clients, customers, and other interested parties. Our approach to marketing focuses on healthy contact management practices, beautifully designed campaigns, and powerful data analysis. We’re here to help you become an expert marketer. Ready to get started?
In this article, you’ll learn how to start using Mailchimp to create awesome campaigns, and we’ll provide some helpful resources to use as you work.
How to Get Started with Mailchimp
Things to know
Before you jump into the tasks ahead, here are a few helpful things to know.
- Mailchimp is a web-based application that works in most web browsers, which means you don’t need to download or install any software on your computer. To be sure Mailchimp works properly in your browser, you should enable cookies, pop-ups, and JavaScript.
- It’s important to note that when you create a Mailchimp account, you agree to comply with our Terms of Use.
- We offer a number of online resources to provide help and insights about our tools and features. Check out our searchable guides and tutorials if you want to learn how something works, or if you run into any trouble.
Task roadmap
Here’s an overview of the tasks we’ll cover in this article.
- Set up your account
- Set up your audience
- Customize your signup form
- Create a campaign
- View your campaign reports
- Review next steps
Set up your account
When you sign up for a Mailchimp account, you’ll enter your name and email address, and we’ll send you an activation email. When you receive the activation email, click the link to activate your account.
The next time you log in to our website, we’ll walk you through the rest of the setup steps. You’ll input profile details, such as your website and physical address, and connect your social media accounts. If you sell products online, you’ll have the option to connect your store to Mailchimp.
Set up your audience
The foundation of great marketing is a clean, up-to-date record of your contacts, also known as your audience. When you create a Mailchimp account, we’ll use your setup details to automatically generate your audience for you. You can edit the default information for your audience if you need to, or immediately start adding contacts.
Mailchimp was designed so you should only need one audience. We have a number of helpful audience management tools so you can organize and separate contacts. If you do decide to create another audience, keep in mind that data isn’t shared across audiences, and contacts who are in more than one audience will count separately toward your subscriber limit.
Customize your signup form
To access customize your signup form, follow these steps.
- Click the Audience icon.
- Click Audience dashboard.
- If you have more than one audience, click the Current audience drop-down and choose the one you want to work with.
- Click the Manage Audience drop-down and choose Signup forms.
- Select Form builder.
- Click the Forms and response emails drop-down menu, and choose which form you want to edit.
- Click the Design it tab.
- Click through the Page, Body, Forms, or Referral tabs to review the customization options. Use the fields and drop-down menus to make any changes you want to the styles, colors, and fields. We’ll save your changes automatically.
- When you’re done, click Save & Close.
Create a campaign
Next, you’ll craft your first campaign. A campaign is a message that you share through email, ads, or other channels. In Mailchimp, most users start with a regular email campaign.
To get started on a regular email campaign, follow these steps.
- Click the Create icon.
- Click Email.
- Click Regular.
- Enter a campaign name and click Begin.
Designing a campaign in Mailchimp can be fun, but also complex, because we offer a lot of customization options. Take some time to get used to the controls and always plan your campaigns before you start designing them. You’ll be an expert before you know it.
Design a Campaign in Mailchimp
