How to sign up to Mailchimp
I am a big advocate for Mailchimp as it comes with great features and it is super easy to use. It’s particularly convenient for small business who do not have a lot of subscribers but would like to grow their brand. A great plus with Mailchimp is their flexible pricing – It’s actually free for up to 2000 contacts and paid packages are reasonably priced too.
Sign up for Free
Step 1: Simply go on the Mailchimp website and click on the ‘Sign Up Free’ button on the top left. Enter the email address you would like to use, a username and a secure password and hit the ‘Sign Up’ button.
Step 2: Mailchimp will send you an email to activate your account which should come through instantly. Hit the ‘Activate Account’ button in the email. This will take you back to the Mailchimp website where you have to confirm that you are not a robot.
Choose your plan
Step 3: Select the relevant plan for your business depending on the number of subscribers and features you would like to include.
Note: If you are just starting out and don’t have a lot of subscribers, the free account is all you need. You can upgrade at any time.
Set your account up
Great! You have now chosen your plan; it’s set up time!
Step 4: On the next few pages enter your First and Last Name, your Business name, your website URL (if you have one), your business address and phone number.
Note: For SPAM laws it is a requirement that the address you are providing is a legit address where you can receive post to. Read more here.
Step 5: You now have to let Mailchimp know if you have any existing contacts/subscribers and if so, how many.
Note: A contact is considered to be any address you store on Mailchimp, regardless if they are subscribed, non-subscribed, un-subscribed cleaned or archived. Read more about the statuses here.
Step 6: In the final step you then fill out what type of product or service you offer and where you are selling your services/products.
Done! You are now set up and good to go.
Tip: I would highly recommend completing the optional steps too whilst you are on it but if you are running out of time, don’t worry. The next time you log on, Mailchimp will take you where you left.
Optional steps:
Integrations
If you have a website, Facebook Page or would like to connect your Mailchimp with Google Analytics or any other available platform, now is the time to connect. It honestly takes no time at all and is pretty simple.
In this example, I will connect Mailchimp with my Facebook account which allows me to integrate a newsletter sign-up form on my Facebook page, schedule social media posts on Facebook and Instagram and create ads on those platforms.
Step 1: Let’s get started! After hitting the ‘Connect’ button you can then sign in to your Facebook account and et voila – You are connected. Easy!
Step 2: Back on the Mailchimp site, choose the account you would like to use that is associated with your Facebook login details.
Step 3: Chose the audience you would like to connect to.
Note: You must be wondering which audience, right? The moment you set up your account, Mailchimp automatically creates an audience. It’s named after the account name you entered earlier.
Step 4: If you would like to integrate a newsletter sign-up form on your Facebook page, choose yes on the next step. You can either use the Facebook-esque form or the default one created by Mailchimp, which you can design yourself later. The name you enter in the Tab label is the one that appears on your Facebook page, so name it something like Newsletter.
Tip: I recommend choosing the Mailchimp one as it looks a lot better.
Step 5: Hit the ‘Test Connection’ button and it shows the account you are connected to.
YAY, you are now connected to Facebook! If you have an Instagram account that is connected to our Facebook account, then you are also connected to Instagram! If not click here to do so.
Get started
Step 1: Click on the Mailchimp logo on the top left site of your screen to see your missing steps for completing your profile.
Step 2: If you have a store, you can set it up now or skip this step. I’ll leave it out.
Step 3: You can now design your first email, but it makes more sense to add your contacts first, so skip that step.
Import contacts
Step 1: You can now import your contacts, create a sign-up form or connect to an e-commerce store. I will show you how to import contacts. Simply click ‘Import from a file’. Import either from a spreadsheet, copy and paste or integrate with a service.
Step 2: In this example, I will insert addresses from an Excel spreadsheet. Hit the CSV button and the Continue button, upload the desired contacts and hit continue to organise.
Step 3: As you can see the addresses have now uploaded, but some have not been automatically categorised. Label them and save them in order to continue.
Step 4: At this point, you can tag your contacts if you like and enter their subscription status. Since this is the first time you import contact you can ignore the tick box at the bottom of the page and click ‘Continue To Review’.
Step 5: Review and import your contacts. The next page will show your contact list, the so-called audience in Mailchimp.
Now and that’s it. You have successfully set up your Mailchimp account, by:
- activating your account
- selecting your plan
- completing your business details
- connecting your Facebook account
- importing your contacts
You can now start your first campaign or build your Mailchimp website.
I hope this introduction to Mailchimp was helpful. If you would like to receive more useful tips and tricks, sign up to my newsletter.