This is a full beginner tutorial showing you how to use Mailchimp. We’ve made one of these years ago that was really popular and covered everything about Mailchimp step by step and I thought it was time to update it since things can change and it’s always good to learn how to use the latest version of Mailchimp instead of using an old tutorial that doesn’t match what you see on your screen anymore!
Mailchimp is great
The following steps will help you learn how to use Mailchimp and get your account started so you can create an email list and send out email campaigns.
Step #1: Create Account
The first thing we have to do is create an account with Mailchimp. If you already have an account then you can skip this step.
Don’t forget to check your email to confirm your account.
Once you activate your account, you’ll be redirected to the Mailchimp website and you will be asked to put in some additional information.
Step #2: Choose Your Plan
You can the plan that fits you best. For our tutorial and for demo purposes, we will be using the free version but only you know what is best for you and your business.
As for the costs, I often think if it helps your business and you make more money because of the expense or you can focus on more important things that can help your business grow, then it’s totally worth it. Just choose the mailchimp place that works best for you and know that you can always upgrade!
Step #3: Tour of Mailchimp Dashboard
Now that you have your account and have everything set up, you will be redirected to the mailchimp dashboard.
Here is a description of all the tabs on the left hand side of the dashboard
Campaigns
Here you can create emails to send out to your email lists
If you sign up for the upgraded plans (free for first month) you can use the premium tools available like SMS
Automation
Here you can create journeys for your email subscribers so if something triggers an event, they can get emails or follow up emails.
Audience
Where you can access your contacts information and create email lists and filter them with tags and segments.
For inbox: Users with a Free plan can reply to Inbox messages from emails, surveys, or to a contact’s direct message.
Website
If you want to create a landing page using the mailchimp domain you can do so here. Or you can upgrade and purchase your own domain but we normally create our own WordPress websites!
Content
This is a marketing tab where Mailchimp.
Creative assistant is a premium option for rebranding designs which you may or may not need.
You can also upload your own files and logos in the my files tab,.
And this is where you can go to access or create/customize your email templates to use for sending out emails.
Add contacts
Go to the audience tab and click on all contacts and you can add contacts in mailchimp using the button at the top right.
You can also import your contacts if you have a file if you click to import contacts on the upper right button. You will be able to select which way you want to import your contacts on the next page and can click continue.
Then you can go through the next steps to match everything and complete the importing process.
Step #4 Create Email
Creating an email to send to your contact list requires you to create an email template, which isn’t hard, it’s just a step that is necessary.
In this section you can add your logo if you want in the content studio or upload anything else.
- Click on the create template button
- Choose the template that you want to use
- Customize it with the content you want to add (headlines, sub headlines, text, upload images, videos, links)
- Click save and exit when you are done
You can always come back into this Tab and update any of your email templates when you want to make changes
Now that you have your template we can move on to the next step, which is creating an email campaign and sending out an email to your email list.
Step #5 Create Campaign
- Go to the Campaigns tab and click on the button to create a campaign
- Choose the type of campaign you want to click (regular email for our demo)
- Add the recipeients you want to send your email
- Edit the subject
- Choose a time you want to send the email
- Select your email template or create a new one and add your content
- Connect your social media accounts if you would like
- You can edit your tracking settings to see how the results of your email campaign
- Click finish later if you want to save and edit this campaign later. Otherwise click send for it to be scheduled to be sent
And that’s all you have to do to send out an email campaign
After your email campaign is sent, you can review the results after some time has passed by coming back to the Campaigns tab to review it or going to the analytics tab.
And that’s it…
You can always upgrade your Mailchimp account to access the premium options with Mailchimp. I encourage you to take some time to decide whether or not you need them or not. You can always upgrade when you’re ready or downgrade.
I hope this tutorial showing you how easy it is to use Mailchimp was helpful.
If you have a WordPress website and want to add a mailchimp form or optin to your wordpress website, make sure you check out our Add Optin form with Mailchimp to WordPress website tutorial!
Contact us if you have any questions and feel free to sign up for our own newsletter to stay up to date with what we’re focusing on and what we’re up to! I think you’ll be happy you did!