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How to Setup a MailChimp Account

Benefits of Using an ESP like MailChimp

  • Improved Deliverability
  • Better List Management
  • Easier to Grow the Mailing List
  • List Segmentation and Organization
  • Additional / Better Formatting Options
  • Ability to Use Analytics to Track Results
  • CAN-SPAM Compliance
  • Keeps Your List Information Private & Secure

Getting Started

  1. Signup for MailChimp Account — (Image)
  2. Verify Email and Complete the New User Profile (Image)
    • For Organization Information, if you are unsure about what to select, you can choose:
      • About how many people are in your organization? — 1-5
      • About how old is your organization? — < 1 Year
      • Do you have a list of emails to import into MailChimp? — No
      • Are you setting this up for a client? — Yes
  3. Sign in and click on “Lists” (Image) then click “Create List” (Image)
  4. List Options: (Image)
    • List Name: General Subscribers
    • Default “from” Name: Group Name (ie: EuroMaidan Chicago)
    • Default “from” Email: Email Address that recipients will see (ie: euromaidan_chicago@gmail.com)
    • Default Subject: (can be left blank)
    • Write a Short Reminder: (required for CAN-SPAM compliance)(ie: You are receiving this email because you support Ukraine opted in on our website or sign up form.)
    • Is this the correct contact info for this list? (Verify – this is required for CAN-SPAM compliance)
    • Notifications: (can be left unchecked)
    • Email Format: (can be left unchecked)
  5. Click “Save”

Once the list is created, you can adjust settings, import subscribers (if you already maintain a list) and create/modify signup forms.

Settings

Click on the List you just created in the previous step (Image)

Click Settings >List Fields (Image)

Information about List Fields and *|MERGE|* tags

These are fields that will store information about each subscriber in
MailChimp.

  • Field Label is the “[user] friendly name”
  • Field Type helps specify what data can be entered, determines how the data in the field gets stored in MailChimp and how it can be used for filtering lists
  • Required specifies whether data is required in this field when adding a subscriber
  • Visible specifies whether the field is visible to the user or not on forms and in their settings
  • TAG column is to set a recognizable name that can be used within emails/forms/etc.

Recommended Fields

Field Label Field Type Requred Visible TAG
Email Address email always always EMAIL
First Name text unchecked checked FNAME
Last Name text unchecked checked LNAME
Zip Code zip code (US only) checked checked ZIPCODE

To Add a Zip Code List Field

  1. Click “Add Field” (Image)
  2. Click “zip code (US only)”
  3. Change “Field Label” to “Zip Code”
  4. Check off Required
  5. Change “TAG” from “MMERGE3” to “ZIPCODE” (Image)
  6. Click “Save”

Signup Forms

Under Signup Forms > General forms (Image), you’ll be able to setup and design different Forms and Automated Emails that are used with your account. These can be left in their default form, but the Signup form URL (Image) is useful for passing along a link to where users are able to signup to your list if you do not have any other location to display the form.

Please contact ZVAMY.org with your Signup form URL (Image) or other signup link so we can aggregate it into a list for our visitors.

You can also utilize other Form integration methods in order to let people subscribe via your website, social media, etc.

Add Subscribers

If you already have a mailing list and are looking to add subscribers from it to MailChimp, you can click on Add Subscribers > Import Subscribers (for multiple contacts) (Image) or individually by clicking on Add Subscribers > Add a subscriber (Image).

** NOTE: Do not just randomly add people. If you send out emails to people who do not want them and you have a high percentage of unsubscribers and/or recipients who mark the email as spam, MailChimp will suspend your account.

Adding a Template

  1. Click Campaigns, then in the top right corner of the screen, click “My Templates”. (Image)
  2. Again, top right corner, click “Create Template”. (Image)
  3. Click the “Import” link on the right side. (Image)
  4. Enter a name under “Template name” (ie: EuroMaidan Chicago Email Template) (Image)
  5. Under “Template file (HTML file only por favor)”, input the following URL:
    https://zvamy.org/docs/2014/zvamy-custom-template.html
    (Image)
  6. Click “Upload” (Image)
  7. You should be back on the “Templates” page and will see the recently added template at the bottom. Click on the “Edit” button. (Image)
  8. Move your mouse cursor over the Z VAMY image and click “Change” (Image)
  9. Upload an logo for your group (max width is 600px). If you do not have a logo, you can hover over the Z VAMY image and click “Use Text” or exclude it by clicking “Remove”. (Image)
  10. Once added and everything looks okay, click “Save & Exit” (Image)

Creating a Campaign (ie: sending an email to your list)

  1. Click Campaigns, then in the top right corner of the screen, click “Create Campaign”. (Image)
  2. Select “Regular ol’ Campaign” (Image)
  3. If you have more than one list, select your list (ie: EuroMaidan Chicago), otherwise, skip this step.
  4. Keep “Send to entire list” checked (unless you’re only trying to send the email out to a select group of people) (Image)
  5. Click “Next” (Image)
  6. Name your campaign: (ie: 2014-02-09 – EuroMaidan Rally) – (using a date in the YYYY-MM-DD format helps keep campaigns organized) (Image)
  7. Email Subject: (ie: EuroMaidan Rally: Sunday, February 2) (Image)
  8. Verify “From name” and “From email address” are correct (May need to click “Skip Domain Verification for Now”) (Image)
  9. Optional, if using Google Analytics, you can specific a tracking parameter under the Tracking Section
  10. Optional, if your group has a Facebook or Twitter account, you can have MailChimp automatically post a link to the email on each network
  11. Click “Next”
  12. Under “My Templates”, click “Select” (Image)
  13. “Select” the template previously created (ie: EuroMaidan Chicago Email Template) (Image)
  14. Move your mouse cursor over the Content area “Dear Generitech Customers…” and click “Edit” (Image)
  15. Enter the main content of your email, then click “Save & Close” (Image)
  16. In the blue header bar, click on the area “Use this area to offer a short teaser of your email’s content…” and click “Edit” (Image)
  17. Enter the teaser content of your email, then click “Save & Close” (this is the preview text that is displayed for emails on some email services such as Gmail)
  18. Click “Next” (Image)
  19. Verify the Plain Text Version of your email for formatting errors, then click “Next” (Image)
  20. Click “Schedule” at the bottom-right of the screen. (Image)
  21. Select the date and time that you’d like to have your email sent out. (Image)
  22. Click “Schedule Campaign” and you’re done! (Image)

If you need to make changes (prior to the email being sent), click Campaigns > [name of your campaign] to modify it (Image). Once modified, click “Schedule” again (the “Send” button will send the campaign out immediately).

One item to note is that since Gmail introduced tabs in 2013, emails from an ESP like MailChimp could get placed to the promotions tab instead of the primary tab (if the user is using tabs).  Below is a video with instructions as to how to move an email to the primary folder and ensure that future emails from the list are placed there by default.