As the first step, you will have to set up a MailChimp free account. For that, you just have to simply go to the MailChimp website and then click the Sign Up Free in the upper right corner. Enter the email address you want to use, the user name and password, and click Create My Account.
After then, click the link in your confirmation email, you will notice that you need to input some personal info (no credit card required, not to worry). Once it is completed, you will automatically be moved to the main menu.
Getting to Know the Dashboard
1. Create and Send Campaign: Here is where you can set up your campaigns. This is what the MailChimp calls an email broadcast.
2. Create a List: This is the list where your subscribers are stored.
3. Start Building Your Audience: This is the place where you can build forms where people can come and sign up to your list(s) on the web.
4. Invite Your Colleagues: You can have many people start working on one MailChimp account. It is very useful, but that is beyond the scope of this article.
Create Your First Email List
While we all are aware that “the money is in the list,” before you can start putting anything that has value in it, you have to first create it. So let’s see how to do it.
MailChimp Create Email list
1. Click “Create A List”, now enter necessary information
2. List Name: Put in something that will make much sense. This will show up for your subscribers as well, so don’t go for absurd words like: “suckers I’m gonna make money off” but you can rather go for something like: “[your website] newsletter” or something similar that makes more sense.
3. “From” Email: The address that you enter here will show up in your recipients inbox as the sender. You need to use something official like “[email protected]” do not use a Gmail account.
4. “From” Name: Again, this will appear in the inbox. It is either you go with your actual name, or you say something like “[your website] Newsletter.”
5. Reminder How They Got on Your List: People are sometimes forgetful. Before they will report you as a spam, you need to let them know how they signed up for your service.
6. Your Information: Your information will show up at the end side of each email and it is to distinguish spam and to legitimize your email, so make sure that your info is done correctly.
7. Notifications: Here you can select how MailChimp will tell you about the activity that is on your list. It is in addition to detailed analytics. Select what you feel is necessary.
8. Save! You now have an empty list, that is ready to be filled. Should you have a subscriber list already in another service, you can simply import it to the MailChimp.
9. Tap on the Import subscribers located at the bottom or Add subscribers > Import subscribers. This will provide you with a number of different ways that you can add existing contacts.