Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to build a relationship with your audience without relying entirely on social media.

Your social media followers belong to the platform. Your email list is an audience you can communicate with directly.

That is where Mailchimp comes in.

Mailchimp is an email marketing platform that allows you to collect subscribers, organise your audience, create email campaigns and automate parts of your marketing.

If you are completely new to Mailchimp, the platform can feel like it has approximately 4,000 buttons, menus and settings waiting to confuse you. The good news is that you do not need to understand everything before you start.

You just need to understand the foundations.

In this guide, I will walk you through exactly how to get started.

Step 1: Create Your Mailchimp Account

The first step is to create your account.

You can get started with Mailchimp here:

Mailchimp

Once you have created your account, you will be asked to provide information about your business.

This may include:

• Your business name

• Your website

• Your business address

• Your industry

• Your existing email contacts

Take your time completing this information. Some of these details may appear in your email footer or be used to help configure your account.

Step 2: Familiarise Yourself with the Dashboard

Once inside Mailchimp, spend a few minutes looking around.

The main areas you will use include:

Audience

This is where your subscribers and contacts are stored.

You can:

• Add contacts

• Import existing subscribers

• Create groups

• Add tags

• Build segments

• View subscriber information

Your audience is the foundation of your email marketing.

Campaigns

This is where you create and send marketing emails.

You can create:

• Regular email campaigns

• Automated email sequences

• Customer journeys

• Other marketing campaigns depending on your plan and account setup

Automations

Automations allow Mailchimp to send emails based on actions or triggers.

For example, someone might:

1. Join your email list.

2. Receive a welcome email.

3. Receive another email two days later.

4. Receive an offer a few days after that.

Once set up correctly, automation can continue working in the background.

Step 3: Set Up Your Audience

Before you start sending emails, you need somewhere for your subscribers to live.

In Mailchimp, this is your Audience.

Go to your Audience area and check your existing settings.

Make sure your:

• From name is correct

• Reply-to email address is correct

• Business information is accurate

• Audience fields are relevant

For most businesses, you may want to collect information such as:

• First name

• Last name

• Email address

Do not go overboard asking for information immediately.

Every additional question on a signup form creates another opportunity for someone to think, "Actually, I cannot be bothered."

Start simple.

You can always collect additional information later through forms, surveys, tags or customer activity.

Step 4: Add Your Existing Contacts

If you already have an email list, you may be able to import those contacts into Mailchimp.

Before importing anyone, make sure they have genuinely given you permission to receive marketing emails.

A bigger email list is not automatically a better email list.

A list of 500 people who actually want to hear from you is far more valuable than a list of 5,000 people who wonder why you suddenly appeared in their inbox.

To import contacts:

1. Go to Audience.

2. Select the option to manage or import contacts.

3. Upload your CSV or spreadsheet file.

4. Match your spreadsheet columns with the relevant Mailchimp fields.

5. Review the information before completing the import.

6. Add tags if you want to identify where the contacts came from.

For example, you might use tags such as:

• Website subscriber

• Lead magnet

• Client

• Webinar attendee

• Course student

• Event attendee

Tags can make your audience much easier to organise later.

Step 5: Create Your Signup Form

Now it is time to give new people a way to join your list.

Your signup form could be used on:

• Your website

• A landing page

• A blog

• Social media

• A lead magnet page

• An event registration page

When creating your form, think about what someone receives in exchange for giving you their email address.

You might offer:

• A free guide

• A checklist

• A discount

• A webinar

• A quiz

• Weekly tips

• Exclusive content

Your offer needs to answer one important question:

Why should someone give you access to their inbox?

"Subscribe to my newsletter" is not always the most exciting invitation on the internet.

Be specific about the value.

Instead of saying:

Join my newsletter.

Try something like:

Get practical weekly marketing tips to help you grow your business without spending every waking hour on social media.

Now people understand what they are signing up for.

Step 6: Create Your First Email Campaign

Once you have subscribers, you can create your first campaign.

Inside Mailchimp, create a new email campaign and work through the setup.

You will generally need to:

1. Choose your recipients.

2. Add your sender name.

3. Add your sender email address.

4. Write your subject line.

5. Add preview text.

6. Design your email.

7. Add your content.

8. Review your settings.

9. Send a test email.

10. Schedule or send your campaign.

Choosing Your Recipients

You may choose:

• Your entire audience

• A segment

• A group

• Tagged contacts

If you are just starting, your entire audience may be appropriate.

As your list grows, segmentation becomes more important.

Step 7: Write a Strong Subject Line

Your subject line has one job.

It needs to encourage someone to open your email.

Avoid trying to be clever just for the sake of being clever.

Instead, focus on being:

• Clear

• Relevant

• Interesting

• Specific

For example:

Weak: Monthly Newsletter

Better: 5 ways to get more from your email list

The second option gives the reader a reason to care.

Step 8: Keep Your First Email Simple

Your first campaign does not need:

• Fifteen different fonts

• Seven animated GIFs

• Every colour in your brand palette

• A novel disguised as an email

Simple works.

A good beginner email structure is:

Opening

Start with something relevant to your audience.

Main Message

Share one key idea, update, tip or offer.

Call to Action

Tell the reader what you want them to do next.

For example:

• Read the blog

• Download the guide

• Book a call

• View the product

• Reply to the email

One clear action is usually better than giving people seventeen options and hoping they choose one.

Step 9: Send Yourself a Test Email

Before sending your campaign, always send yourself a test.

Check:

• Subject line

• Preview text

• Spelling

• Links

• Images

• Formatting

• Mobile appearance

• Call-to-action buttons

Also read your email as if you were the subscriber.

Ask yourself:

Would I know what this email is about?

Would I know what I am supposed to do next?

Would I actually want to receive this?

If the answer is no, make some changes before sending.

Step 10: Review Your Results

After your campaign has been sent, do not simply forget about it and immediately start creating the next one.

Look at your results.

Pay attention to metrics such as:

• Opens

• Clicks

• Engagement

• Unsubscribes

These numbers can help you understand what your audience responds to.

Over time, you can use this information to improve your:

• Subject lines

• Email content

• Calls to action

• Sending frequency

• Segmentation

• Overall strategy

What to Do Next

Once you have completed the basics, I recommend working through these next steps:

1. Set up your audience properly.

2. Import your existing contacts.

3. Create a signup form.

4. Start growing your email list.

5. Create your first campaign.

6. Learn how tags, groups and segments work.

7. Create a welcome automation.

8. Start reviewing your campaign analytics.

You do not need to master every feature immediately.

Start with the foundations and build from there.

Email marketing is not about sending more emails simply because someone told you that you should email your list three times a week.

It is about building a useful and relevant relationship with your audience.

Mailchimp gives you the tools to do that.

The important part is learning how to use those tools strategically.

Ready to Get Started?

If you are ready to start building your email list and sending campaigns, you can create your Mailchimp account here:

Get Started with Mailchimp

Start simple.

Build your audience.

Send useful emails.

Then improve as you go.

Because the truth is, your first email campaign will probably not be your best one.

And that is completely fine.

The only way to get better at email marketing is to actually start sending emails.