MailChimp is known for its user-friendly interface and features that make it easy for people with little to no technical experience to create and send email campaigns. It’s an easy tool to use once you get the hang of it.
Plus, their price points are ideal for almost any budget.
If you’re a beginner unsure of where to begin, don’t worry. The team at MediaOne got you covered on this one.
With this detailed, step-by-step guide, you should be able to set up a fully automated email sequence on MailChimp in no time.
Let’s dive right into it:
Step #1: Set Up a Free MailChimp Account if You Haven’t Done So Already
Let’s start by setting up a MailChimp account. If you already have one, skip the first step and head to step #2.
Follow this link to create an account. Click “Sign Up Free,” the last tired column, and enter your email, username, and password.
We don’t need a paid subscription yet. The free account should be enough to get you started. Plus, we can always upgrade to a premium account later.
Go to your email and activate your account.
You’ll be prompted to provide more details, like your business name, goal, address, etc. Enter all the requested information and click next.
Once done, you’ll be directed to the MailChimp dashboard, where all the work happens.
There are three things to do to create an email sequence:
- Create an audience
- Design an Email
- Set the Automation
Step #2: Create an Audience
Click “Audience”
Next, Click “All Contacts”
Click “Add Contact” to add a new subscriber. You can enter their email address, First Name, Last Name, Phone Number, Birthday, Address, and a few tags.
You don’t necessarily have to provide all this information. Just enter the information you have and proceed to add another one.
The question going through your mind right now is, “how do you gather the email addresses?”
We want to assume you already have a website or blog. You want to embed an email collection form on the site.
Let’s show you how in step #3.
Step #3: Create an Email Collection Form and Embed it On Your Website
Go to Campaigns and click “All Campaigns,” then Create Campaign.
You want to go to Embedded Form and Create form. Here, you can create a form you’ll embed on your website. Your site’s visitors can enter their emails and any other contact information you want them to.
Note that you can place this form anywhere on your website, and any email information the user enters will reflect in your contact list.
You’ve probably encountered such a form, accompanied by texts such as “subscribe to our email list to be notified when we publish a new article or for our newsletter.’
By default, the form will come with an email field. Click on Form Fields to add other fields and expand the form.
Click on Setting to change the form title and form width.
You can also change the MailChimp branding to either light or dark. Click “Referral badge” to make the change.
Click “Continue” once done.
You’ll be provided with an embed code that you can copy and paste anywhere on your website to collect emails.
Note: The form will have the MailChimp branding at the bottom. To remove it, you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan.
Also, MailChimp has a lot of advanced form customization options you can explore.
Step 4: Design Your Email
You want to go back to “Campaigns” => “All Campaigns” the “Design Email.” This is where you design your email template or how the email will look after sending them to your list of subscribers.
The email you send can be anything. If you’re an artist, the email could be to inform your subscribers about the next event you’re performing.
You could also send an email to inform the subscribers of a discount code they can take advantage of.
You can also email new subscribers, thanking them for subscribing to your email list. Options abound.
So, Click on “Design Email” and choose a builder from the two options provided – “Classic Builder” and “New Builder.”
Let’s go with the second option, “New Builder,” for now.
You’ll be directed to a page with a ready-made email template that you can edit and leave it at that or add more content elements.
It’s a simple drag-and-drop editor that shouldn’t take you much time to figure out.
For instance, click on the placeholder logo, “Add Your Logo,” to replace it with your own logo.
You also want to edit out the email text and replace it with your own.
Note that you’ll be creating a series of emails. So decide which one you want to create first and then proceed to write it down. After that, you want to replace the templated text with your actual email message.
You also want to add all the necessary email images and other details. You can also pull new elements to add from the left sidebar and delete any email section you don’t want.
You can also choose a different template and edit it the same way. You just have to click on templates on the left sidebar.
Much of what you can do with your layout design is self-explanatory. If you’ve ever used a builder before, it shouldn’t be hard to work around the design builder.
After replacing the placeholders with your content (including the section that reads: view this email in your browser) and editing the email layout to your liking, click “save and exit.”
Since you don’t want to send the email to anyone, click “Finish Later.
Step 5: Create Custom Automated Messages
At this point, we’ve created our email campaigns, embedded a form on our website, and even created an email template. What’s next?
Create automated email messages.
You want to start by going to “Campaigns” => “All Campaigns” and click “Create Campaign.”
On the left sidebar, click “Automations” => “Get Started.”
You’ll be directed to a page with a list of emails you can automate.
For instance, you can create an email to welcome new customers, remind customers of an abandoned cart, email targeted customers, email tagged customers, and so on.
Click on “Pre-built Journeys’ to unlock more automation options.
Click “Get Started” to create an email sequence to welcome new customers or subscribers. You’ll be asked to choose an audience. You can select the audience you created earlier and click “continue.”
You can take a cue from Spotify. If you’ve ever signed up for a Spotify account, you must have noticed that they send you a series of emails, like the one telling you to get three months for free or get two months for just one dollar.
All this is facilitated by an automation tool, and you can achieve the same with MailChimp’s automation.
Step 6: Choose a Starting Point
On the next page, you want to begin by setting up a starting point. That’s the first email in a sequence.
The starting point could be when someone signs up for your newsletter, Purchases a specific product from your store (you have to link your store with Mailchimp for this), abandons a cart, or on their birthdays.
MailChimp provides about six starting points.
- Tag Added
- Sign Ups
- Joins Audience Group
- Leaves Audience Group
More commonly, you want to welcome new subscribers.
You can read more about starting points here.
Choose the settings for your starting point. For instance, if you chose “sign up,” you might want to specify whether to include imported contacts.
The next thing you want to do is to “Add a Journey Point’ to the sequence.
Click on the + sign to add your journey point. You most likely want to add a time delay as the first journey point.
The idea is you don’t want to send your subscribers an email immediately after they sign up. You want to give them an hour or so before sending them the welcome email.
Once you’ve created your journey touch point, click “Create an Email” to set up your email.
Step #7: Choose Rules for the Triggers
The time delay is only one of the many triggers provided by MailChimp.
Other triggers include:
If/Else Rule
If else/rule is the trigger, you use it to send an email to a group of customers after they complete a specified action. MailChimp lets you set up to 5 conditions.
For example, if a customer opts into your email list, you can send them an email informing them of what to expect. If they don’t, you can choose “No,” and it won’t send the email.
Your contacts move down through two paths.
Yes, refer to those who meet your set conditions.
No refers to those who don’t meet these conditions,
Wait for Trigger Rule
Wait for trigger rule waits for the customer to take a specified action, like purchase a product, or add a tag.
MailChimp offers you various options to choose from for this trigger:
- Birthday
- A user bought nothing
- A user bought a specific product
- X number of days since the user purchased last
- A user receives and opens a specified email
Time Delay Rule
We mentioned the time delay rule in passing.
It allows you to delay an email for a specified period.
Instead of welcoming users with an email immediately after they sign up, you can give them time to soak things up before sending them an email.
It makes your emails look less automated.
Actions
Actions are as it’s written on the tin. They specify the action to be taken.
Send Email
This action allows you to send an automated email. You can use this customer journey action to design and customize your marketing message.
When your contacts reach a specific action, you automatically send them an email action.
An email with a Survey Action
You can use this action to learn more about your subscribers. Use this action to include the MailChimp survey in your design email with their builder.
Follow this link to learn more about MailChimp surveys and how to create them: Create a Survey
Use the survey to collect valuable feedback from your subscribers.
Use Groups/Ungroup Actions
You can use groups and ungroups to automate how you organize your contacts.
This action allows you to automatically add or remove a contact from an existing audience group when they reach a specified action in your customer journey map.
You can sort them out based on their preferences and interests.
Groups work like categories. So, instead of lumping up all your contacts in one group, you can organize them into different categories or groups.
The groups you create can be the basis for creating audience segments.
After you create your audience group, you can add subscribers manually or ask them to choose a group.
Tag/Untag
You can also use tag/untag actions to automate how you organize contacts. Use this action to automatically add or remove a tag from your contacts after they reach a specific action in your customer journey map.
For those who don’t know, tags are the labels you use to organize your contacts. They allow you to bring your own labelling structure to MailChimp.
Unsubscribe Actions
The unsubscribe action automatically unsubscribes a subscriber after they reach a particular point in their journey.
It unsubscribes a customer from the audience connected to your journey maps, not from all the audiences in your MailChimp account.
For example, when the user clicks on the unsubscribe button, you can use this action to unsubscribe them from your email list.
Update Contact
You can use the update contact to delete or update your contacts’ data. When your contacts reach this action, their contacts field will automatically update.
For instance, you can update their contact with existing text, date, website, drop-down, radio button, image URL, etc.
- Text: The contact types a response, and the field automatically updates with the information they have provided. The text field is good for general questions, but you must include a character to prevent the contact from typing long responses.
- Number: The contact can provide information about their age, ID number, phone number, etc. When they do, this field will automatically update.
- Radio: Your contacts can choose a set of predefined options, and whatever they choose will be updated in the form field.
Archive Contact Actions
When a contact reaches a certain point in your journey map, you can choose to archive them automatically.
Archiving a contact automatically removes them from your audience list without losing any data. It can be helpful when dealing with duplicates, inactive or outdated contacts not interacting with your emails.
Should you change your mind or devise a strategy for contacting them, you can always return and unarchive them.
Classic Automations for Welcoming New Subscribers
| Automation #1
Welcome Message |
Email 1
Trigger: Signup Delay: One day after someone subscribes |
| Automation #2
Onboarding Series The idea is to share helpful resources and tips leading to a smooth onboarding experience |
Email 1
Trigger: Signup Delay: Send the email immediately after someone subscribes Email 2 Delay: 1 Day after sending the previous email Email 3 Trigger: Previous mail sent Delay: 1 day after sending the previous email Email 4 Trigger: Previous mail sent Delay: 1 day after sending the previous email Email 5 Trigger: Previous mail sent Delay: 1 day after sending the previous email |
| Automation #3
Education Series This is where you want to educate your subscribers. You can send them a series of emails informing and engaging them on a particular topic. |
Email 1
Trigger: Email Signup Delay: 1 day after the contact subscribes to your email list Email 2: Trigger: The previous email you send Delay: 1 day after you send the previous email Email 3: Trigger: The previous email you send Delay: 1 day after you send the previous email |
Automations for Ecommerce
You can use automations to target new and existing customers with personalized messages and discounts or to reengage them after it’s been a while since they last purchased from you.
You can even use the automations to send them orders, shipping confirmations, store-branded receipts, etc.
| Automation Type | Trigger Settings |
| Automation #1: Abandoned Cart
When a customer abandons a cart, you do not want to leave them at that. Instead, you want to send them an email encouraging them to complete the purchase. |
6 to 12 hours after a customer abandons an item in the cart |
| Automation #2: Abandoned Cart Email Series
Instead of sending one email, you can send your customers a series of emails encouraging them to complete the purchase they started. |
Trigger: Abandoned Caty
Delay: An hour or two after the customer abandons an item in the cart Email 2 Trigger: Abandoned Cart Delay: One day after sending the previous email, after they abandoned an item in the cart Email 3 Trigger: Abandoned Cart Delay: 3 days or a week after they abandoned an item in the cart |
An Email Automation to Thank First-time Customers
How you communicate to your customers after they make the first purchase can either make or break your business.
You don’t want to ignore them or leave them at that. That’s why it helps to set up email automation that thanks first-time customers.
If a customer makes a second purchase, they won’t receive this email.
| Automation Type | Trigger Settings | Default Segment |
| First Time Purchase | Email #1:
Trigger: The customer purchases any product Delay: 1-hour delay after the customer makes the purchase Email #2: Trigger: Previous email you sent Delay: Ten days after you sent the previous email Email #3: Trigger: The previous email you sent Delay: 20 days after you sent the last email |
Email #1
The customer only placed one order Email #2: The customer only placed one order Email #3: The customer only placed one order |
Automations to Reward Your Best Friends
| Automation Type | Trigger Settings | |
| Best Customers
You can reward your best customers with special coupons or sales announcements |
Email #1
Trigger: Product Purchase (any product) Delay: Immediately after the customer buys a product from your store Email #2: Trigger: After you’ve sent the previous email Delay: 1 week after sending the previous email to the customer Email #3: Trigger: The previous email Delay: 1 week after sending the previous email to your customer |
Email 1:
Send the email when the customer makes a purchase of more than $100 and when the total number of orders is at least 2 |
Automations to Win Back Lapsed Customers
You can use this automation to win back customers who purchased anything from your store but have never returneds. They bought and disappeared.
| Automation Type | Trigger Settings |
| Customer Re-engagement
You can send these automations to customers who haven’t purchased anything from your store for quite a while |
Email #1:
Trigger: It’s been a while since the customer last purchased anything from your store Delay: 120 days after the customer last bought anything from your store Email #2: Trigger: The customer hasn’t purchased a product for a while Delay: 240 days since the customer last bought anything from your store Email #3: Trigger: The customer hasn’t purchased a product from your store for a while Delay: 360 days since the customer last bought anything from your store |
Automations to Notify the Customer of their Orders
When a customer orders something from your store, you do not want to leave them at that. You can send them a series of emails to notify them of their order’s whereabouts.
| Automation Type | Trigger Settings |
| Order Notifications
You can send receipts, invoices, shipping, refunds, cancellations, and anything a customer may want to know about their order |
Trigger: When a customer’s order status changes, send them an email. For example, when the order has been confirmed, shipped, delivered, cancelled, or refunded. |
Date-based Automations
Date-based automations let you engage your customers or subscribers throughout the year instead of waiting for special occasions.
You can use these automations to send your subscribers birthday messages, anniversaries, merry Christmas, or any other special occasion you’ve saved in the audience field.
You can send more than one automated email for the same date.
| Automation Type | Trigger Setting |
| List the Added Date
The very date someone subscribes to your email list, you can send them a series of emails |
Email #1:
Trigger: List the Added Date Delay: 1 day after the contact subscribes to your email list Email #2: Trigger: The added date Delay: 2 days after the contact became a subscriber Email #3: Trigger: The added date Delay: 3 days after the contact became a subscriber And so on… |
| Birthdays
You can send your subscribers an annual recurring message based on the date specified in their birthday field |
Email #1
Trigger: Birthday Delay: 1 day before the subscriber’s date Email #2: Trigger: Birthday Delay: On the birthday date Email #3: Trigger: Birthday Delay: 1 day after the birthday date |
| Christmas | Email #1
Trigger: Christmas (25th December, every year) Delay: 14 days before Christmas Email #2: Trigger: Christmas Delay: On Christmas Email #2 Trigger: Christmas Delay: 1 day after Christmas |
