There are a whole lot of reasons why so many businesses choose Mailchimp for their email marketing. Mailchimp is fundamentally a brilliantly designed tool, which happens to be infused with fun. From the fantastically user-friendly interface, to their highly entertaining marketing stunts, and the appearance of Easter eggs (as in hidden treasures, rather than chocolate treats) on the Mailchimp website, there's a lot to like! If you're convinced and you want to sign up, or perhaps already have a Mailchimp account but haven't really grappled with how to get the most out of it, we have compiled ten great tips to help you get the most out of Mailchimp today.
Getting to know your way around the Mailchimp interface means getting the vocabulary down. Some things are pretty obvious, like reports or templates, but others are perhaps new territory for your mind. To set you off on the right foot, here is a bullet point break down of what will soon become your go-to virtual hangouts in Mailchimp land:
When you first sign up to Mailchimp, it will prompt you to connect your account to your company website, your social media accounts, and even your eCommerce shop. If you skipped over this part, it is worth going back to. Mailchimp offers a host of helpful integrations that can save you a ton of time and increase your marketing reach. Check out their About Integrations guide to get started.
You might imagine your email list as a single entity that you will communicate with as a whole, but email marketing is far more advanced than that today. Mailchimp provides an outstanding set of tools to allow you to treat new subscribers differently from long-standing customers. Using the Tags and Segments tools, you can target your audience based on how they interact with your business, where they are located, and much more. Explore Mailchimp's Audience guide for a walk-through of what is possible.
As you organise your audience, it's important to understand Mailchimp's pricing structure. They offer four different pricing plans – Free, Essentials, Standard, and Premium – plus a Pay-As-You-Go option. Different plans offer different features, and the fees you pay will be dictated by a number of variable parameters. At first glance, it might seem a little complicated, but it is pretty easy to grasp – especially with Mailchimp's help.
Signup forms are a great way to increase your subscriber numbers without lifting a finger. Mailchimp allow you to easily create signup forms for social media, pop-ups and embeds for your website, and more. They will help you collect data about your audience, while making GDPR consent compliance a doddle, so check it out, and get those new leads!
Mailchimp's builder is a slick drag-and-drop affair that anyone can master. Unleash your imagination by experimenting with this tool, and make sure that you never send out a dull email again! Explore Mailchimp's pre-made templates to see examples of what can be easily created and read their guides on Email Templates and Landing Page Templates.
Merge tags are handy little bits of code that you can use to insert dynamic information into your campaigns. For example, a merge tag will allow you to address your email recipient by name, without writing a separate email for every subscriber. You can use them to embed polls in your emails, or even offer an automatic translation function. Jazz things up with merge tags and blow your audience away!
If you have never set up automation for your email marketing, you are certainly missing a trick. Imagine new subscribers receiving a Welcome email without you lifting a finger, or another receiving a follow-up if they abandon their shopping cart on your eCommerce site. Mailchimp can help you set up automated emails for a broad array of different triggers. Make sure your audience get the messages they need!
When it comes to marketing, we can often be left scratching our heads, wondering if our efforts are having the impact we imagined. A/B testing allows you to split your audience in half, try two different approaches, and see which gets the best results. Now, it's worth noting that a smaller audience will be unlikely to provide you with valuable insights. Mailchimp suggest that audiences of 5,000 or larger are of the greatest value for split testing, but you can give it a go whatever your audience size.
Having mentioned head-scratching, Mailchimp have genuinely gone out of their way to help you avoid it. Deep dive into the campaigns you launch and discover how your campaigns are performing over time – down to the very last detail. Explore which content got the most engagement, track your conversions, and find room to hone and polish your offering. Whichever Mailchimp features you use, there will be an in-depth report to go with it, so get acquainted with those analytics, and let Mailchimp help you reach your full marketing potential!