How to set up a free Mailchimp Account

Why you need an email marketing account:

If you think you don’t, think again.

With an email marketing account, you’re able to easily collect new subscribers from your website and other places. These nice people (and their email addresses) are pretty priceless. They are your clients, potential clients, cheerleaders and fans.

Using a service like Mailchimp allows you to easily send out professional emails. Professional being the key word here. I’m sure we don’t need to tell you why this important but, just in case… you’re able to email things like info on new or updated services or products, blog posts, exciting info or anything else you want to share AND… being able to keep in touch with your subscribers means that when they (or their cool friend) need your service, you’ll (hopefully) be the one they call! Why? Because your opt-in is the first step to working with you.

You need a service like Mailchimp because your opt-in is the first step to working with you. Click To Tweet

We luuuve Mailchimp! Here’s why:

We’ve got a long list but here are the main reasons:

• It’s easy to use.
• You can get your stats, percentages of opens (or not), find out who clicked (or didn’t), plus lots more helpful information!
• You’re able to customize it with your branding.
• You can keep everyone in one “list” or organized into separate lists or “groups”, which is nice when you only need to send something out to a particular group of people.
• You’re able to integrate it with lots of other services like social media, Etsy, Paypal, and lots more!
• You can easily add downloadable files like your opt-in freebie.
• You can send people to a specific URL as one of your email sign-up steps. Like this “Almost Finished” page.
• Mailchimp is easy to use and FREE for up to 2,000 subscribers!

Decide/do before creating your account

• Do you already have an email list that you will be uploading?
  • If Yes: You have 2 options, you can manually add each one or import your list. Click for import instructions.
  • If No: Then nothing to do now, you can add people to your list later and/or new subscribers can be added from your website.

Learn how to open and set up a free Mailchimp account in 5 simple steps. Click To Tweet

Creating your account

Follow these steps to create your Mailchimp account:

• Go here and click the blue “Sign Up Free” button.
• Enter your email, a username and password then click on “Create My Account.”
• Check your email to activate your account.
• Follow the prompts to Confirm Sign up, add your information and answer the questions in the next “Let’s Get Started” window. When you’re done, click “Save and Get Started.” Once your account is created, you’ll be taken to the main Mailchimp window.
• Next, click on down arrow by your name (top right) and go “Profile” and “Account” to edit any necessary information and settings.

That’s it! Super simple. Now you can create new “Campaigns” (emails), add to or create new “Lists”, create a “Signup form” for that list, make one or multiple email “Templates” that you can use over and over for your email Campaigns, and other fun! Learn how to do all of this and more with Mailchimp’s handy-dandy Resource Guides.

PRO TIPS:
1) For extra shine and professionalism, create a landing page on your website just for your opt-in freebie like this one. Now it’s easy to Tweet, share in Facebook Groups, etc.

2) It’s never too soon to start collecting email addresses. In fact, we suggest setting up an account and getting started BEFORE you even build your website. (See what else we suggest too.) All you need to do is create an account, set up your list and integrate it with Facebook, or use your list signup URL as your “website” address in Twitter, etc. There are a ton of places you can share your Mailchimp list signup form URL!

Keeping in touch with your subscribers is important because, yeah…it gets your info shared when you need to, but more importantly, it helps people get to know and trust you.

Do you have your Mailchimp account set up? Do you need help getting it set up? We can help! We will also happily test our your sign-up form and give you feedback if you’d like. Tell us in the comments below.