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Madison, Wisconsin
Powderkeg Web Design
July 17, 2017

MailChimp 101: Email Marketing and Automation

Elise
Elise
MailChimp 101: Email Marketing and Automation

The concept of email marketing may sound overwhelming, especially for a local business. Don’t be discouraged just yet, I have good news! There is a way for you to manage email lists, campaigns, and even analytics all in one place. May I present…… MailChimp! A free and easy way for you to gain the benefits email marketing has to offer.

Let’s break down some of the top features.


 

Email Lists

MailChimp allows you to create email lists based on existing contacts. If you don’t have an existing contact list to import, no problem! You can create new email lists by implementing one of MailChimp’s signup forms online. Once you have created your lists, you may organize them in segments. This is useful for when you only want to reach a specific subgroup of contacts during an email send. After you start sending emails, you can view statistics on what your contacts do with the email.

MailChimp List View


 

Templates

MailChimp offers editable templates for you to customize or you have the option to code your own. Templates allow you to use a consistent layout multiple times, and it’s a great time saver considering you don’t have to start from scratch for every campaign.

MailChimp Template View


 

Campaigns

This section is where you will create an actual campaign by:

  1. Selecting a contact list (or segment)
  2. Entering the email information (like the subject)
  3. Selecting a layout or template to edit
  4. Sending the email immediately or scheduling a send date/time

After you run a campaign, you can view various reports on its performance .

MailChimp Campaign View


 

Automation

Automation seems to be a very popular topic these days, and for good reason. Integrating automation within your email marketing can save you time and even add functionality that may otherwise be practically impossible for you to maintain. MailChimp offers a variety of automation options, some standing alone within MailChimp and others integrating with different software.  Want to send your contacts an email on their birthday, sure! Oh, and notify online shoppers of an abandoned cart? Ok!

MailChimp Automation View


This is simply a highlight of MailChimp’s main features. As mentioned, it’s free to make an account so I suggest checking it out! If you’re still feeling a bit overwhelmed, don’t worry! Stay tuned for more detailed “how-tos” for each of the features we just discussed.

Already have an account but need some help getting started or creating a template? We’d love to help! Just shoot us an email at support@powderkegwebdesign.com.