Create and Promote an SMS Marketing Signup Form

After your SMS Marketing program is approved, create an SMS signup form to share with your subscribed contacts in an email, or add an SMS opt-in to your Mailchimp embedded form to gain new SMS contacts. After contacts sign up for your SMS marketing, you can send them SMS messages.

In this article, you’ll learn how to create and promote an SMS signup form.

Before you start

Here are some things to know before you begin this process.

• This article covers how to create and promote an SMS signup form. To learn more about how SMS Marketing works, check out About SMS Marketing with Mailchimp.
• SMS Marketing is available as an add-on feature for customers in the United States with an Essentials plan or higher, a Legacy Monthly plan, or Mailchimp Pro. To change your plan type, visit the plans page in your account.
• You must be an account Owner, Admin, or Manager to work with SMS Marketing. Learn more about the different user levels in Mailchimp.
• Before you can create and promote an SMS signup form, you need to submit an application and be approved.
• You need to obtain SMS marketing consent from your contacts, which is different from email marketing consent.
• SMS Marketing allows you to set up your program with a single Mailchimp audience.

How it works

The SMS signup form allows your subscribed email contacts to opt in to your SMS marketing. After your SMS Marketing application is approved, you can access an auto-generated landing page that includes a SMS signup form with the required Email Address field and the SMS Phone Number field. Customize the form, then send it in an email to collect SMS marketing opts in from your subscribed email contacts.

If you want to acquire SMS marketing consent from new contacts, enable the SMS opt-in on your embedded form, then add the form to your website. When the SMS Phone Number field is enabled on your embedded form, a legal checkbox also appears. A contact needs to enter an SMS phone number and agree to the legal terms to opt in for your SMS marketing.

After a contact completes the SMS signup form or the embedded form with an SMS opt-in, they’re added to your Mailchimp audience as a subscribed SMS contact. You can view the marketing status of your SMS contacts in the SMS Marketing column on the contact table for your audience. A contact’s SMS marketing status is also stored in their contact profile.

Your subscribed SMS contacts can reply to any SMS message with ‘help’ for more information or ‘stop’ to unsubscribe from future SMS marketing. SMS credits aren’t required to send keyword auto-responses since they are considered compliance messages.

Create an SMS signup form

Create an SMS signup form on a landing page to obtain permission from your contacts for your SMS marketing. You can also add an SMS opt-in to your embedded form.

To create an SMS signup form on a landing page, follow these steps.

1. Click Campaigns, then click SMS.
   
2. In the Grow your audience section, click Get started.
   
3. Customize your SMS signup form as needed. We automatically enable the required Email Address field and the SMS Phone Number field on your form.
4. When you’re ready, click Save & Publish.
5. To make changes to the page title, site icon, social share preview, URL, audience and tags, content, or settings and tracking, click Go to checklist. You can also click Edit page to make content and design changes.

Excellent! You’ve successfully created your SMS signup form.

Promote your SMS signup form in an email

After you create your SMS signup form, promote it with an email to invite your subscribed email contacts to opt in to your SMS marketing.

To promote your SMS signup form in an email, follow these steps.

1. Click Campaigns, then click SMS.
   
2. In the Promote your SMS program section, click Get started.
3. Customize your email as needed. A link to your signup landing page is added automatically.
4. When you’re ready, click Save and exit. If you want to preview your email before you send, click Preview.
5. Complete the To, From and Subject sections. Use a clear subject line that tells your subscribed email contacts the purpose of the email. For example, “Sign up for SMS.”
6. In the Send time section, click Add Send Time.
7. If you want to send your email immediately, click Send now, then click Save.
8. If you want to schedule your email for a future date, click Schedule a time. Enter a specific date and time, or schedule your email with Send Time Optimization, batch delivery, or Timewarp depending on your pricing plan and user level. When you’re ready, click Save.
9. When all sections are complete and your email settings are set up like you want them, click Send or Schedule. If you want to send or schedule your email at a later date, click Finish later.

That’s it! You’ve successfully sent or scheduled an email to promote your SMS Marketing program. When a subscribed email contact completes your SMS signup form, they're added to your Mailchimp audience as a subscribed SMS contact.

Add an SMS opt-in to your embedded form

To collect SMS permission from new contacts, add an SMS opt-in to your Mailchimp embedded form.

To add an SMS opt-in to your embedded form, follow these steps.

1. Click Audience, then click Signup forms.
   
2. Select Embedded forms.
   
3. In the embedded forms builder, click Form Fields.
   
4. Toggle on the SMS phone number field. When the SMS Phone Number field is enabled, the legal checkbox also appears on your embedded form. The SMS phone number field is different from the Phone number field.
   
5. Customize your embedded form as needed. When you’re ready, click Continue.
6. Click Copy Code.
   
7. Paste the code into your website where you want the form to appear.

Nice! You’ve successfully added an SMS opt-in to your Mailchimp embedded form.

Next steps

Now that you’ve created and promoted your SMS signup form, here are some next steps you can take to optimize your SMS marketing.

• About SMS Marketing with Mailchimp
  Learn about rate limits, quiet hours, and more.

• About SMS Marketing Credits
  Learn how SMS credits work and how to calculate the right amount for your marketing.

• Create and Send an SMS Marketing Message
  Learn how to create and send SMS marketing messages to your subscribed contacts.