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Mailchimp 101

New to Mailchimp and not sure where to start? We’ll walk you through the basics so you know what to expect along the way.

Let’s start with your list

These are your contacts, your fans, your people. We’ll start your first list for you—all you have to do is add the rest of your subscribers before you send out your first email.

And list or no list, you can always log in and start playing around with our design tools. In fact, we recommend it.

Get started

Want to know more about lists? Here are a few resources to help.

No list? No problem.

Give people a way to join your list with a landing page.

Create A Landing Page Learn more about landing pages

Create your first email campaign

  • Pick your template

    We have templates for all types of messages—pick one based on your goal or a look you’re going for.

  • Add your content

    You can see all your updates in real time so it’s easy to see how it’s coming together.

  • Choose your audience

    Once you’re happy with your email, you choose who it will go to—whether that’s all your subscribers or one small segment.

  • Hit send

    This is the moment of truth. Not to worry, we’ll make sure everything’s good to go on our end before we send it out the door.

Want to learn more about email? It’s kind of our speciality.

Nice work. Once you’ve sent your first email campaign, you’re officially part of the club.

Next up? Try putting your emails on autopilot.

Cut out the busy work with automations

Automations are messages that get sent based on a trigger. You can set up a welcome series for new subscribers or an abandoned cart email when someone leaves stuff in their online cart.

Create a welcome series

Want to be an automation expert? Keep digging.

Unlock even more Mailchimp features

You get more from Mailchimp when you connect other tools or services, like your online store. Find your integrations in our directory, connect in a few steps, and unlock new features, just like that.

Explore the directory

Still curious about integrations? We’ve got you.

Here’s how you step up your game even more

  • Learning from your campaigns

    Mailchimp has built-in analytics so you can see who’s opening your emails, the kind of content they’re clicking on, and what’s working best to get smarter with what you send.

    See how it works

  • Test your emails to see what works

    Now that you’ve got the hang of this stuff, you can get even smarter with your marketing. Mailchimp makes it easy to set up A/B tests: one group gets Email A, one group gets Email B, and you see which performs better so you can adjust accordingly.

    Set up a test

  • Segmenting your audience

    By putting your subscribers in different buckets, you can personalize your messaging, focus on certain segments, and get more return for your effort.

    Explore segmentation

Success is yours

You’re ready to dive in to your Mailchimp account. And remember, you can always explore our guides and tutorials when you need a little help along the way.

It’s easy to get started

They say the first step is the hardest. So we made it free.

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