mailchimp email marketing
TRANSCRIPT
HandsOnWP.com @nick_batik @sandi_batik
Getting Started With eMail Marketing Using MailChimp
Austin WordPress Meetup - Aug. 17, 2015
Nick BatikCo-organizer Austin WordPress MeetupCTO Hands On WordPress TrainingHandsOnWP.com
Follow @Nick_Batik
HandsOnWP.com @nick_batik @sandi_batik
PresentersSandi Batik - Event Host & Organizer
WordPress evangelist, consultant, trainer, curricula developer, author, unapologetic geek, unrepentant capitalist, lucky enough to do what I love everyday. I’ve served as Austin WordPress Meetup co-organizer since 2010. With my husband Nick Batik, co-founded Pleiades Publishing Services in 1992 and Hands-On WordPress Training in 2010.
Follow me @sandi_batik / @WPATX
Contact me at: handsonwp.com
Nick Batik
Started in web development in 1994 and have been a WordPress consultant, and web developer since 2007. A WordPress evangelist, I’ve served as Austin WordPress Meetup co-organizer since 2010. With my partner, co-founded Pleiades Publishing Services in 1992 and Hands-On WordPress Training in 2010.
Follow me @nick_batik / @WPATX
Contact me at: handsonwp.com
HandsOnWP.com @nick_batik @sandi_batik
What We Will Cover❖ Building Lists ❖ List widgets ❖ Manual entry - requirements and restrictions ❖ Curating ❖ Creating Mailings ❖ Adding Analytics ❖ Resources
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Before You Push the Button on your first MailChip eMail campaign
There Is Some Stuff You Need To Know…
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Making sure your newsletters get to the right inboxes
❖ Acceptible❖ Clear email / newsletter signup form❖ Manual entry or recent customers
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Making sure your newsletters get to the right inboxes
❖ Not Acceptable❖ “Contact Us,” “Apply For A Quote,” or “More
Information” forms❖ Informally collected email addresses❖ Any kind of third party list (publicly available,
purchased, rented, or partner)❖ MailChimp Compliance Team
http://mailchimp.com/contact/?department=compliance
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Structuring Your eMail List
❖ You have the option to create multiple lists, but…❖ MailChimp determines monthly rates by total
subscriber count❖ duplicate subscribers across multiple lists
count toward that total
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Structuring Your eMail List
❖ Keep your list clean and your billing rate low:❖ by maintaining a single list❖ segmenting data❖ interest groups
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Creating Your List❖ Choose Lists from your MailChimp dashboard❖ Click the Create List button in the upper
righthand corner.❖ On the List details page, you can choose a name❖ Set the default From name and email address❖ Write a short subscribers remind – how and why
they’re receiving email from you.❖ When you’re finished, click Save.
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No Subscribers Yet? No Problem!
❖ MailChimp can automatically generate a signup form for your list, which you can easily:❖ customize❖ share❖ post on your website❖ add to your Facebook page
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Subscription Forms
❖ MailChimp offers the ability to easily customize subscription form options ❖ Gather to segment your list ❖ Forms require double opt-in❖ For more information about the double opt-in
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Importing Your eMail List❖ Importing a list of contacts or subscribers who
have opted-in to receiving email:❖ Uploading a CSV or tab delimited text file❖ Copying and pasting your list from Excel❖ Importing contacts from your
Mac Address Book❖ Import directly from a third-party application
or program—like Salesforce, Google Docs, or Highrise
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Building and Customizing Signup Forms
❖ MailChimp automatically generates a series of signup forms and response emails
❖ The Create forms page has tools to customize: ❖ Unsubscribe sequence, ❖ Update profile sequence❖ Double opt-in process
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Signup forms❖ Steps for creating and designing forms in MailChimp:
❖ Embedded forms - Generate code that can be embedded on your website
❖ Subscriber popup form - a signup form in a popup on your website
❖ Form integrations - ntegrations with Wufoo, CoffeeCup, Twitter, WordPress, and Squarespace
❖ Facebook form - Add a signup form to your Facebook page.
❖ Tablet form - Collect signups in store or at events with Chimpadeedoo for iPad or Android tablets
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Build it
❖ To build your signup form and begin customizing:
❖ Navigate to the Lists page.❖ Select the appropriate list.❖ click Signup forms, then General forms.❖ Click the Build it tab.
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Build It❖ Default fields: Email address, First name, and
Last name. Imported lists cab containing additional fields
❖ Add a field tab on the right side of the page❖ Customize field text and set default merge field
values❖ Click Save & Exit to save all changes to your
form
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Adding an Extra Security to Form
❖ Preventing spam bots from adding email addresses to your list:❖ Check the Protect your signup form with
reCAPTCHA❖ A Google reCAPTCHA box that says "I'm not a
robot." will be included on your signup form
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Design It❖ Choose the colors, styles, and fonts❖ Style changes are made universally and not form
by form ❖ MailChimp applies changes to each of the
other forms and response emails for your list❖ Use the MailChip Knowledge Base for tips on
customizing the look and feel of your list forms and response emails.
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Translate It
❖ Translate it tab enables or customized translations in any of MailChimp's 40+ supported languages
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Creating Templates and Campaigns
❖ Once your list and forms are set up, you’re ready to start building an email message to send out to your subscribers
❖ MailChimp refers eMail messages you design and send to your subscribers a “Campaign”
❖ Each campaign is built using a preset layout called a “template”
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Creating or Importing a Custom Templates
❖ You can import your own templates or create custom coded templates for design or branding needs
❖ Templates you create are found under the Saved Templates tab
❖ To customize templates you will need to use the MailChimp Template Language
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Creating a MailChip Campaign
❖ Variety of basic email layouts you can customize easily
❖ Many layouts use a drag and drop editor ❖ You can save your design as a template for
future campaigns
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Creating Campaigns
❖ Regular Campaigns❖ Plain-Text Campaigns❖ A/B Testing Campaigns❖ RSS-Driven Campaigns❖ You can create a series of automated emails with
MailChimp's Automation features
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Regular Campaigns❖ Recipients:❖ Determine which subscribers will receive the
campaign. ❖ You can choose to send it to the entire list ❖ Segmentation tool targets list
❖ subscriber data, campaign or e-commerce activity, group membership, manual selection, other
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Campaign Setup
❖ Choose a name (not visible to the recipient)❖ Email subject ❖ From name❖ From email address
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Tracking Options
❖ add Google Analytics tracking to track clicks from your campaigns all the way to purchases on your website
❖ If you want to track purchases, you'll want to be sure Google Analytics is set up to track conversions
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Merge tags❖ Merge tags personalize response emails, automation
workflows, and regular campaigns.❖ Merge tags pull personalized or dynamic data from your list
to:❖ Greet each subscriber by their first name in the email❖ Populate RSS or social media information❖ Translate content in a campaign❖ Populate unique coupon codes / links for each subscriber❖ Include/exclude content within each email based on a
subscriber’s profile information
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Merge tag Resources
❖ Getting Started with Merge Tags❖ All the Merge Tags Cheat Sheet❖ How Conditional (or Smart) Merge Tags Work❖ Smart Merge Tags and Groups❖ Troubleshooting Merge Tags
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Preview and Test Your Campaign
❖ Use Preview Mode to see how your campaign will render on desktop and mobile environments.
❖ If you're using merge tags in your campaign — they're replaced with placeholder text
❖ Placeholders let you know that the merge tags will be replaced with subscriber-specific information when you send the campaign
❖ You can preview subscriber-specific information before a campaign is sent
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Preview and Test Your Campaign
❖ Send test emails to any email address ❖ Preview the mobile version of your campaign
directly from your mobile device❖ Use the Link Checker to make sure that all links
in your campaign are valid❖ Set up Social Cards* for your campaign.
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Preview and Test Your Campaign
❖ Inbox Inspector❖ Automates the testing and renders campaign as they
will appear across multiple email clients❖ Can also run spam filter checks on the content to
help identify potential red flags in your campaign❖ Is free for all users with monthly paid accounts—up
to 25 inspections can be run each week at no cost. ❖ Users with free and pay-as-you-go plans can
purchase a single Inbox Inspection for $3
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Sending Your Campaign❖ Confirm is the final the step of the campaign building
process❖ Scan the campaign to verify that all previous steps
properly completed❖ Confirm will alert you to anything that might need
your attention before sending❖ You can preview both the HTML and plain-text
version❖ Run a final Inbox Inspection, or send one last test
email to make sure everything is just right
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Pushing SEND❖ Send the campaign immediately or to schedule it
for a specific date and time❖ Paid accounts have 3 additional scheduling
options:❖ Send Time Optimization❖ Timewarp❖ Batch Delivery
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Avoiding Spam Filters / Junk Files
❖ Learn how spam filters think❖ Spam filters look at a long list of criteria to
decide whether or not your email is junk❖ SPAM criteria grows/adapts as spam filters
learn more every time someone clicks the Mark as spam in their email client
❖ MailChimp has a dedicated guide - How to Avoid Spam Filters
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Common Mistakes❖ Lists: Sending to inactive, stale, or non-permission-
based lists❖ Formatting: ALL CAPS, crazy colors, and too !!!
many !!!exclamation !!! points !!!!❖ Content: Anything about getting money, paying less
money, or money-back guarantees❖ Code: Sloppy code, extra tags, code pulled in from
Microsoft Word❖ Images: Too many images, or one single image with
no text
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Mail Chimp Reports
❖ Help you analyze the performance of your campaign
❖ Provide insights for future campaigns❖ MailChimp Mobile give you access from your
mobile device❖ manage lists, add subscribers, send
campaigns, view your reports
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Understanding MailChimp Reports
❖ Overview gives you at-a-glance information about your campaign ❖ opens, clicks, social engagement,
unsubscribes, and bounces
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Understanding MailChimp Reports
❖ Activity menu❖ View or export recipients that interacted with
your campaign in a specific way❖ View all subscribers who received, opened,
didn’t open, or clicked a link in your campaign ❖ See which addresses bounced, unsubscribed,
or even filed an abuse complaint
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Understanding MailChimp Reports
❖ Links gives you a better idea of how well each tracked link within a campaign performed❖ Find a list of all tracked URLs from the
campaign❖ The number of total and unique clicks for each
one❖ Populate a click map to give you a visual
representation of how each link performed
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Understanding MailChimp Reports
❖ Social reveals who has:❖ liked your campaign on Facebook❖ provides a list of the top influencers and
referrers❖ displays a map of clicks from around the globe
❖ Keep in mind you’ll need integrate your account with Facebook