Many bloggers and online business owners reach a point that personalized emails are not always an option. In the midst of other business tasks, it’s difficult to manage your email marketing campaign. In fact, even when you’re not busy, it’s difficult to make the correct marketing decisions.

MailChimp is an email automation service that gives you the power to focus on other parts of your business. This article will explain the installation process for the Mailchimp Wordpress Plugin. In only 4 steps, you can automate your entire WordPress email marketing campaign.

Step 1: Find MailChimp in the Plugins Tab

Once you’ve logged into your WordPress dashboard, you will notice the vertical menu on the left side of the screen. Near the bottom of this menu, you can access a “Plugins” tab that offers a few more options. Select “Add New” to access a plugin search window.

Choose Between Two Versions

After searching for MailChimp, you may notice two versions of the plugin: one for WordPress, and one for WordPress lite. It’s better to start with the lite version as you can always upgrade to the full MailChimp Wordpress Plugin at a later time.

When you’ve queued the correct version of MailChimp for installation, you must then check the plugin’s corresponding box and click “Apply”. This will arm the installation, and the download will begin once you’ve returned to the plugin installer.

Step 2: Setup Your MailChimp Connection

Once you’ve installed the MailChimp for WordPress plugin, you will be asked to activate the product. Upon doing so, MailChimp will gain access to its own slot in your vertical WordPress dashboard.

In most cases, installing the MailChimp WordPress plugin will automatically create a MailChimp account with the same information as your WordPress account. If this isn’t the case, you will be asked to create a separate MailChimp account.

Link the Plugin to the API

The most important part of this step is linking your MailChimp plugin with the correct API. You can access the MailChimp API tab in your account settings, and you will be prompted as to which API is necessary for your account.

Your API information will save under your MailChimp data tab, and you can use this tab to view important statistics about your email lists and campaigns.

Understanding API usage gets advanced, but for these purposes, it’s only important to know that correct API setup is what allows your MailChimp account to automate information from other WordPress plugins and features.

Step 3: Choose your Settings

This is part of the installation process, but you can adjust any of your chosen settings at a later time. The primary objective of the MailChimp WordPress plugin is to add readers to your mailing list. As a result, your settings should be centered around creating the best environment for your website to gain more subscribers.

Objectively speaking, there are no best ways to configure your Mailchimp settings. You will need to experiment to learn what feels best for your website. Among your options are pop-up advertisements to solicit subscriptions, subscription checkboxes in various parts of your site or a combination of settings within those two fields.

Set User Forms

The settings tab also holds the “Forms” section of the plugin. User forms are an important part of getting the full value from the MailChimp WordPress plugin, but you may need an HTML specialist to create the proper forms for your site. As with the other options in the setting tab, there are many customizable features form features including “thank you” messages upon completion.

Step 4: Creating Your Signup, Embedded and Subscriber Forms

We hinted at the necessary HTML for form creation in the previous step, but Mailchimp provides another solution for those willing to endure a longer installation process. Through the MailChimp website, users have the option to create basic forms for generic situations on their websites. This form creation is based on a graphical interface, and it bypasses all HTML coding.

For example, you can create a custom signup form that users will see on certain pages of your site. This is why taking the previous step seriously is so important; if you don’t understand your chosen settings, you will miss out on many avenues for customer interaction.

Embedded or Not?

On the other hand, your embedded form is something that exists entirely outside of your settings page. This form gives you cut-and-paste access to any page on your site. You can use these forms to collect data or gain subscribers that slipped past the first form. Unfortunately, the embedded form is often problematic and sometimes requires the assistance of a web developer. The code behind the scenes sometimes conflicts with your WordPress settings.

Last, subscriber forms are the most important of the lot. These forms are your main tool for building a solid email list. It’s customary to use these forms to make a promise to your readers. Then, grant it to them upon subscribing. You may offer a discount on a product or special information as a reward for joining the email list. In the end, you will experiment with your site and arrange your forms to best suit your personalized campaign.

You can also watch this short clip for more details:

Bottom Line

Installing the MailChimp WordPress plugin depends on several variables, and you must always make decisions with an end result in mind. These 4 steps will prepare you for base level marketing automation. However, learning the best practices for continued growth and automation can only come with practice. Once you’ve installed and learned the tricks of MailChimp, you will have more time to focus on your business.

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