Sending an Email Blast to Your List

The most basic MailChimp feature is to send an email blast to your entire list. They are referred to as Campaigns in MailChimp. This tutorial teaches beginners exactly how to create, design, format, and schedule automated emails in MailChimp. Taught by a tech nerd, you will learn advanced skills in a “beginner” language! Learn to send MailChimp campaigns today!

Getting Started in MailChimp

After logging in, you can manage emails by clicking Campaigns at the top. This is where you will view existing emails, send new emails, and edit email drafts.

You can preview emails by clicking the arrow button and selecting View Email.

When creating emails, you can either create a new email campaign from scratch or create an email by duplicating an existing email campaign.

Create an email by duplicating an existing email campaign:

1. To use an existing campaign as a starting point, first find the campaign in the list.
2. To create a copy of the email, click the arrow button and select Replicate.
   
3. At the top of the screen, click Edit name at the top and add the internal name for your reference. Click Save.
4. You can continue to Setup the details of the email.

Create a new email campaign from scratch:

1. Click the Create Campaign
2. In the popup, click Create an Email.
   
3. Enter the internal name of the email in the Campaign Name field, and click Begin.
   
4. You can continue to Setup the details of the email.

Setup the details of the email:

1. You will select the recipients of the email under the To section.
   1. Click Add/Edit Recipients.
   2. In the dropdown, select the list you want to email.
      The Segment dropdown defaults to “All subscribers on list.”
      You could also send to either a new segment that you create or a built-in one. (I find that I often create custom segments!)

2. Click Save when you are finished selecting your audience.
3. Setup the way the email looks in the inbox:
   1. In the From section, click Add/Edit From.
   2. Enter your name and email address is it will display in the inbox, app email notifications, etc. Click Save.
   3. Next to Subject, click the Add/Edit Subject button.

Creating & Designing the Email:

1. In the Content section, click Design Email or Edit Design to open the email editor.
   When creating a new email, you first have to select a template and click Next.
   (For a basic email, I will select either 1 Column or 1 Column – Full Width” under the Basic section.)

2. When you are finished editing the email and are ready to send it, click Save and Close to return to the email details.

The Email Design Environment

• The left side of the screen is the email preview, and the right side of the screen is where you can insert content, edit design settings, and use the Comments feature.
  
• The content of the email is split up into modules called content blocks. Add content blocks from the Control Panel on the right. You can also rearrange them by dragging and dropping within the preview panel.
• When you click on a content block on the left side, it will open the editor on the right side. That is where you will change the copy in text modules, insert photos, change settings of your sections, etc.

Editing a Text Module

• Click on a text module to edit the text.
• Change the font design by changing the Font dropdown (second dropdown).
  (Click here to learn how to Use a custom font in MailChimp.)
• Change the font size in the Size dropdown (third dropdown).
  (Standard size is 14-16 pixels for paragraph text – headers can be bigger!)
• For emails with more content, or to separate content into more bite-sized pieces, you can use headers. Change the font of header text by selecting the text and selecting the appropriate selection in the Styles dropdown (first dropdown).
• You can change the color of selected text by clicking the font color button (or highlight text by clicking the button to the right of it).
  

My general design tips:

• Make sure your text looks consistent – your email will look so much more professional when your content is formatted intentionally.
  Be mindful about making sure your paragraph fonts are consistent – in both size and actual font face. You don’t want a mix of Times New Roman and Arial, or all different sizes. It’s best to look your best!
• Do a double-take and make sure there aren’t any loose ends!
  Some templates have a social media bar at the bottom of the email. Be sure to either update with your social media links or delete the block.
  • Click this module to edit it. You can select different social media channels in the various dropdowns and the icons will update. Then, add your link to the corresponding URL You can add up to 10 channels in each social follow block. You can add up to 10 per block,  but be sure to delete any links you aren’t using. Click Save & Close when you’re finished.
  • If you aren’t going to use it, delete the block so that your readers aren’t clicking broken links! Hover your mouse over the module and click the trashcan icon to delete it.
    

• To change the page color of the 1-Column template, from the main screen of the Control Panel, click the Design tab. Click Page and either paste the color’s HEX code in the Background field, or click inside the field to open the color selector. Click Save.
  

MailChimp even has a fun page to learn basic tips about email design!

Sending the Email Campaign

You can either send the email campaign now or schedule it to send at a specific time in the future.

To save as a draft and revisit later, click Finish later.

To send the email campaign now, click Send.

To send the email campaign in the future:

1. Click Schedule.
2. In the Delivery Date field, either type the date you’d like to send the email or click the calendar icon to open the date selector.
3. The Delivery Time offers several options, but 99% of the time it’s sufficient to simply select the time (and time zone!) using the dropdowns.
4. Once you’ve selected the date and time, click Schedule Campaign and you’re done!