MailChimp stands out from the crowd as the most versatile and easy to use email marketing service.
Most of the beginners start with them when they first get to know about Email marketing but eventually stop using it due to a lack of automation features.
To make you go wow, here’s a spoiler, MailChimp does let you use every automation feature on the forever free account too.
Many of the newbies don’t know that they can actually set an automated welcome, onboard campaign or an automated RSS push in their free MailChimp account as well.
In this step by step guide, I will show you how to create and start an autoresponder in MailChimp forever free account.
MailChimp offers you a free account for having up to 2000 email subscribers and sending 12000 emails a month with a limit of 2000 emails in a given 24 hours. This limit is pretty good for any beginner as well as an intermediate blogger and marketer too.
To Set an autoresponder in free MailChimp account follow the steps given below –
Step 1 – Sign Up For A Free MailChimp Account
If you aren’t having a MailChimp account, you need to create one.
Go ahead to the signup page and create an account. Enter your email and remember to choose a strong password since you are going to store your subscriber’s email here. Once you have signed up at MailChimp you need to verify your email address.
After you have verified your email, move on to the second step.
Step 2 – Click On Start A Campaign Button And Select Email
Click on the create campaign button on the above right corner of your campaigns menu section in your MailChimp dashboard. this will show you all of your existing campaigns if you have already created some.
The very next moment you click on the create campaign button a popup will appear asking you to select the type of campaign you want to create from available options.
The option you need to select is the “create an email” option. Select this option and move on to the next step.
Step 3 – Select “Automated” From The Popup Menu
When you click on the email option, you will be asked for what type of email campaign you want to create. One the head above on the popup you can see several options such as regular and automated. Select the Automated option from here and move on to the next step.
Step 4 – Select The Welcome Message Option
This will open up a new popup window which will ask you what type of email you want to create. Select the welcome email here. This welcome email is set to be automated so that whenever a new subscriber joins your list, they get their ethical bribe delivered.
On the next window, name the welcome email campaign. This name will be used by you to differentiate between multiple emails so it’s up to you what you want to call it. It can Subscriber one or Blog List etc.
Step 5 – Design Your Campaign And Welcome Email
Design your email and include your ethical bribe in it.
Prepare your campaign and make sure it looks great by using appropriate images and colors. Try to personalize your emails as much as possible. Build a strong relationship through a remarkable first impression.
Once you have created the email and designed it successfully. click o the start workflow button at the bottom right corner of your screen.
MailChimp will ask you for confirmation one more time and you should verify all the details here. Once you are done, launch your campaign and voila! your email autoresponders are ready and live.
Now that you have successfully created an autoresponder, you need to drive maximum leads to generate more subscribers for your list. For collection leads, you need to use either a free tool or a dedicated plugin for WordPress which will help you to create an optin form to display on your blog.
Some good habits for keeping your subscribers engaged and stay loyal are:-
- No Spamming
- Lesser Emails
- A fixed routine for sending your Emails
- Quality promotions
- personalization
These points are crucial to make sure your subscribers are being engaged. Moreover, try to write your emails on your own rather than hiring a freelancer. This will help you to connect with your subscribers easily.
Also, Subscribe to BforBloggers and get your free ebook and template to generate more leads and build your mailing list.
P.S. Get some of these free and premium optin form builder plugins for WordPress too so that you can build your mailing list, fast.
hi im using a visual page builder called Thrive Themes, do i have to subscribe for a premium service for mail chimp to automate my email. my visual builder comes with its own landing pages. i just need to put it on autopilot.
Connect Mailchimp to Thrive Themes and create autoresponders, that’s it.
Does Mailchimp have segmentation in free acc too?
YES!
Good guide, but you cannot create more than a welcome email using a free MailChimp account. In order to send autoresponders, which MC calls email series, you need to upgrade to a paid account.
Actually, you can. Most people don’t know that as it’s a new addition to core free plans.
Does the free version of Mailchimp allow for a series of automated emails – like 7 days worth? If not, do you know of a WordPress plugin that will?
Thank you!
It does, and you can use Icegram or Mailmuch for optin forms.
Hi Aayush, I have a question for you. I have set up my Autoresponder in Mailchimp however, something I have noticed when testing the link through my website is that if I test with the same email each time, it responds with a notice saying something like “that email address is already in the Audience” & wont proceed further.
I’m concerned that if I have a subscriber who has already downloaded something I am promoting & they return to download the same document again perhaps because they have misplaced the original, they wont be allowed to get through & potentially, may move away from me. With the free Mailchimp subscription, there are only limited audiences that one can have.
Is there a way around this? Many thanks, Colleen
That’s normal when you test the emails, use a unique email which is not in the email list and it will work fine.
Just a heads up, but I just created a new MailChimp account and can confirm that you CANNOT send more than one email in an autoresponder. To do this, you must sign up for at least a premium account.
HOWEVER, I noticed that in an existing free MailChimp account I’ve for a few years that I still have the option to create a free autoresponder campaign. So if you have an existing MailChimp account from before (whenever) they made this change, it will work. If you sign up for a new account today, it will not work.
Just thought I’d mention that in case you want to update this article. It’s unfortunate because I’ve been recommending MailChimp to people in part because of the ability to create autoresponders with a free account.
In that case, we have Moosend and Mailerlite.
Mailchimp’s 12000 emails a month are good for beginner email marketing campaigns. Thank you for sharing the blog post!