3-Steps To Send Multiple Freebies Using Just One List In MailChimp - For Free.
For all of you in the early stages of business, saving the moula is pretty important.
MailChimp has a lot to offer you for free, but I know many of you aren't quite sure how to get the most out of it so here's how I hope I can help. Many people believe that you must create a separate list for every email opt-in you create when using MailChimp, but this is not true.
Here's how most people create a freebie using MailChimp
- Create a cool freebie like a helpful excel template!
- Go into MailChimp and create a list for this freebie and call it Excel template freebie
- Create a welcome email with the freebie download so anyone who joins that list gets the download with their welcome email
And this is totally okay! But once you have more than two or three freebies under your belt you soon find having so many lists a pain. It's not easy to email everyone on all your email lists when you send newsletters and it becomes more difficult to manage than it has to be. Fortunately, there is another way.
Input form fields in MailChimp
The internet is full of forms! We've all used them and likely your humble email opt-in form could be working a lot harder for you than it currently is if you're using MailChimp.
HTML Forms are made up of fields & buttons.
Form "fields" collect information like Email, Name, Address, Phone Number and "buttons" are responsible for confirming you entered in all the information requested and sending that info to your email system like MailChimp.
I have two freebies below that each deliver their own freebie. With MailChimp, I can track which page you downloaded my freebie from. You can already be on my list and download all my freebies and I don't have to create a new list for every freebie I offer.
Fields and buttons
Website forms are used to collect all kinds of information for us. We use them as Opt-In forms that collect names and email addresses, we see them in survey tools, they are used whenever we are asked for information online. They are little powerhouses! Your Opt-In Form can do more for you than you think.
In the example below, we have 2-fields and a button. Fields come in various flavors. Most of us use text fields.
Input Fields
Text fields are INPUT fields in forms and this just means that people can "input" information into them in a text format. Your name and email form fields collect text so they are text type input fields :)
Most freebie opt-in forms have 2-3 things max:
- A Name
- An Email
- A way to submit the info (A Button)
Forms have "input fields" to collect NAME & EMAIL information. Each "input field" has space for you to define a label and the input type and a value.
Let's see how code looks for the example below:
This is the name field
<label for="mce-name">**this was left blank in the example below**</label>
<input type="text" value="Name" name="name" class="" id="mce-name">
This is the email field
<label for="mce-name">**this was left blank in the example below**</label>
<input type="text" value="Email Address" name="email" class="" id="mce-email">
Notice how there is nothing in the label space in this example. If this form had labels, you would see that info outside the form box. This form is using the form values as labels helping us know what info to put where. When we enter in our own Name and Email Address, our values will replace the default values put into the form code as placeholders.
This basic understanding of what your opt-in form input field code is doing will help you understand what I'm going to ask you to do next!
Step One: Create your freebie opt-in form in MailChimp
Follow these steps in MailChimp to create your form, and add a new text field.
→ Go to: Signup forms then Form Builder to create your new freebie form code
→ Create a new TEXT field: Add a filed -> then choose text
→ Field Label = OPTIN
→ Field Tag = OPTIN
→ Make that field VISIBLE (and change it later)
→ Default Merge Tag Value = Name-Of-Optin (I used "testfreebie" in my example below, this is where you put a name for each opt-in with no spaces)
Step Two: Grab the code MailChimp gives you & pop this into your website to edit it
→ This time head back to SignUp Forms and click EMBEDDED FORMS
→ Copy the code 
→ Now paste this code into your website where you want your opt-in form
-----FIND YOUR NEW TEXT FIELD IN THE CODE YOU PASTED INTO YOUR WEBSITE. IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE THIS-----
<div class="mc-field-group">
<label for="mce-OPTIN">OPTIN</label>
<input type="text" value="" name="OPTIN" class="" id="mce-OPTIN">
</div>
----CHANGE IT TO THIS-------
<div class="mc-field-group">
<label for="mce-OPTIN">***leave a space here***</label>
<input type="hidden" value="testfreebie" name="OPTIN" class="" id="mce-OPTIN">
</div>
→ Save this page as a draft until you have created your opt-in download email ;-)
Step Three: Create the automation in MailChimp that delivers your new freebie!
{Check-out the video below that shows you how this looks}
→ Go to Campaigns then click on Campaign over on the right
→ Choose Email then Automated
→ Then Subscriber Activity, Welcome New Subscribers
→ Name your campaign and then **choose your main email list** & click "begin"
→ Now click "Change Trigger" top left next screen
→ Then click on List Management
→ Click on "Changed list field to value" - then on the next screen under "settings" select the "Opt-In" field you created
→Still on the same page, In the "value changes to" box put the name you used for your freebie when you created your form (needs to be exactly the same, no spaces)
❤︎ And that's it! Do this once and you can repeat these 3-Steps easily.
Any Q's always happy to help.
You've made it to the end and as always I'm very happy you found your way here today. If you found this content helpful, please subscribe to my email list. I'd be so honoured to have you.
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