Thanks to its numerous plugins, the content management system (CMS) WordPress offers many opportunities to expand its features. You could manage orders from a WordPress online store as an administrator or be in charge of a whole community using just the dashboard. You can also use this practical CMS to push your e-mail marketing. Plugins can help you to create effective registration forms for your WordPress site. Connecting the CMS with MailChimp is a simple process. We explain to you how to achieve this MailChimp/WordPress partnership and what you have to do to create a form and integrate it into your site.
The online service, MailChimp, lets you easily design newsletters, create e-mail marketing campaigns and measure how successful they are. The tool is also well known as the free version already offers many useful features – especially for small and medium-sized businesses. With the free version, however, you are limited in the number of newsletter subscribers and the number of mails you can send per month. In addition, there’s also a reference to MailChimp in the e-mails that you will have to put up with.
The service is especially popular because of its ease-of-use; even beginners are able to get to grips with the program it next to no time. You can quickly implement the following actions using the software:
MailChimp isn’t the right solution for everyone: if you’re not set on using WordPress, you should also take a look at the competition!
In order to use MailChimp in WordPress, you first need a (free) account with a newsletter provider. Afterwards, you need to install the plugin ‘MailChimp for WordPress’ and then you’re able to create registration forms for your website. We explain in a step-by-step way how both services can be combined with one another.
The platform for e-mail marketing offers a free version that should be more than enough for beginners. In order to be able to register, you only need an e-mail address for MailChimp, your full name, and your postal address. This information is important for your registration and also plays an important role when sending e-mails: with this information, MailChimp can display the proper sender in the newsletters. If you already know that you want to work with numerous lists, you can also choose to work with more lists. After setting up your account, MailChimp will automatically create the first list.
There are numerous plugins for WordPress: the most frequently used plugin at the moment is MailChimp for WordPress. This free extension can be added to the CMS with just one click. To find the plugin, simply search for ‘MailChimp’ in the available plugins overview. Don’t forget that plugins still need to be activated, which can be done with a further click.
After installation, MailChimp for WordPress will appear under the added plugins. If you’ve already activated the extension, you can also access the configuration options for the plugin via the dashboard’s sidebar.
If you look at the plugin’s general settings, you will notice that the status still reads ‘NOT CONNECTED’: you must, therefore, link the newsletter service and the CMS. This is when an API key is needed.
An interface key like this one can be created via your MailChimp account settings. In the ‘Extras’ tab, you will find the menu item entitled ‘API keys’. By just clicking once, you can create an individual key. Here it’s also possible to monitor, organize, and stop API keys.
The key can be copied and pasted into WordPress. As long as you save the entry, the plugin will link itself with your MailChimp account. Then your various lists will be displayed.
An API key should be protected just as with a password. With each individual key, information – yours and that of your subscribers’ – can be extracted from MailChimp. Therefore, you have to make sure that the keys stay private. Via MailChimp, you can see which app has used the API key and even at what time. If you are worried at any point, you can deactivate the key as a precaution.
After you have set up MailChimp and the plugin and linked them to one another, you can start to create a registration form. This can be done on WordPress directly.
The plugin has lists and different fields available so that you can create forms as you please. In the initial variant, you have the option of asking for the e-mail address, name, and date of birth. Additionally, you can choose three different ways of adding potential subscribers to your form:
If you want to add additional fields in the form, you have to create them in MailChimp. Bring up the list that you want to work with and go to the settings of that particular list. This is where you can add further fields for postal addresses, telephone numbers, the subscriber’s gender, and so on.
Save the changes in MailChimp and go back to the display with the WordPress plugins: there you can update the form fields and at your form at the end. This will appear as HTML code, which is how you can make changes in the source code.
Furthermore, you can configure it so that the user receives a message after they have clicked on the register button. The plugin enables you to enter a suitable message (or use a default message) for every possible scenario. For example, this could be a thank you message after a successful registration, an error message if fields haven’t been filled out properly or accidentally left blank, or an indication that the entered e-mail address is already in use.
Under the form settings, you can answer the following important questions:
In the settings for designing the form, you can also change the theme of the mask. It’s not recommended, however, to change the specifications of the WordPress theme that you’ve chosen since this is how you add the subscription mask into the existing website. While you are carrying out the changes, you can preview how it looks at any time throughout.
There are several possibilities for incorporating a registration form into your website. You just need to decide where you want to place your input mask. If you are planning on integrating the reference your newsletter in a post or on a page, then you will need this shortcode:
[mc4wp_form]you can create several forms with the premium version of MailChimp for WordPress. These will be equipped with an ID, which is also part of the corresponding shortcode.
Just write the text for your web page and insert the shortcode where you want the form to be embedded within the text.
The same applies for pages: here you also need to enter the shortcode in the desired spot. The special subpage can also be placed in the website menu. By doing this, website visitors will always see the reference to the newsletter.
It can also be very effective if you place your registration form as a widget on your website. You can use the input mask either in the sidebar or in the footer. The plugin MailChimp for WordPress has already stored a widget containing your form. Just drag and drop it where you want it to appear on your site. Make sure that the order is the same in the backend as the order on the site.
MailChimp for WordPress also works with other plugins. In order to make your application form even more appealing, MailChimp for WordPress works together with Boxzilla. With this additional plugin, you can have your registration form displayed as a page overlay. Again, there are several settings to choose from:
Now you have created your registration form for your WordPress website: so now what? Users can now sign up for your service. Interested website visitors will enter in their personal information that you’ve requested. MailChimp gives you the option to decide yourself which fields are obligatory or not. Since you are likely to use a double-opt-in method, an e-mail with a confirmation link is automatically sent to the user. If the user confirms that they actually want to register for the newsletter, they will be forwarded to a page generated by MailChimp. A quick test will prove that the user is human, and not a bot, and they will then be added to the newsletter list.
to get people interested in your newsletter, you could offer some incentives. A few tips and tricks help to increase the amount of people on your e-mail list
You’ve now mastered the first steps towards successful e-mail marketing. Now you must also execute your campaigns. You should plan the subject of your newsletter up to the correct e-mail signature. It can also be quite challenging to create appropriate content for your newsletter. In any case, be sure to meet the requirements of your target group: then your e-mail marketing campaign will go down well with your customers.
Email marketing is a proven way to keep customers or users up to date – even in times of social media. WordPress newsletter plugins are the perfect tools to create digital newsletters and integrate them into your project. Read on to find out more about the best extensions for your privacy-compliant WordPress newsletter.
From back ends to widgets: if you are new to WordPress, you may have been confronted with lots of unknown terms. Many users come across some puzzling terms even as early on as installation. To be able to set up your website without a hitch and join the community it definitely helps to understand the most important WordPress terms.
Do you want to have your own website, but you have hardly any programming skills? With a content management system, you can create a homepage for yourself or your company without HTML knowledge. Our WordPress guide will guide you step-by-step through the website making process, from installing and setting up WordPress, to creating content and publishing your material.
Provide powerful and reliable service to your clients with a web hosting package from IONOS.
View packages