I’ll be stating the obvious here, but the most accurate help you can get for MailChimp is right on their site. I could research all the steps for how to use signup forms, but my post would only be good until MailChimp makes the next change or enhancement. That said, I’ll be sharing a number of links to help you see the possibilities for a signup form for your subscribers. This list of links won’t be exhaustive; check MailChimp’s Knowledge Base for more helpful how-tos.

Signup Form for MailChimp Subscribers

MailChimp automatically creates signup forms, but I recommend personalizing your form with your name and a photo (or use the name and look of your blog). You want potential subscribers to know they’re in the right place. Go to Lists / Signup forms to customize your forms.

Watch the video and read the article, Add a Signup Form to Your Website, for an overview on forms. They’ll cover subjects quickly, but you can slow the video down to understand a lot about forms. The video is really more than just about having a form on a website. I recommend you watch it and look for the following:

• Have a link to your signup form on your website or embed the form.
• Place your form in a tab in your Facebook page.
• Edit the different fields in a form.
• Share the form through social media or a QR code.
• Insert the text of your form into a web page on your site.
• Embed different versions of your form into your site.

Check at the very bottom of this article for a list of sites that support embedded MailChimp forms including Weebly, Tumblr, WordPress, and Blogspot.

Your Signup Form on Your Facebook Page

Do you have a Facebook page? Follow these instructions to embed your signup form on a tab in a Facebook page that you administrate. After following Facebook’s steps, if you don’t see a tab for your subscription on your page, click on the “more” tab and then on “manage tabs” to change which tabs will be your first three tabs.

If you don’t have a blog, but want to use a Facebook page instead, having a signup form here could be an option for you. I recommend researching the advantages and disadvantages of using a Facebook page instead of a Facebook group (or a blog) before deciding. Facebook limits the feeds from your Facebook sites, so in general, a blog with MailChimp emails from your posts is your best option.

Encouraging Subscriptions through an Email

Your MailChimp form lives on the web so you don’t have to have a website or a Facebook page for it. Follow these instructions for sending an email with a link to your MailChimp signup form.

How Your Subscribers Update Their Profiles

Your current subscribers can update their profiles on your signup form, but I’d recommend sending them to a profile update form. Learn more here. This is on my to-do list.

MPD Considerations

Your give.cru.org site is your minimum web presence so why not include a link to your MailChimp form for people to sign up for your eNewsletters?

Chimpadeedoo, MailChimp’s app, allows you to enter your new subscriber’s information while you’re on an appointment. Later, you push the new subscriber to MailChimp. Reviewers mentioned some bugs for the app, so if you want to try this, comment below on what you think of this tool.

Do you need to update the look of your subscription form? Do you need to publish it on your website?

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Visit the Table of Contents for the You-Can-Too series posts. This post is part of both the website and communication portions of the series. Keep following the series for posts on databases, communication, websites, and social media.

NOTES:

• New to MailChimp? Here’s Getting Started, on MailChimp’s site.
• Find more info about MailChimp’s lists and forms here.
• Check out MailChimp’s video tutorials.
• Having a form associated with Twitter actually is for Twitter users who are using advertising. It’s probably not useful or available for you as an individual. If you represent a larger group, check out the information on MailChimp about Twitter and, if needed, send them an email at customersupport@mailchimp.com.