ACVO Guide to Newsletters #3

MailchimpMailchimp is an online marketing tool which is free to sign up to - with the basic Mailchimp account allowing you to have up to 2000 users.

Platforms like Mailchimp allow you to create a marketing campaign such as a e-newsletter, adverts and so much more. You can choose the date and time for your newsletter’s release. A great benefit of Mailchimp is it gives you various data reports on your campaign including how many people have opened and read your newsletter.

This section will show you how to build a newsletter on the platform and how to program its release.

Warning!If you use Mailchimp to do

your newsletter you must seek your contacts permission prior to sending them an

email.

This is in compliance with GDPR Legislation.

Getting started on Mailchimp

Signing up to Mailchimp is quick and painless. Click ‘create an account’ on the Mailchimp home page and you will then be asked to fill in the sign-up form using your email address.

Once you have completed the sign up and verified your information you will then see a page like this:

This is the Mailchimp dashboard.

The dashboard will give you a quick overview of your campaigns.

To start a campaign, press the “Create Campaign” button.

You will then be shown the different options.

Choose the email option.

You should then see the following screen:

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2.

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4.5.

1. This is the name of your campaign. For this example, we have called it the Aberdeen Community Justice Newsletter.

2. Add the recipients of your newsletter here. If you click on the ‘Add Recipients’ button you will then be taken through the step by step guide to upload your contacts.

3. Add the email address you want your readers to reply to.

4. This is the normal email subject line.

5. Click the ‘Design Email’ button and select any of the templates. For the following example we have selected the Basic 1 Column.

These are:

• Text- This tool allows you to add text to your design.• Boxed Text – Allows you to add boxed text to the design. • Divider – Will give you a divider between other tool options.• Image – Allows you to add any image you upload.• Image group – Gives you the option of adding multiple images.• Image Card – Allows you to add an image with title text.• Image + Caption – Add an image with a caption.• Social Share – Add social media buttons so the reader can share to

Facebook, Twitter and more.• Social Follow – Your reader can instantly access your social media.• Button – This is a great feature, you can use it as a call for action

where you can ask the reader to sign a petition, follow you on Social Media, visit your website etc.

• Footer – The footer is where you would add your organisations details and contact information.

• Video – You can also add a video to your newsletter using YouTube.

Your page should look like the following:

On the left-hand side is your preview which is built using the design tools on the right.

Let’s have a look at how to build your e-newsletter.

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We’ve put this example together by doing the following;

1. We’ve added an image using the ‘Image’ icon. We’ve chosen an image that we think will grab the readers attention.

2. We’ve used ‘Boxed Text’ to give our e-newsletter a title. Click on the boxed text icon and drag it onto the canvas. You will then be shown the options on the right-hand side to add your text. By clicking on the ‘style’ tab you can also change the appearance of the box including the colour, font and size.

3. We’ve added the introduction part of our e-newsletter by using the ‘Text’ icon.

As this is our first e-newsletter we have chosen to keep it very short. Often with normal emails, lengthy e-newsletters are less likely to be read than more concise ones.

Once you have finished designing your e-newsletter go to preview at the top of the page.

Click on preview and select ‘preview and test’. This drop-down menu gives you the options to enter the preview mode, to send a test email and more.

It is recommended that you enter the preview mode first.

The rest of newsletter can look like this:

The preview mode allows you to view your newsletter in desktop, mobile and tablet format. It is a good way to see if your email is easily accessible across the device platforms that your readers will have.

When you are happy with your e-newsletter, exit the preview screen to return to the main design screen.

You are now ready to send your email.

At the bottom of the page, click on ‘save and close’. This will then bring you to the sending screen. Here you wil be given the opportunity to confirm all your details.

When this is confirmed you now have two options at the top of the screen.

These are ‘send’ and ‘schedule’.

If you press send, your e-newsletter will be automatically added to Mailchimps sending queue - it usually takes a couple of minutes to send.

If you press ‘schedule’ you can choose the exact date and time of when you want your e-newsletter to be sent out.

This is highly recommended.

Mailchimp says that the best time to send an email is at 10am however you can choose which best suits you.

Try to keep the time between 8am and 5pm.

Top Tip

The more campaigns you send through Mailchimp the more data you will have access to.

From your dashboard you will find tab headings of ‘Audience’ and ‘Report’. The Audience tab allows you to

view data on your audience.

The ‘Report’ tab allows you to view reports on your open rate (how many people have opened your email), the

bounce rate (how many people have opened and quickly closed your email, Subscribers/unsubscribes and

more.

Find more of our “How To Guides” at https://acvo.org.uk/resources/how-to/

All content was correct at time of publish.

For any enquiries please contact Martyn Walker, Communications Officer at ACVO on

Martyn.walker@acvo.org.uk