The Basics Of Setting Up Your Squarespace And MailChimp
If you have taken the leap into setting up your business online and made the decision that you want to start gathering email addresses, then this post is for you.
There are a bunch of ways to take your next step, however, this post will guide you through the basics of setting up and integrating your Squarespace and MailChimp accounts.
Squarespace and MailChimp
Firstly a little bit about Squarespace and MailChimp. Squarespace is an awesome platform, it's really user-friendly, simple to maintain and user-friendly as well. It's the platform I use for myself and always recommend it to my clients as well. MailChimp is a simple email marketing software which gives you a number of easy options for designing, sending and saving templates of your emails.
MailChimp integrates exceptionally well with Squarespace.
Related:
Using MailChimp as your Email Marketing Software
As mentioned, MailChimp integrates really well with Squarespace, but before you get going in Squarespace you need to action a few things in MailChimp. You need to:
Set up an account
Create a List
The extra, nice to have, elements that I think really help connect your emails to your brand are to design your emails, these can be as simple or as fancy as you like.
I have custom designed a few response emails in MailChimp, and I really do think these elevate my brand. You can do this in the "Create your signup forms - General forms (build, design, and translate signup forms and response emails)" area.
Set up a MailChimp Account:
Setting up an account is really simple.
Go to the MailChimp website
Click on the orange button that says "Sign Up Free" in the top right-hand corner
Follow the steps on screen.
Post set up, you will see your Dashboard every time you log in. This shows you an overview of your account, stats on the latest campaign sent out and how many people have subscribed to your list.
Create a list:
A "List" is a term that MailChimp uses to organise your subscribers. They are a requirement for integrating your Squarespace to your MailChimp account, and they are the foundation of every email campaign you send out going forward.
You can create a new list by clicking on the "Lists" link in the main navigation.
There are some basic setup details that you are promoted to enter every time you create a new list for your customers, subscribers, clients, etc. It's really straight forward.
Connecting your Squarespace to your MailChimp list
Ok, so you have set up your MailChimp account and have a created a list which is ready to be connected to your Squarespace. Now, what?
Well there are a couple of ways to connect your accounts and to start collecting email addresses, two ways I have tried and tested are:
1 | The Newsletter Block - 4 step process
Step 1 : In a page or a post, insert the Newsletter Block from the selection.
Step 2 : By default, the Newsletter Block displays one Email Address field, and you are given the option to display input boxes for the subscribers first and the last name. By checking this, the person will need to provide both details.
Step 3 : Enter the title and description of the block. These will be displayed on the block itself once entered. The Disclaimer box is similar to any small print you wish to state and will display under the input fields in a small text size.
Step 4 : Click on the Storage tab, in the top-right hand corner of Newsletter Block editor and connect your MailChimp account by clicking on the "MailChimp" box. You will need to select the list to which you want the subscribers details to be saved too. This is why it is important to have your MailChimp account set up and list created before trying to integrate your Squarespace account or before collecting emails.
2 | Form Block - 4 step process plus options
The form block allows you to collect extra details if you wish when users sign up to your list.
The setup is really similar to the Newsletter Block setup with the addition to being allowed to add extra fields of information, like message and subject.
One of the best things about using the Form Block is that in the Advanced tab, in the top-right hand corner of the Form Block editor, you are given the option to present the form in "Lightbox mode". This section is on the Advanced tab - just make sure you SCROLL DOWN as it is so easily missed! The Lightbox mode basically replaces the form with a button, and once the button is clicked a lightbox/pop-up box appears. This is great for placing on cover pages or if you have a long form.
Related : 5 Squarespace Tips and Tricks
As you can tell, setting up and connecting your Squarespace and MailChimp accounts is quite straight forward. This is another awesome feature of both platforms and one of the reasons to why I use both for myself and recommend them to my clients.
Do you use MailChimp? What are your thoughts? I would love to hear what you think.