Leveraging the power of lead generation using MailChimp in today’s high-tech business world is a must for small and large businesses alike. While the task itself requires a bit time and finesse, ultimately the resounding result is worth the process it entails.
Data collection is crucial to the success of a business or entrepreneurial effort. Instead of making the process a chore, many companies are now offering new methods to incorporate a little fun into the mix. For instance, offering incentives for sign-ups boosts the opportunity that busy businessmen and women will take the time to fill out the form fields. Making the submission guidelines short and to the point will also help in this effort. When a customer takes a look at a form, it should look and feel appealing – not daunting. Prizes in exchange for participation may include entry to win gift cards, a chance to win a sponsored vacation, raffle or drawing, or something similar in merit. Everyone wants to win a prize, right? Why not let this known fact work in your business’ favor?
To help you out, we’ve come up with a step-by-step guide to harnessing lead generation using MailChimp. The popular email marketing and list building app.
Going Beyond the Landing Page
Writing a landing page with a catchy title is great, but it won’t take you all the way to the bank. The savvy business owner needs to go beyond the landing page to generate the types of leads suitable for growth and opportunity. One sure fire way to connect the dots, is to add opt-in boxes and connect MailChimp to epic and interesting blog posts to collect email addresses and leads. These captured email addresses can be used for future campaigns and mailings. The best part? It is an immediate way to add value to your blog post without adding any real time at all.
When you create a list in MailChimp, a default set of forms is automatically generated. Those forms contain fields for emails addresses, names and any other data you want to collect. Data collected from these forms are added to the list and combined with automation will ultimately guide subscribers through subscription and related processes.
You can add a form to your pages and blog posts, straight from MailChimp. This means you can get subscribers from your posts and pages and add them straight to your list.
What this means is that you don’t need any plugins or extra code to start collecting leads (but we’ll get to that later).
To access the Form Builder, follow the steps below.
Navigate to the Lists page.
Click the drop-down menu next to the list you want to work with and choose Signup forms.
Select General forms (you can use embed forms if you want to create the HTML code that you can embed on your site).
Click the Forms and response emails drop-down menu, and choose which form, email, or page you want to edit.
After the form is created, styles can be tailored to suit the design of the business and tone and messaging can be customized. In fact, opting to utilize the merge tags will better introduce the brand to new customers. Merge tags include salutations like a signup “thank you” page, opt-in confirmation email, final “welcome” email, unsubscribe success page, “Goodbye” email, or an option to update user profiles.
It’s always a wise idea to back up any form data collected in case a form is accidentally deleted or changed.
Additional information regarding MailChimp signup forms can be located here.
Another option is to insert a MailChimp embeddable popup form that appears when a user visits the site. This option is available to the Manager level or higher. In order to add an embeddable popup form to WordPress, follow these simple instructions:
- Navigate to the Lists page.
- Click the drop-down menu for your list and click Signup forms.
- Select Subscriber popup.
- On the Design tab in the editing pane, choose from four layout options, and format your Form Labels, Button Styling and Modal Styling.
When the pop-up form appears on your site, the screen behind your form grays out to emphasize the pop-up modal.
- Set the Overlay Opacity from 1–100, where lower values are more transparent and higher values are more solid. Use only numerical values – the setting won’t work if you use text or other characters, like %. If you leave the Overlay Opacity field blank, it will be defaulted to the recommended opacity.
- To view the Hover Color, Close Link Color, and Overlay Opacity, click Preview Popup in the upper-right corner.
- On the Fields tab, check the boxes for the fields you want to include on your form. Click and hold the handle to the left of the fields to drag and drop the fields in the order you want. To require a field, toggle the slider to a green checkmark in the Required column.
- On the Content tab, upload your image from the File Manager, and add content to the body and footer blocks. Body content appears above the form fields, and footer content appears below the form field section. If the layout you chose on the Design tab is the text-only layout, you won’t see the option to upload an image.
- On the Settings tab, choose the Popup Delay, and set the Max Popup Width in pixels.
- Click Generate Code.
- Copy the form code provided, and add the code to your site’s HTML.
Additional information regarding embeddable popup forms can be located here.
Connecting WordPress to MailChimp
Once the data collection forms have been set up behind-the-scenes, it’s time to take the process to the next level: connecting WordPress to MailChimp. There are new technologies that make the two mega houses speak to one another. They include OptinMonster, OptimizePress, MailChimp native forms, and a subscriber popup option. The person operating this procedure must hold an “Author” role or higher.
First, let’s take a look at the simple, yet effective, procedure of connecting OptinMonster with MailChimp. Please adhere to the following guidelines.
Connecting OptinMonster with MailChimp
Create a new optin form with OptinMonster and select your site and form type.
Make sure that you’ve selected ‘Display Name Field’
In the optin builder, select the Integration tab to view the Integration panel.
Select MailChimp from the Email Provider dropdown menu.
Log into your MailChimp account to obtain your API credentials.
Navigate to your Account page next to your avatar and name.
Select API Keys under the Extras dropdown menu.
Scroll down until you see the specific API Key you wish to use and copy it. You may also opt to Create A Key if you wish to use a new one.
Side note: Give detailed notes for labels. Use the naming convention WEBSITE – CONNECTION – PLUGIN e.g. Sellyourservice.co.uk – MailChimp – OptinMonster. We do this because api labels go both ways. Also, MailChimp will generate it’s own API key, I’ve just renamed mine. Finally, when you create a key, it’ll be added to the top of the list.
Paste your API Key into the corresponding optin builder field.
Select the Connect with MailChimp button and OptinMonster will fetch your email lists from MailChimp.
You then have the option of sending a welcome email or enable opt-in email to your leads and clients. Frankly, don’t worry about either of these. A welcome email maybe, but only if you’ve edited it like this.
Now whenever anyone signs up to your newsletter via OptinMonster, they’ll be automatically added to a list. If you want more information on how to connect MailChimp to OptinMonster, check out the OptinMonster guide on connecting to MailChimp here.
Connecting OptimizePress with MailChimp
MailChimp can also be connected to OptimizePress in a similar fashion. Please follow the steps below for this process.
Log into your MailChimp account and grab a new API key
In OptimizePress, select the dashboard and email marketing services. Scroll down to find MailChimp
Create a new element in OptimizePress and select optin form.
Select your style and click the dropdown to access MailChimp as the mail provider
The One Click process in OptimizePress should now automatically connect your list to the form.
Watch Those Email Addresses Roll Right In
The term “Lead Magnet” refers to “an irresistible bribe offering a specific chunk of value to a prospect in exchange for their contact information.” The goal is simple: max out the number of targeted leads for any given offer using the least amount of resources and expenditures.
Reports and Guides are among the most common types of Lead Magnets, followed by Cheat Sheets and Handouts, then Toolkits and Resource Lists, Video Training, Software Download/Free Trial options, Discount/Free Shipping, Quiz Survey offers, Assessment/Tests, and Blind/Sales Material. Regardless of the type of Lead Magnet used, the result should be a favorable one for all parties involved. Like the saying goes, less is more. Don’t overwhelm customers – offer them a comfortable place to land and watch your leads flow in.
The main purpose of data collection is to enhance customer outreach which, in turn, promotes healthy working relationships between buyer and seller. When a company has all the information they need to make an informed business decision on behalf of their customers, both sides win. The business owner lands the deal and the customer receives the prompt attention and support required to ensure a long-lasting working relationship. Just as the company’s needs change over time, so, too, do the client’s needs. Because of this, we recommend updating leads as often as necessary for best practice.
