Mailchimp is one of the best known email marketing tools in the world. It is a solid choice for a first email list, as long as you set it up properly. A good setup on day one saves you from spam problems and messy lists later.
This guide walks you through the setup in plain steps. You do not need any technical skills, although one step involves your domain settings, and we will explain that part carefully.
Before you start
Have these ready:
- A business email address on your own domain, like hello@yourbusiness.com. Avoid sending from a free Gmail or Yahoo address. Many inboxes treat bulk email from free addresses as suspicious.
- A physical mailing address. Email laws in many countries require one in the footer of marketing emails. A business address or PO box is fine.
- Your logo and brand colours.
- Access to the place where you manage your domain, such as your hosting or domain company.
Step 1: Create your account
Go to the Mailchimp website and sign up. You will be asked for your business name, website and address. Fill these in correctly, because Mailchimp uses them in your email footer.
Check your current plan limits before you commit. In February 2026 Mailchimp reduced its free plan to 250 contacts and 500 emails per month, with no scheduling and no automations. That is fine for testing, but most growing businesses will need a paid plan fairly quickly.
Step 2: Set up your audience
Mailchimp calls your list an audience. Most small businesses only need one audience. Instead of making many lists, you use tags and groups to sort people inside it. For example, you might tag people as "customer", "lead" or "workshop attendee".
Keeping one audience matters because Mailchimp charges by the number of contacts. If the same person sits in three lists, you may pay for them three times.
Step 3: Add a signup form
People need a way to join your list. Mailchimp gives you a hosted signup page with its own link, plus embedded forms you can paste into your website.
Keep the form short. Name and email are enough to start. Ask for more later, once people trust you.
Turn on double opt in if you can. This sends new subscribers a confirmation email before they join. Your list grows a little slower, but it is cleaner and you get fewer spam complaints.
Step 4: Verify and authenticate your domain
This is the most important step for getting into the inbox. In your Mailchimp account settings, look for the domains section. Add the domain you send from and verify it with the code Mailchimp emails you.
Then Mailchimp will ask you to authenticate the domain. This means adding a few records to your domain's DNS settings. Those records prove to Gmail, Outlook and others that Mailchimp is allowed to send email for you.
If this sounds scary, it is mostly copy and paste. Mailchimp shows you the exact values. You paste them into your domain company's DNS page. If you get stuck, your domain company's support team can usually add them for you in a few minutes.
Step 5: Import your contacts carefully
Only import people who agreed to hear from you. That means customers who opted in, people who signed up on your website or attendees who ticked a box. Never upload a list you bought or copied from somewhere. It will hurt your sender reputation and can get your account closed.
Upload a CSV file, match the columns, and add a tag so you remember where these contacts came from.
Step 6: Build your first email
Pick a simple template. One column layouts look best on phones, where most people read email. Keep it focused:
- One clear message.
- One main button.
- A friendly sign off from a real person.
Write a subject line that tells people exactly what is inside. Fill in the preview text too. That is the short line that shows next to the subject in most inboxes.
Step 7: Test before you send
Send a test to yourself and to one or two teammates. Open it on a phone and on a computer. Click every link. Check that your name and reply address look right. A small typo in a subject line goes out to everyone, so this step is worth five minutes.
Step 8: Send, then watch your numbers
After you send, look at three things in your report over the next few days:
- Open rate: roughly how many people opened it. Treat this as a rough guide, because some email apps open emails automatically.
- Click rate: how many people clicked a link. This is the more reliable number.
- Unsubscribes and complaints: if these jump, your content or your timing needs work.
You are set up
That is the full setup. The two things people skip most often are domain authentication and the physical address, and those two cause the most problems later. Do them once, properly, and Mailchimp will serve you well as you grow.
Email tools change their plans and screens often. If something here no longer matches what you see,let us know and we will check it.