Blocks »Mailchimp Block
On WordPress.com we offer a whole suite of tools to grow your audience.
One of these tools is the Mailchimp block. It allows your visitors to subscribe to your Mailchimp list and receive updates via email.
Add the Mailchimp Block
In order to add the Mailchimp block, click on the Add Block button.
Alternatively, you can type /mailchimp in a new block and press enter.
For more, visit our detailed instructions on adding blocks.
Unlike our Mailchimp Subscriber pop-up, the Mailchimp Block allows you to collect emails right inside a post or page.
You can position it in your content at the exact moment that your readers will be most inclined to sign up. For example, you can build up excitement and then capture signups when you have explained why visitors should receive your updates.
Connect to Mailchimp
The first time you add a new form, you may need to set up your connection to Mailchimp. Click “Set up Mailchimp form” to get started.
This will take you to the Marketing section of your account to Connect Mailchimp.
Editing and sending emails is handled by Mailchimp. In order to use Mailchimp on WordPress.com, you need:
- a Mailchimp account. If you don’t have one, sign up here for free
- at least one “Audience” created on this account; “Audiences” is what Mailchimp calls mailing lists and where your subscriber email addresses will be collected
- Mailchimp has a good resource on creating audiences
In order for Mailchimp integration to work properly, the merge tags option on the Mailchimp list should be set as non-required as shown in the image below.
Once you’ve created your Mailchimp account and at least one mailing list, you can connect Mailchimp to your WordPress.com account by going to My Site → Marketing, then choose Connections at the top.
You will be prompted for the username and password to your Mailchimp account. Then, upon successful login, you will be returned to WordPress.com
Once you have connected to Mailchimp, choose the list you want visitors to subscribe to from the dropdown option.
If you have more than one site on your WordPress.com account, you only need to set up the Mailchimp connection once and it will work across all sites.
You can create a different list in Mailchimp for each site, and then use the specific list in My Site → Marketing → Connections for a specific site.
Back in the Block Editor, you may need to click the Re-check Connection button on the Mailchimp Block if you added the block before connecting in the Marketing settings.
Block Editor
- Click directly in the button in the block to change the button text.
- Click the disclaimer text below to change the default disclaimer.
It’s a good practice to include a disclaimer in your sign-up form, so that your subscribers are less likely to mark your emails as spam.
Block Toolbar
In order to reveal the block toolbar, you can click on the block and the toolbar will display. Each block has its own block-specific controls that allow you to manipulate the block right in the editor.
The Mailchimp Block does not have any unique toolbar options. It shows the block type, and the ellipses (…) options menu available on all blocks.
Block Settings
Every block has specific options in the editor sidebar in addition to the options found in the block toolbar.
The Mailchimp Block has multiple settings that you can adjust in the Block Settings sidebar. Click the downward arrow next to any header in your sidebar to see the additional options for each section:
Text Elements
The Email Placeholder changes the text shown inside the email field. It disappears once the field is typed in.
Notifications
There are three messages related to the function of the form that you can modify.
- The Processing text message shows while an email is being added to the list.
- The Success text is displayed when an email is successfully submitted.
- The Error text is shown when the email address was not submitted successfully.
Mailchimp Groups
This feature applies to Business and eCommerce plan sites with plugins installed only.
If you have created groups of subscribers within your Mailchimp list, this is where you can choose which groups to add new signups to.
For example, say you have one signup form on a page about sports and another form on a different page about technology. You could create two groups in your Mailchimp list: Sports and Technology. Then you’d configure each Mailchimp block to add people to the appropriate group, based on which page they signed up on.
The groups list will only appear if you’ve already created groups in Mailchimp.
Signup Location Tracking
This feature applies to Business and eCommerce plan sites with plugins installed only.
You can use Signup Location Tracking to learn where on your site people are signing up to your mailing list. This is useful if you have a Mailchimp block on multiple pages, such as the homepage, contact page, and product pages for example.
The first step is to create the Hidden Field for signup location tracking on your Mailchimp account using these steps.
After that field is added, your form will have a hidden field called “SIGNUP”. When you view the Audience list on Mailchimp, you’ll also find a new column called “Signup Form Location”:
Back in WordPress.com, the block setting called Signup Field Tag should have the tag called “SIGNUP”. The setting Signup Field Value can be any term you’d like to use to know the name of the page the form is on. For example: “aboutuspage”.
After the settings are ready, follow this guide from Mailchimp to test the form.
When someone joins the mailing list by using the Mailchimp block on your site, the Mailchimp Audience list should show the Signup Form Location of “aboutuspage”, and Source as “WordPress.com”.
You can later add or edit existing Mailchimp blocks on your site. Please keep the Signup Field Tag as “SIGNUP” (to match the Hidden Field). The Signup Field Value can be different on each block. New values for that field will be automatically added by Mailchimp if you keep that first Field Tag as “SIGNUP”.
Mailchimp Connection
This section has a link to the Marketing settings if you need to connect, disconnect, or change the list you are using.
About the connection:
- You can only connect one Mailchimp account to your WordPress.com account.
- Disconnecting will turn off Mailchimp for all sites on your account.
- Each of your sites can select a different list in the Marketing settings for each site.
- You can have different lists for each site, but all of the lists need to be in one Mailchimp account.
Button Color Settings
The button color settings allow you to change the color of the submit button, including the background color and text color. Click the button to bring up the button settings on the right:
Advanced
The advanced tab lets you add a CSS class to your block, allowing you to write custom CSS and style the block as you see fit. Learn more.
Tips for Running an Email List
Remember that your visitors signed up for the updates you promised them. They expect certain type of messages and they can unsubscribe at any point. If you want your email list to flourish, it’s best to:
- Send updates about something your audience may be interested in. For example, share articles you find valuable or updates you do not share elsewhere.
- Once in a while, engage with your audience directly, such as asking them to respond to your emails with questions.
- If you promote your product, mix it up with other content so your list members find value in staying subscribed.
For more tips, check out the Mailchimp 101 page.
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