Here's something that we've learned in the email business: Email addresses go bad. Sounds pretty crazy, doesn't it? But you've only got a small chunk of time to contact a newly collected list, before people forget that they signed up for your emails. The general rule of thumb is: You lose a potential subscriber's permission after 3 months. Email addresses go bad after 6 months. So before you start emailing those addresses, you need to reconfirm their permission. You'll need to do that outside of MailChimp before you start sending to them with our service.

Now, say you've been collecting email addresses at your store or at a sign up booth. It's important to confirm these recipients, even though they physically signed up for your emails. People can make mistakes writing out their information, use someone else's email address or provide invalid email addresses. So, reconfirming these offline subscribers really matters.

The added benefit of reconfirming your list? Besides reminding the forgetful who you are, you can prune your list down to subscribers who really want to hear from you. Which means, you'll start seeing higher click and open rates. In ROI terms, your investment stays fairly low, but your return will be increased ten-fold. And who doesn't like to know that their message is getting heard by the people who will do something with it? Pretty powerful stuff, if you think about it.

Okay, so we've gotten into the Whys. Let's break down the How.

Here's how you reconfirm a list that's already in your MailChimp account.

  1. Log into Mailchimp and export your list. You can do this by going to your List > view list (for the list that you want to reconfirm) > view all > download.
    Download Your List
  2. Now that your list is safely saved, delete all of the members from your list. You can do that easily by clicking select all > bulk actions > delete. Hang onto your list though, you'll need that.
    Empty Your List
  3. Okay, so now that you have an empty list, you'll want to get your old list to sign up again. First, you need to find the signup form for your list. Go to Lists > (under the list you just emptied) forms.
    Forms Link under List
  4. You'll find the link, that MailChimp has automagically created, to your signup form on the share it tab. Each signup form gets is own unique link and you can add fields, create a header or add text to create a customized form. Copy it, so you can use it in a little bit.
    Link To Your Signup Form

    5. Okay, so you're done with MailChimp. For the following step, you're going to need to email people from outside of MailChimp - either from your personal email address or a work address.

  5. So, you've got your empty list and your signup form. Now, you need to get back in touch with your old subscribers. Using your own email account, send a reconfirm message that asks people to opt in and includes your signup form link to the people on your old list (still safely saved in a csv file on your computer). We recommend using an email address that matches your newsletter. If your newsletter is store-related, send from your store email address. If your newsletter will be sending updates from your blog, use the email address that's associated with your blog. If your newsletter is related to your company, use your work email. Need some help writing your reconfirm message? You can find what Ben says about reconfirming here or an great example here.

Then, just sit back and watch people sign back up. Besides gathering email addresses and getting permission, you can use your signup form to gather addresses, birthdays, favorite colors or anything else you can think of. And you can give your signup form link to new subscribers.

Didn't have a list in MailChimp. No worries! Here's how you get started.

  1. First, let's create a list. Go to Lists > create new list. Fill out the set up your new list page and then click done for now. We'll add email addresses later.
    create a new list
  2. Now that you have your new list, you'll need a signup form so people can start signing up. Go to Lists > (for the list you just made) forms.
    Forms Link under List
  3. You'll find the link, that MailChimp has automagically created, to your signup form. Each signup form gets is own unique link and you can add fields, create a header or add text to create a customized form. Copy it, so you can use it in a little bit.
    Link To Your Signup Form

    4. Okay, so you're done with MailChimp. For the following step, you're going to need to use an outside email address - either your personal email address or a work address.

  4. Okay, you've got your list and signup form. Now, you need to get in touch with people. Using your own email account, send a message that asks people to opt in and includes your signup form link. We recommend using an email address that corresponds with the source of your newsletter. If your newsletter is store-related, send from your store email address. If your newsletter will be sending updates from your blog, use the email address that's associated with your blog. If your newsletter is related to your company, use your work email. Need some help writing your message? You can find what Ben says here or an great example here.

Then, just sit back and watch people sign up. Besides gathering email addresses and getting permission, you can use your signup form to gather addresses, birthdays, favorite colors or anything else you can think of. And you can give your signup form link to new subscribers.

Find out more about weeding out your email list here.

Note

It's important that you send reconfirmation emails from outside of your MailChimp account. We don't want your account to send up a bunch of red flags. We just want to help people remember who you are and what your emails are all about. And most importantly, re-establish permission to email them. So, protect your reputation and send your reconfirm message from a non-MailChimp email address.

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