Email Marketing Articles and Guides

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About Articles & Guides

MailChimp's free email marketing guides cover frequent mistakes as well as best practices in email marketing. Topics range from getting started for beginners to more complex email issues for advanced subscribers. Our most viewed guides include: Getting Started Guide, HTML Coding Tips, and our Email Marketing Guide.

Email Marketing Topics:

Getting Started in Email Marketing
 Tips & Advice
Deliverability & Spam Filters Design & Coding HTML Email
Stats & Benchmarks Other Resources

Getting Started in Email Marketing

Okay, so you're new to email marketing. Let's go over some of the basics...

  • Free Email Marketing Guide (65-pages of useful tips)

    Everything you ever wanted to know about email marketing: how to code HTML emails properly, managing email lists, email marketing best practices, and more. In its third edition, the guide has been downloaded more than 250,000 times since 2001. 65 pages.

  • Your First Email Marketing Project

    Working on your first email marketing project? Don't even know where to begin? This free guide from MailChimp walks you through all the steps from setup to send.

  • Warning Signs that Your Client is Spamming

    So you're helping a client with their email marketing project, and you're spidey senses are tingling: "Am I helping my client send spam? How do I tell them what they're doing is wrong, without jeopardizing this project?" This free guide from MailChimp helps you educate your clients and point them down the path of email marketing righteousness.

  • Tips for Growing Your Email Subscriber List

    Building a clean email list is critical to your email campaign. Based on years of hands on experience, this guide shares the best practices in creating and maintaining an opt-in email list. The guide includes instructions on how to use MailChimp's free list builder tool.

  • Email Marketing Etiquette (how not to be a jerk)

    In a world of spam, knowing email etiquette is critical to ensuring the success of your campaign. Read this guide to make sure you avoid obvious faux pas in your next first email campaign.

  • Common Email Marketing Rookie Mistakes

    Avoid These Common Email Marketing Mistakes

  • Problems Sending HTML Email With Microsoft Outlook?

    HTML emails broken? Can't get Microsoft Outlook to send your email newsletters correctly? Here's why.

  • How To Code HTML Emails

    Coding an HTML email isn't the same as coding a web page. This guide takes you through all the CSS hacks and do's and don'ts for coding HTML emails that work in Outlook, Gmail, Lotus, etc.

  • Understanding Email Campaign Reports

    This is a must read guide for understanding the technology used to create your reports and how to interpret the results in your MailChimp account.

  • Build Your Audience: A Guide for Bloggers

    Everything you need to know about growing your blog and building your audience with MailChimp.

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Email Marketing Stats & Benchmarks

How do your email campaign stats compare? Here are some useful stats and benchmarks.

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Tips. Advice, How-to Articles

Some useful ideas and tips for email marketers

  • How A/B Split Testing Works

    Learn what works best by A/B testing your email campaigns (it's fun, and we make it easy).

  • Customer Email List Segmentation

    Get better results by sending small, focused campaigns to targeted subgroups within your list.

  • Send Automatic Birthday Emails

    Using MailChimp's list segmentation functionality to schedule automatic birthday emails

  • Improving Your Email Open Rate

    An email campaign is only effective if it actually gets read. Consumers are hit with more and more emails and your message needs to communicate its value quickly to stand out. This guide covers all of the tips and tricks we've learned at MailChimp.

  • Sending Surveys in HTML Emails

    The correct way to deliver surveys to your customers via email.

  • Troubleshooting your first email campaign

    This guide is a great tool for first timers trying out a new HTML email template. It lists common issues and recommendations.

  • Post Campaign Checklist

    Just because your campaign went out doesn't mean the job is done. This guide provides a helpful list of items for follow-up and planning for your next campaign.

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Designing and Coding HTML Email

If you've never designed or coded HTML email before, here's what you need to know:

  • Free Holiday Email Templates

    Free holiday graphics and designs for MailChimp HTML email e-cards

  • Free HTML Email Template Source Code

    While we want you to subscribe to our email marketing service, we also want you to do email right. To that end we've put together a package of FREE email templates that you can use as is or as a starting point for your next campaign. These templates have been downloaded over 1 million times.

  • Avoid These Common Design Mistakes

    This list of the top 6 email design mistakes has been a runaway hit since it was published in July 2007. It covers all the things a good designer should know, but may have forgotten..

  • Dynamic Images In Your Email Campaigns

    Nice little hack for dynamically displaying image content in your email campaigns, based on recipient data

  • MailChimp's Free HTML Email Design Tool

    This guide shows you what you can do with MailChimp's free design tool. MailChimp provides basic templates that you can modify in infinite ways to capture the look and feel of your brand and site.

  • Designing email template headers

    A helpful guide with tips and tricks on what to include your email header to reduce spam complaints, and improve readability. With MailChimp it's easy to include a link to your email online which ensures your message is always displayed correctly.

  • Jazz up your MailChimp HTML email templates

    This guide gives great tips to make your email pop and convey your special message. These tricks are tried and true so you can be confident your readers will see what you intended.

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Deliverability and Avoiding Spam Filters

Send email marketing long enough, and you will inevitably run into delivery issues. Here's what you need to know.

  • How Spam Filters Work (and how to avoid them)

    It is a reality of life in email marketing. To be successful you need to design your campaigns to avoid the spam filter traps. This guide takes provide an explanation of how the filters operate and what you need to do to avoid getting stuck in one.

  • Email Firewalls (spam filters need spam filters now)

    The onslaught of spam has forced internet service providers to deploy a powerful arsenal of tools to protect your inbox. Not only are they checking for content, they are also validating where your emails is coming from to capture spam. This guide explains how it works and what you need to do to make it to your reader.

  • How Email Authentication Works

    This guide outlines the technology currently being used to authenticate your email, and how email authentication works to improve deliverability.

  • Prevent False Spam Complaints

    Trust me. You don't want a spam complaint. Nor does MailChimp. Spam complaints are filed under your permanent record as well as ours. This guide outlines the best practices to ensure you don't generate spam complaints.

  • Avoid Spam Filters With Merge Tags

    Merging 2 simple little data fields into your email campaigns can help you avoid some spam filters

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Other Email Marketing Resources

Here are some of our favorite "bookmark-worthy" email marketing resources.

  • HTML Email Designer
  • Free Image Hosting
  • Email Autoresponders
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