How to set up a new Mailchimp account

Introduction to MailChimp

Whether you're launching your first email marketing campaign or migrating from another platform, this comprehensive guide will walk you through every step of setting up your MailChimp account to maximise your marketing success.

Choosing the right MailChimp plan

Before creating your account, it's crucial to understand MailChimp's current pricing structure. The platform offers four distinct plans designed to scale with your business needs:

Free plan (£0/month)

Perfect for new businesses and startups, the free plan includes:

Up to 500 contacts
1,000 monthly email sends
Daily sending limit of 500 emails
Basic email templates and design tools
Essential reporting and analytics
Signup forms and landing pages
Limited access to AI Growth Assistant features

Important note: MailChimp branding appears in emails on the free plan, and advanced automation features are not available.

Essentials plan (from £10/month)

The entry-level paid plan removes MailChimp branding and includes:

Up to 50,000 contacts
500,000 monthly email sends
All email templates
A/B testing capabilities
24/7 email and chat support
Basic automation workflows

Standard plan (from £15/month)

The most popular choice for growing businesses, featuring:

Advanced automation flows (multi-step customer journeys)
Behavioural targeting and predictive segmentation
Send Time Optimisation and Delivery by Time Zone
Enhanced reporting with custom reports
SMS marketing add-on availability
Advanced AI Growth Assistant features

Premium plan (from £230/month)

Enterprise-level features including:

Advanced segmentation and multivariate testing
Priority customer support with phone access
Advanced automation triggers and logic
Comparative reporting across campaigns
Custom branding for signup forms

2025 pricing consideration: MailChimp now charges for all contacts in your database, including unsubscribed contacts, which represents a significant change from previous years. Factor this into your cost calculations when choosing a plan.

Creating your MailChimp account

Setting up your MailChimp account is streamlined and user-friendly. Here's the step-by-step process:

Step 1: Visit MailChimp's signup page

Navigate to mailchimp.com and click the prominent "Get Started" button. You'll be directed to the account creation form.

Step 2: Complete the registration form

You'll need to provide:

Your email address (this becomes your login)
A unique username
A secure password (minimum 8 characters with mixed case, numbers, and symbols)

Step 3: Email verification

Check your email inbox for a verification message from MailChimp. Click the "Activate Account" button to confirm your email address. This step is crucial for account security and deliverability.

Step 4: Human verification

Complete the "I'm Not a Robot" verification to proceed to the next stage.

Step 5: Business information setup

MailChimp's 2025 onboarding process includes a comprehensive business profile setup:

Personal details: First name, last name, and role
Business information: Company name, industry, and business size
Physical address: Required for CAN-SPAM compliance
Website URL: Helps with deliverability and integration setup

Why this information matters: MailChimp uses your business details to provide personalised recommendations, ensure compliance with email marketing regulations, and automatically populate required information in your email footers.

Once your account is created, MailChimp's intelligent onboarding system guides you through essential configuration steps.

About the author

Lorna has been working in digital marketing for more than 20 years now, both running campaigns for her own businesses as well as working on behalf of clients. She particularly enjoys helping clients learn how to take control of different aspects of their digital marketing themselves, making the best use of the tools that are available to them and getting them out from under reliance on developers and agencies to do things for them, empowering them to do these things themselves.