AI Summary
Growing an email list doesn’t have to be complicated, and in my experience the simplest methods usually work best. One of the easiest is adding a signup checkbox to the contact form you already have on your site.
Think about how many people fill out that form every month. Each of them is already interested enough to get in touch, so a single checkbox lets them join your newsletter at the same time.
Because visitors tick the box themselves, you also get clear opt-in consent, which keeps your list full of people who actually want to hear from you.
What makes this easy in WPForms is the built-in Mailchimp connection. You won’t need a third-party connector app or any code, and I’ll walk you through the entire setup below.
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How to Add a Mailchimp Signup Checkbox to Your Contact Form
Follow this step-by-step tutorial to connect your Mailchimp account with WordPress and add a signup checkbox to any of your forms.
The whole process takes about 10 minutes, and once it’s set up, every new subscriber flows straight into your Mailchimp audience.
Step 1: Install and Activate the WPForms Plugin
The first thing you need is WPForms installed on your site. It’s the most beginner-friendly form builder for WordPress, and it comes with 2,100+ WordPress form templates, so you can start from a contact form that’s already built instead of a blank page.
What I like most about WPForms for list building is that the Mailchimp integration is native. You connect your account inside the form builder, so you’re not paying for a separate connector app or copying code between two dashboards.
For this tutorial, you’ll need at least a WPForms Pro license, which unlocks the Mailchimp addon, along with WPForms’ other email marketing integrations, 40+ addons, and advanced features.
To get started, buy the Pro license and install WPForms on your website. If you run into any trouble during setup, follow these instructions on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Step 2: Install and Activate the Mailchimp Addon
To add a Mailchimp signup checkbox, you first need to connect WPForms to Mailchimp. WPForms includes a built-in Mailchimp addon for exactly this, so the connection lives right inside your form.
To do that, go to WPForms » Addons and find the Mailchimp Addon. Click on the Install Addon button under the Mailchimp Addon, and it will install within a few seconds.
Step 3: Create a New Form
Once you’ve activated the Mailchimp addon, go to WPForms » Add New to create a new form.
At this point, you’ll find the form setup page open. Here, you can add your form name and select the template you want to use.
WPForms comes with a template library that offers 2,100+ WordPress form templates. You can choose any form template depending on your website’s requirements.
For this tutorial, I’ll use the Simple Contact Form template.
As soon as you click on the template, the form builder will open. You can see your form on the right and a drag and drop builder on the left.
You can add more fields by simply dragging and dropping fields from left to right.
Step 4: Add a Checkbox Field
Now for the signup checkbox itself. In the form builder, look under the Standard Fields section for the Checkboxes field.
Drag the Checkboxes field onto your form above the submit button. The Checkboxes field by default includes 3 choices.
You can delete the 2nd and 3rd Choice by clicking on the red minus (-)icon. And then, add a custom label name and save it by clicking on the Save button.
Great! Now that you’ve added the signup checkbox to your form, it’s time to connect your contact form to your Mailchimp email list.
Step 5: Connect Your Form to Mailchimp
WPForms lets you set up your Mailchimp integration right in the form builder. To connect your form, in the form editor, go to Marketing » Mailchimp.
On the right-hand side, click on the Add New Connection button.
Now a popup will appear asking you to add the Mailchimp API key and Account Nickname.
You can get your Mailchimp API key by signing in to your Mailchimp account. Copy your Mailchimp API Key and paste it into the required field. Enter the account name and click on the Add button.
This will cause one more popup to appear asking to Enter a connection nickname. You can add any name since it’s for your reference only, and your users won’t see this name.
After completing the Mailchimp account settings, a new window will appear. Here you need to:
- Select your Mailchimp account.
- Select the email list you want to add new subscribers to.
- Once you’ve selected your audience, you can choose what action to execute when the form is submitted. With the
With the Mailchimp addon, you can pick from several actions:
- Subscribe: Adds the user as a new subscriber to your Mailchimp audience
- Unsubscribe: Unsubscribes an existing contact from your Mailchimp audience
- Archive: Archives an existing contact
- Permanently Delete: Permanently deletes an existing contact
- Record Event: Lastly, you can also record an event for a specific contact after form submission.
Also, with the Mailchimp addon, you get the flexibility to:
- Enable double opt-in
- Mark subscriber as VIP
- Update the profile if this contact is already in an audience
- Notify users that they’re already subscribed
- Create Mailchimp custom fields
Step 6: Enable Conditional Logic
Next, we’ll need to ensure that only users who select the checkbox get added to your email list. You can do this by selecting enable conditional logic.
Scroll down the page until you see the Enable Conditional Logic box. Now, after the “Process, this connection if Checkboxes is Join Our Mailing List.
Now only the visitors who check the box get added to your Mailchimp list, which keeps your subscribers consented and your list clean.
When you’re happy with the rule, save your changes. You can read more about how conditional logic works if you want to build more advanced rules later.
Step 7: Add Your Mailchimp Form to Your Website
Now your form is ready to be published on your website. Embedding contact forms on WordPress websites is exceptionally easy with the WPForms.
You can display your contact form in several locations, including your blog posts, pages, and even as a sidebar widget. Before embedding, if you want, you can also preview your form to check how your form will look on your website page.
To preview your form, click on the Preview button at the top.
Now, let’s add your form to your website. Open the page/post where you want to display your form. Click on the “+” icon and add the WPForms block from the block editor.
Now, select your form and publish the page.
Awesome job on completing the Mailchimp signup checkbox tutorial! Before adding your form to a live site, make sure to run a test to check your newsletter sign-up checkbox works perfectly.
FAQs About Adding a Mailchimp Signup Checkbox
Here are answers to the questions people most often ask about adding a Mailchimp signup checkbox to a WordPress contact form.
How do I make Mailchimp signup checkboxes GDPR compliant?
You can add a separate consent checkbox alongside the signup checkbox so people explicitly agree to how you’ll use their email address for marketing. WPForms also includes GDPR features, like disabling tracking cookies and stored metadata. For full legal compliance, though, I’d recommend talking to a lawyer about your specific situation.
Should the signup checkbox be checked by default?
No. Under privacy laws like GDPR, opt-in checkboxes should be unchecked by default so the visitor makes an active choice to subscribe. Leaving it unchecked also keeps your list full of people who genuinely want your emails, which helps your open rates and deliverability.
What’s the difference between single and double opt-in?
With single opt-in, someone is added to your Mailchimp audience as soon as they submit the form. With double opt-in, they first receive a confirmation email and only join once they click the link inside it. Double opt-in takes one extra step, but it confirms the address is real and the person actually wants to subscribe.
Can I customize the Mailchimp signup checkbox text?
Yes. You can edit the checkbox label directly in the WPForms form builder. Descriptive, personalized text tends to get more sign-ups, so it’s worth spending a moment on the wording.
What happens if a user is already subscribed to my Mailchimp list?
You control this in the connection settings. If you use Update the profile if this contact is already in an audience, their existing profile is updated with any new information when they resubmit. If you use Notify user that they are already subscribed, the form shows a validation message letting them know they’re already on the list.
Is it possible to add multiple checkboxes for different mailing lists?
Yes. You can segment subscribers into different groups, then use conditional logic in the Mailchimp connection settings to decide which group someone joins based on the checkboxes they select.
Next, Grow Your Email List Even Faster
That’s how you add a Mailchimp newsletter signup checkbox to your contact form. Every time someone reaches out, they can join your list in the same click, and only the people who opt in get added.
If you’d rather offer a dedicated form instead of a checkbox on your contact form, here’s how to create a standalone Mailchimp signup form.
And once your form is live, it’s worth protecting it from spam bots. Take a look at how to add hCaptcha to your WordPress forms, then try these tips to improve your contact form conversions.
Start Growing Your Email List Now
Ready to build your form? Get started today with the easiest WordPress form builder plugin. WPForms Pro includes lots of free templates and offers a 14-day money-back guarantee.
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