As someone who’s been working with WordPress and Mailchimp for a long time, I can tell you that setting up an RSS to email newsletter is one of the best ways to keep your readers updated automatically.
WordPress makes it easy to generate an RSS feed, and Mailchimp takes care of turning that feed into a well-designed newsletter. The process might seem a bit tricky at first, but trust me, once you see it in action, it’s worth the effort.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the exact steps I’ve used to connect WordPress and Mailchimp to create an automatic newsletter and even a newsletter signup form to grow your email list.
Step 1: Create an RSS Campaign in Mailchimp
To create an RSS campaign in Mailchimp, log into your Mailchimp account. Then, visit the RSS-To-Email feeds landing page and click on the Turn On RSS-to-Email button.
This will redirect you to a new page where you’ll be required to name your campaign and select your desired audience for the RSS campaign. Once done, click on the Begin button.
Step 2: Set RSS Feed and Send Timing
Next, you’ll need to specify your RSS feed URL and choose your sending time. If you’re not sure about your RSS feed URL, you can specify your blog URL.
Then, choose the best sending time for your blog, The time interval could be anything like daily, weekly or monthly. After that, check the Resize RSS feed images to fit template option, and move to the Next Step.
Next, you’ll need to select the list to which you want to regularly send your blog post RSS feed. You can choose to send it to your Entire Audience or share it with segmented audiences.
After that, enter details regarding your campaign in the relevant fields, such as your campaign name, email subject, preview text, the name, and from email address. Then, move to the Next Step.
Step 3: Select a Template in Mailchimp
In the next step, you’ll be asked to select a template. In order to make your email looks simple and pretty, let’s choose the 1 column basic template in our example.
You can now start customizing your template according to your liking. Make sure to add the RSS Items box to the design panel.
Once you’ve successfully designed your email and are satisfied with its appearance, click Enter preview mode under the Preview and Test option.
This will allow you to see how your RSS feed looks in recipient inboxes. You can return to the design panel and make necessary changes per your needs.
Once you’re done, feel free to send a test email to preview how your email looks in the inbox, and then click on the Start RSS button!
Step 4: Create a Newsletter Signup Form
Now that you’ve created the RSS campaign, let’s start collecting emails by creating a newsletter signup form on your site.
Log into your WordPress dashboard, and then, install the WPForms plugin. Make sure to install the Mailchimp Addon as well by going to WPForms » Addons.
Then, create your newsletter form by clicking WPForms » Add New. Then, choose the Newsletter Signup Form template.
If you want, you can edit your form using the drag-and-drop builder to add, remove, or rearrange fields according to your liking.
Step 5: Connect WPForms to Mailchimp
After customizing the form to your liking, go to the Marketing tab and choose MailChimp within the form builder. Then, click on the Add New Connection button.
Enter a name for the connection and click OK. Now, authorize your Mailchimp account by specifying your API key,
Go to the API keys page in your Mailchimp account and then copy and paste your Mailchimp API key into your WordPress dashboard.
Once you’ve generated the API key, copy and paste it into the API Key field. Then click the Connect to Mailchimp button to save your changes.
After you have placed your key into WPForms, you’ll be presented with options to configure this form with your newsletter lists.
Here you can implement Mailchimp’s Groups settings and match the fields in your form to the fields in the Mailchimp list.
After configuring these settings, go ahead and save your form. You can go ahead and publish your form on your site.
FAQs about WordPress RSS Mailchimp
Creating a RSS feed with Mailchimp is a popular topic among our readers. Here are answers to some common queries about it:
Why set up a Mailchimp RSS to email the newsletter?
The best thing about growing your email list is that you can attract repeat visitors to your blog whenever you publish a new post. However, the downside is that it may annoy your subscribers, especially if you publish many articles regularly.
Rather than sending automatic emails after a post is being published, you can set up a Mailchimp RSS campaign that sends emails on a regular interval, like daily, weekly or monthly, based on your choice.
How do I use RSS with Mailchimp?
To use RSS with Mailchimp, start by creating an RSS-driven campaign in Mailchimp. This feature allows you to automatically send out newsletter updates from your RSS feed to your subscribers.
Log into your Mailchimp account and choose to create a new email campaign. Select “Automated” then “Share blog updates” to start an RSS campaign. Enter your website’s RSS feed URL and set the frequency for sending emails.
Can you link WordPress to Mailchimp?
Yes, you can seamlessly link WordPress to Mailchimp, especially to enhance your form submissions. By using WPForms with the Mailchimp Addon, you can easily connect your WordPress site to your Mailchimp account.
Why is my RSS feed not working on WordPress?
If your RSS feed is not working on WordPress, it might be due to a few common issues. First, check for plugin conflicts by deactivating your plugins temporarily and see if the issue persists.
Sometimes, certain plugins can interfere with how RSS feeds are generated. Next, look for errors in your theme by switching to a default WordPress theme temporarily. If the problem is resolved, the issue might be in your theme’s code.
Next, Learn How to Set Up ActiveCampaign on Forms
Thinking about using a different email marketing service? You may also want to check out our guide to setting up ActiveCampaign on WordPress forms. Plus. you might also like some other Mailchimp-related posts:
- WPForms vs Mailchimp Form Builder: Which One Should You Use?
- Mailchimp Alternatives That Are More Powerful (+Better Support)
- How to Allow Users to Select Mailchimp Groups in Your WordPress Forms
- …and our list of awesome Mailchimp integrations.
Create Your WordPress Form Now
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Thanks for your post. I followed it to configure my own newsletter!
I have two issues – the featured image of an article is not shown in the email and the email gives almost the entire article whereas I only want to give an excerpt. What to do?
Hey Jerry! By default WordPress does not include featured images in RSS feeds, you might need to tweak your theme code a bit, here is a great tutorial on how to do that.
For showing only excerpts in your feed, please ensure you have this setting in Settings > Reading area of WordPress.
I hope this helps!