Automatically Send a Mailchimp Campaign as an Email Is Opened

Want to learn a slightly more advanced Mailchimp automation that is sure to get you great conversions? Follow these instructions as we learn how to create a follow-up campaign that will be sent when an email campaign is opened by a subscriber.

When to Use a Follow-up Email Campaign

Creating a follow-up message that is automatically sent based on an action by the original message recipient is considered advanced. It really isn’t difficult at all however as the instructions below illustrate.

Follow-up campaigns get high open and click rates when used appropriately. An example of an effective use of this automated marketing is when an eCommerce client sends a discount coupon code as the follow-up. This client has seen considerable increases in sales through this automation.

Instructions to Create a Follow-up Email Campaign

In the instructions below we create an email message to be sent immediately as a contact opens your initial campaign. You could change the delay from immediately to a day or a week or whatever you feel is most appropriate.

Create a Regular Mailchimp Email Campaign

The first step is to create a regular email campaign. This is not an Automation campaign but rather the newsletter or campaign that you send regularly to your list, segment or tags.

Complete your campaign and have it ready to schedule or send. Don’t send it yet however.

Create a Follow-up Automation Campaign

We now need to create our Automation that will send an email message when the email campaign created previously is opened.

1. Login to Mailchimp and click Create Campaign.
2. Click Email.
3. Click Automated then Custom.
4. Enter a Campaign name, select a list and click Begin.
5. Click Edit (near Trigger).
6. Click Change trigger then Campaign activity.
7. Click Opened campaign.
8. Change the Delay to be immediately.
9. Under Settings select the draft campaign we created earlier.
10. Click Update Trigger.
11. Click Design Email and when ready follow the prompts to start the automation workflow.

Schedule or Send the Regular Mailchimp Email Campaign

The final step is to schedule or send the regular email campaign created earlier.

When a recipient opens your regular campaign it will trigger the message we created in the Automation to be sent.

Other Uses for a Follow-up Automation

When creating the Automation you could send the follow-up message based on a click (as opposed to an open) or any other available action. A charity client of mine uses this approach very effectively in recruiting volunteers; as the prospective volunteer clicks a link to read more about the charity, the follow up message notes the importance of volunteers and invites the reader to be a volunteer.