Mailchimp is a fantastic way to get information to your email list subscribers. However, people have complained because there is no obvious way to attach a PDF in Mailchimp! Fortunately, there is a trusted workaround: you can upload your PDF to Mailchimp and it makes a unique URL to pages hosting your file.
This also prevents security software, like that enabled in Gmail, from tossing your important message into spam -- especially if your new subscriber just paid for this valuable information from your business.
Your contacts won't need to log into Mailchimp or any other website to access the file -- it's one click, then a "Save" confirmation, making it easy and convenient for them.
What is Mailchimp?
Mailchimp is a longstanding mailing list management system used for email marketing. In Mailchimp, you can create an email and send it to your subscribers. Mailchimp will help you use email marketing legally and effectively, and you can create multiple types of emails in Mailchimp. From a brilliant design to something simple or minimalist,
Mailchimp can help you more effectively communicate with your customers.
You can use Mailchimp to provide updates, information, links to your blog post, advertise deals and announcements, and more. This includes sending images and other files such as PDFs files to your mailing list.
Why Would You Send a PDF with Mailchimp?
Many marketers and small business owners use PDFs as part of their offers for signing up to their Mailchimp email lists. When the person signs up, it can trigger an automatic email campaign to welcome them to the list. The deal is usually like so: the user/subscriber provides their email address in exchange for something, such as a discount code -- or in some cases, an informative document like a PDF.
What type of PDF you send depends entirely upon your business. You might add an attachment like a PDF that provides a list of resources to your subscriber. Or, maybe it's a whitepaper or an e-book. Either way, most people give away a PDF as a freebie for email list subscription -- it's a pretty good strategy for building your email marketing list, and it works well as a Mailchimp campaign.
Please note that this also works with PDF files and other file types, such as key archive files, numbers presentation files, EPS document files, WMV spreadsheet files, CSV files, ICS image files, and epub audio files. It also works with general image files like jpeg files. Once you get to file sharing with Mailchimp, you'll be a fan no matter what file type you are hoping to send.
Drawbacks of Emails With Attachments
Mailchimp understands the drawbacks of sending emails directly with attachments, which is why they encourage you to send in another way. In Mailchimp, you can't attach a PDF file directly, but you can upload the PDF file and provide a download link to your email subscriber.
Why is this better? Though people complain about the inability to upload a file and have it sent directly as an attachment in Mailchimp, there's a method behind the no-attachment rule: business emails, particularly sales emails, often get tossed into the spam filter! If you have a gmail account in particular, you know all about how this works.
You've probably missed some very important messages and good sales because you couldn't click open on an email that you couldn't even see as it got automatically sent to spam.
Avoiding attachments helps you continue to be noticed -- not tossed into the gmail spam bin. For this reason, Mailchimp asks that you insert a link into their email instead of using an attachment directly.
Mailchimp PDF Attachments
If you're worried about not being able to send a PDF attachment through email with Mailchimp, don't worry: there's a tried and true workaround, and it'll help your email land in the inbox, not in spam.
What you can do is host your PDF on Mailchimp's server and then link to the PDF in your email campaign. If you've clicked buttons in email before, such as "shop now" or "download our free whitepaper," you've probably been taken to a download page where you confirm you want the file and then you access it.
Alternatively, you can link to your file if it's stored elsewhere. For example, you could use your Google drive or your own website and then link directly to the file or files you need to share. That said, no matter what you choose, this will work with Mailchimp's content studio and campaign builder.
Mailchimp lets you store files on their server: you get to store archive files, audio files, video files, spreadsheet files, presentation files, image files, document files, and text files (txt). However, the file size limit is 10 MB, so if your file is larger than that, you'll have to break it into multiple documents or host it somewhere other than Mailchimp.
Share Your Files with Contacts in Mailchimp
Here's how you share your PDF and other file types with subscribers:
Go to the content section and choose edit design in the campaign builder
Select design, then drag a new content box (or select an existing one) to your layout
Create the text you need for your offer, such as "Download our whitepaper"
Choose the link icon
Edit or insert link
From the dropdown menu, choose "web address" if you're linking to a file off of Mailchimp's server; if you're selecting a file hosted on Mailchimp, choose "File" instead
Choose the upload button and upload your PDF file
Select "open" to complete the upload of the file (if you are having Mailchimp host it); if not, add the URL of the file you have hosted elsewhere
Choose "insert" on the "insert or edit link" menu
Click the box that says "open in a new window"
In the "title attribute" field, place your call to action for the file
Once you are done, continue building your campaign and then send it to your subscribers after completing a test email. Remember: if you've hosted somewhere other than Mailchimp, you must depend on that server's reliability to keep the file hosted.
How to Send a PDF to New Subscribers in Mailchimp
If you're automating with your email campaign, congratulations! You're on your way to some passive income. If you're welcoming a new subscriber with a freebie or PDF, or if you have asked for their email address so they can be one of your contacts in exchange for your file, you need to give them access to it right away: and that's easy, because
Mailchimp will host it for you.
Here's how it works:
Head to the Current audience, then go to manage audience then signup forms. Choose the form builder, and then on the forms and response emails drop down meu, choose "final welcome email."
Create the text you want them to click on, such as "Download your document now." Then int he insert or edit link area, select file > upload file > insert. Save and close when you're ready with it, test, and then ensure it's your signup form.
Create Your PDF
Before you can even upload your PDF, you have to make one. This technology has become way less difficult, and you're going to love Mailchimp for the ability to have them host a PDF for you.
If you find an error in your PDF file after uploading, remember to replace the file, whether it's hosted with Mailchimp or elsewhere.
You can create a PDF from a Word file, or from a Google Doc (docx). Here are the steps,
as outlined by the expert in this video from his YouTube page:
Save your Microsoft Word or Google Doc as a PDF. To do this, go to file > save as or file > download and select the PDF option.
Create an Email Campaign in Mailchimp
Design a Mailchimp Email
Put a Button on Your Email Campaign in Mailchimp
Upload Files - Your PDF (Click upload)
Connect the Button to the file in Mailchimp campaign As you continue to design your campaign, you'll have to make sure to pay attention to where your button is located. You'll be dealing with the file hosting, css class, a new tab, file guidelines, drop down menu options, an image file, click edit design, worrying about how to create a campaign, and other advanced options. Overall, make sure your readers can see the link and ensure they're inspired to click it!
Visibility is key: your "download" button is a call to action, and it keeps them involved. Don't forget to use your Mailchimp metrics to ensure you know who clicked on your link and why. You can always segment those link clickers and create another Mailchimp campaign based around their interests.
File hosting isn't as bad as it sounds -- it takes about eight clicks to make it happen once you have completed creating your file. Ensure your contacts can access your content today with PDF file sharing in Mailchimp.
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