Creating a sign up form

Created by Sloane DellOrto, Modified on Mon, 2 Apr, 2018 at 4:49 PM by Heather King

There are two methods of using webforms to sign people up for your Group(s):

Automatically adding the visitor to the predetermined Group(s) you choose. This method is simpler, and is the best approach if you only have one Group you'd like them to choose, or if you have multiple but you want to add them to all Groups.
Allowing the visitor to choose which Group(s) to sign up for. This is the most flexible and should be used if you have multiple Groups that are very distinct. If you give them the choice of things they may be interested in, they're less likely to complain later; especially if they remember that they actually chose to be in those Group(s).

Method 1: Signing them up for predetermined Group(s)

To create a signup webform on your site that links to your Mailchimp List (and Groups)

Create the post you would like to add the webform to (many people add sign up forms as Pods)
Save the post, then go to the Edit flyout > Configure webform
On the Form components screen, add a component for each field you would like to gather. The only thing required is Email address, of course, but you may want to gather additional information like Name and Address. (Note: you may also want to gather First and Last Names separately, if you'd like to be able to easily sort your contacts by last name at some point). For more information on webform components, see this article.)
Make sure the Email address component you add is of the Email type (very important - sign ups won't work if you choose a different type!) Also, make sure to make the Email field mandatory. Click the Add button, then save on the next screen.
Once components are complete, click on the "Subscriptions" button at the top of your editing screen
Choose the Groups you'd like them to be subscribed to when they submit the webform. Note that you can sign them up for more than one, but you should make that clear to them in the body of the webform post so they are clear about what they're signing up for.

Note: you won't see these options if you haven't already added the Email field component

If you'd like your sign up form to show up fully in teaser view (in the instance of using a Pod for sign ups, or wanting the entire post form to show up on a landing page in the main channel)
- Go to "Form settings" button at the top right of your webform editor.
- Scroll down to "Advanced settings," click to expand, check the box that says "Show complete form in teaser"
Scroll down and save

Method 2 - allowing your visitor to choose which Group(s) to subscribe to

To create a signup webform on your site that links to your Mailchimp List (and Groups)

Create the post you would like to add the webform to (many people add sign up forms as Pods)
Save the post, then go to the Edit flyout > Configure webform
On the Form components screen, add a component for each field you would like to gather. For this method there are two components required: Email address, and a Select list to allow them to choose from your Mailchimp Groups.
- First, add the Email address component: Make sure the Email address component you add is of the Email type (very important - sign ups won't work if you choose a different type!) Also, make sure to make the Email field mandatory. Click the Add button, then save on the next screen.
  Note: if you don't add this component first, you won't be able to set up your Select options later.

- Next add a Select options field to allow them to choose the Group(s) they'd like to subscribe to. Give it a name (this will appear on the form, so you may want to be descriptive: "Choose the newsletter(s) you'd like to receive," for example – then click the Add button.
- On the next screen, scroll down below Options, to the drop down labeled "Load a pre-built option list" and choose the last option, "Groups for email subscription"
- This will auto-load your Groups into the Options list above the drop down.
- If you want a Group to be pre-checked on the webform (that can be unchecked), check the box next to the four-way arrow.
- If you want your visitors to be able to subscribe to multiple Groups, check the Multiple box.
- Scroll down and save the component
- If you want to reorder your Groups or hide some of them and only allow visitors to sign up for the others (for example, you may use some for internal emails or for testing), you'll need to follow these additional steps:
  - Make sure you've already saved the Select options component, then edit it again
  - Under Options > Load a pre-built option list, select None.
  - Click the red X next to each option you don't want visible on the form.
  - Use the four-way arrows to click and drag the options into the desired order.
  - Very important: Do NOT change the number to the left of each list - they are used to identify the lists in Mailchimp and have nothing to do with the order in which your options are displayed)
  - Scroll down and click Save component.
- If you want to gather additional information like Name and Address, add those components as "Text field" types. (Note: you may also want to gather First and Last Names separately, if you'd like to be able to easily sort your contacts by last name at some point). For more information on webform components, see this article.)
- If you'd like your sign up form to show up fully in teaser view (in the instance of using a Pod for sign ups, or wanting the entire post form to show up on a landing page in the main channel)
  - Go to "Form settings" button at the top right of your webform editor.
  - Scroll down to "Advanced settings," click to expand, check the box that says "Show complete form in teaser"
  - Scroll down and save