How to Build a Mailing List in Django Using Mailchimp

Introduction

Building a mailing list is one of the most effective ways to engage with your audience, share updates, and grow your brand. Integrating a mailing list into your Django website using Mailchimp is not as daunting as it might seem. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the steps to set up a mailing list in Django and integrate it with Mailchimp.

Why Use Mailchimp?

Mailchimp is a powerful email marketing tool that provides features like:

Easy audience management: Track your subscribers, segment them, and analyze their engagement.

Pre-designed templates: Craft beautiful emails with minimal effort.

APIs and integrations: Seamlessly integrate with platforms like Django.

Steps to Build a Mailing List in Django

1. Set Up Your Mailchimp Account

Go to Mailchimp and sign up for an account.

Create an audience list. This is where all your subscribers will be stored.

Note down your API key and Audience ID. You’ll need them later to connect your Django app with Mailchimp.

To get your Audience ID, go to Audience and select the contact list you will be using in your django app. Locate settings from the list of available tabs. Scroll down until you locate Audience ID. See picture for ilustration

For your API Key, Go to profile > Extra, and create new API Key. Ensure you copy and save as it well only be available once.

2. Install Required Django Libraries

Install the mailchimp-marketing library to make API calls to Mailchimp:

For security reasons, ensure you store your API key, mailserver and list_id in a .env file. To locate your mailserver number, look at the beginning of your URL in mailchimp.

3. Handle Form Submissions

In your views.py, add a view to handle form submissions and make API calls to Mailchimp.

Note: You can redirect the users to another confirmation page which in my case I redirect them to the contact page.

3. Wire up your URL

4. Test Your Integration

Start your Django development server:

1. Send a post request to the subscribe URL with an email.
2. Verify that the email appears in your Mailchimp audience list.
3. You can find detail about the mail chip API here

Conclusion

Building a mailing list in Django using Mailchimp is a straightforward way to grow your audience and keep them engaged. With Mailchimp’s API, you can seamlessly integrate email marketing into your website and start building meaningful connections.

Want to dive deeper into Django or mailing list strategies? Let’s connect, or check out my blog post for more insights!

Happy coding! 🚀

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