The New Year 10-Step Mailchimp Audit
The new year means it’s time to revisit your Mailchimp account with a fresh pair of eyes and give it an audit.
You’ve opened your Mailchimp account again for the first time in a while.
And yep, it’s still in need of some TLC. The Christmas magic didn’t extend that far.
There are lists you don’t remember creating. Campaigns with names like “TEST 2025 FINAL FINAL.” Signup forms that send to… where, exactly? Tags that mean… what? Lots of columns, some have data, some are empty, some data is clearly in the wrong place.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
Most businesses and charities don’t mean to neglect their Mailchimp accounts. Things just… pile up. A quick new audience here, a tag created on the fly that meant something at the time, a last-minute clone of an old campaign you know isn’t ideal.
Before you know it, your Mailchimp account is less shiny-powerful-marketing-machine and more digital junk drawer.
That’s where a Mailchimp audit comes in.
Whether you’re trying to improve what it can do for you, make better use of automations, or simply sleep better at night, a proper audit helps you:
Understand what you’ve got so that you know what to sort out
Clarify what you actually want it to do for you and a strategy to make that happen
Make it all easier, clearer, more intuitive
Get Mailchimp working harder for you.
Here’s where to start. Depending on how much of a mess you’ve built up this might take an hour, it might take a day. But I PROMISE it is worth doing. And if you get stuck, contact me - I do this all the time and actually enjoy it.
[1] Audiences
Have a detailed looked at your audiences including:
Audience names (which can sometimes be seen publicly)
Data fields
Tags, groups, segments
Where the contacts in those audiences came from, when they were last added and how
When the last campaign was sent, and the one before that
Any automations that are running
Integrations, web hooks and APIs
And of course, if you have consent for the contacts that are in there in the first place
Do you have campaign archives showing?
Are your campaigns organised in folders?
What’s the unsubscribe process and form styling like for each audience?
[2] Signup forms & integrations
Test all forms, lead magnets, surveys, APIs and integrations.
What are the CTAs and are they clear? Do people understand why they are subscribing and what they’re going to get?
Are the data fields consistent and is the data mapping correctly, and to the audience you want it to go to?
Are the forms GDPR compliant? Do you even have a Privacy Policy and is it up to date?
Do they add any tags or groups correctly, and do they trigger the correct automations?
Bear in mind that if you have already signed up to your audience before they might behave differently for you if you’re a repeat subscriber.
Do you have other data sources in your business that are not currently speaking to Mailchimp? Integrations often open up an absolute power-house of what Mailchimp can do for you (if they’re set up in the correct way, otherwise it can cause even more chaos).
[3] Recent campaigns
Have a look through at least the last 10 campaigns you’ve sent with a fresh pair of eyes.
Do the internal names mean anything to you and are they structured to be searchable?
Look at your reports, look at your CRM, and Google Analytics. Which have performed better in terms of sales, enquiries, opens and clicks, unsubscribes and abuse reports? Take note of the trends and what might have caused them.
And the overall style of the emails - are you still using Mailchimp’s legacy builder or were they created in the New Builder? Are they brand consistent and if you have multiple people creating emails, are they using the same approach? Are they accessible? Have you been using alt text? Is the footer correct?
[4] Automations
List all your active automations, then check:
Triggers, content, template and relevance.
Are there any missing?
How are people engaging and interacting with them? Are they converting?
Are any still running in the old classic automations and need migrating across to Mailchimp’s newer automation flows?
[5] Templates
How are your templates looking?
Are they all in Mailchimp’s new builder or do you any old legacy ones rattling around?
Is everyone using the same templates?
Are they style-sheets set up correctly to ensure consistency? Are they OK on mobiles and dark mode? Are they accessible?
Does everyone understand how to do everything properly or are they just winging it because they don’t know any better?
Do you have obsolete templates rattling around in your account that need to be renamed or removed to make it all easier?
[6] Content studio
How’s your content studio looking?
Oodles of old images pre-rebrand?
Dozens of the same logo files because you can’t ever find them so just upload them again for speed? Remove duplicates, rename images with searchable names e.g. Logo - white on transparent background / Logo - black on white background.
Remove old images and duplicate files. Upload them in the correct sizes in the first place if needs be.
Use folders for easier access.
[7] Account settings
This bit is tucked around the back in Mailchimp and often gets forgotten.
Are your domains authenticated properly?
Did you authenticate a long time ago before Dmarc was introduced and if so, do you have Dmarc set up?
What users have access to your account and should they? If so, are they on the correct access tier?
Are the contact details that show in your footer still correct or are you merrily sharing the CEO’s home address and personal mobile?
Are you on the correct account plan and contact tier?
Are you on the correct time-zone?
Are you merrily adding Mailchimp’s logo to the bottom of all your emails even though you have a paid account and don’t need to?
What APIs and integrations do you have active and should they still be in there?
[8] Unsubscribes, bounces & complaints
Take a look at your reports again and look properly at this - what seems to have caused it?
Are you getting big spikes after a longer gap between campaigns or when you send them too often?
Is a certain type of content or messaging leading to higher rates?
[9] Strategy
Do you even have one?
What are you trying to achieve?
How does Mailchimp align with your broader goals and activities?
What are your future plans and does your current Mailchimp set-up align with that?
What would be your basic segments?
What do you need to start doing now so that it can grow with you and your business?
[10] Fix and optimise
Now you know what you’ve got, it’s time to prioritise, fix and optimise. But please…. back up your Mailchimp account first.
Want help with all this?
Get in touch - this might all sound horrific to you, but doing this process and turning your Mailchimp account into a user-friend, efficient, tidy, future-proofed powerful machine is my absolute happy place.
I’m Claire Witz, Chief Chimpologist and fully certified top 10 global Mailchimp Expert Pro Partner with over 15 years’ experience.