Use Mailchimp's AI to Write Travel Email Newsletters

What This Does

Mailchimp has built-in AI features that help you write email subject lines, preview text, and body content — right inside the newsletter builder. Combined with a ChatGPT-drafted body (Level 1), this makes monthly newsletters significantly faster to produce and more likely to be opened.

Before You Start

• You have a Mailchimp account (free tier supports up to 500 contacts and 1,000 sends/month)
• You have an email list set up with at least some subscribers
• You have a rough idea of your newsletter topic for this month

Steps

1. Create a new campaign

Log into Mailchimp. Click Campaigns → Create Campaign → Email. Choose "Regular" for a standard newsletter. Name it something like "March 2025 Newsletter" and click Begin.

2. Set up your audience and settings

Select your audience list, choose a "From" name and email, and enter your subject line placeholder (you'll optimize this with AI in a moment).

3. Write the subject line with AI

In the Subject Line field, click Get suggestions (appears next to the subject line box). Mailchimp's AI analyzes your email content and your list's engagement history to suggest higher-performing subject lines. Review the suggestions and pick the one with the best combination of intrigue and clarity.

If you haven't written your content yet, try: type your draft subject line and click Get suggestions — it generates variations based on what you've written.

4. Design your email and add AI-generated content

Click Design Email → Select a template. In the template editor, click on any text block. If you see the AI Content Generator option in the editing panel (available on paid plans), you can generate section copy directly. On the free plan, paste content you wrote in ChatGPT (from the Level 1 newsletter prompt) into the text blocks.

5. Use Content Optimizer before sending

After completing your email draft, click Preview and Test → Content Optimizer (available on paid plans). Mailchimp's AI scans your email and gives recommendations: subject line grade, readability score, image-to-text ratio, and specific suggestions to improve opens and clicks. Fix the top 2–3 suggestions before sending.

Real Example

Scenario: You want to send a March newsletter featuring spring European travel deals.

What you do:

1. Draft the newsletter body in ChatGPT (Level 1 prompt: "Write a March travel newsletter for luxury travel clients. Theme: spring in Europe — why April is the best month to visit Italy. Include: intro, feature article, and CTA.")
2. Paste into Mailchimp template
3. Click "Get suggestions" for subject line → pick "Why April is Europe's Best-Kept Secret" over your original "March Newsletter"
4. Run Content Optimizer → fix low image ratio by adding a destination photo
5. Send or schedule

What you get: An email that took 30 minutes total instead of 2–3 hours, with a higher-performing subject line you wouldn't have written yourself.

Tips

• The subject line AI feature is available on the free Mailchimp plan — start there before investing in paid plan content features.
• Send time optimization (Mailchimp's AI picks the best send time for your list) is one of the most valuable features on paid plans — it alone can lift open rates 15–20%.
• Build a 12-month newsletter calendar in ChatGPT (one prompt) so you always know what topic you're covering next month.

Tool interfaces change — if a button has moved, look for similar AI/magic/smart options in the same menu area.