Add emails to a mailing list

How it works

1. 1

   Forward the email to your ForwardThis address with some simple instructions, like "add Tom to the Newsletter list in Mailchimp, tagged trade".

2. 2

   The sender joins that list as per your instructions, with their name taken from the signature at the bottom of their email and any tags you asked for. Somebody already on the list is not added twice, and somebody who unsubscribed themselves is never quietly put back.

3. 3

   Nothing is sent. Managing the audience is all this does: no campaign, no broadcast, no newsletter, in any of the twelve apps. The most ForwardThis will ever leave behind is an unsent draft in Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Kit or Constant Contact, and a draft stays unsent until somebody opens the account and presses Send.

4. 4

   You receive a confirmation email naming who was added and which list they went on, plus an undo button if something doesn't look right.

FAQs

How do I add an email to a mailing list?

Forward the email to your ForwardThis address with some simple instructions, like "add Tom to the Newsletter list in Mailchimp, tagged trade". ForwardThis subscribes the sender to that list, applies the tags, and replies to confirm. The first time, you will need a free ForwardThis account with your mailing list app connected - it takes about 30 seconds.

Which mailing list apps does this work with?

Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Brevo, MailerLite, Kit, Beehiiv, Loops, Omnisend, Campaign Monitor, Constant Contact, GetResponse and AWeber. The forward is identical in each: the sender joins the list asked for, and the reply says which list they landed on. With a single list in the account there is nothing to specify at all.

Will it ever send a campaign to my list?

No. None of these twelve connections can send a campaign, a broadcast or a newsletter, and there is no setting that turns that on. Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Kit and Constant Contact will let ForwardThis write a draft, and a draft goes to nobody until a person opens the account and presses Send. Two things can start mail going to one person, and both are shown to you first and cannot be undone: a tag in Kit can set an automation running, and Beehiiv can put one subscriber into a named automation whose first email may go straight away.

Can it add tags and fill in custom fields?

Tags, yes, in Mailchimp, Kit, Beehiiv, Omnisend, Constant Contact, GetResponse and AWeber. Most of them create a tag that does not exist yet simply by adding it. Kit refuses a new tag name rather than inventing one, GetResponse turns "VIP lead" into "VIP_lead" because that is all its tag names allow, and a Beehiiv tag only ever goes on, never off, because Beehiiv publishes no way to remove one. Brevo, MailerLite, Loops and Campaign Monitor have no tags and take values for the account's own custom fields instead, so a company or a job title from the bottom of the email lands on the record.

Does it respect double opt-in?

Yes, because the list app decides that, not ForwardThis. Beehiiv puts the person through the publication's normal confirmation flow, so a double opt-in setting still holds. Omnisend adds people as not subscribed unless the instruction says to subscribe them. GetResponse queues the add, so give it a few minutes to appear.

What if I add the wrong person?

The confirmation email includes an undo for 24 hours, which takes them back off the list. Two apps are honest exceptions. Klaviyo cannot delete a profile once it exists, so undo takes the person off the list and leaves the empty profile behind. Omnisend cannot delete a contact at all, so a brand new Omnisend contact has no undo and the reply says so rather than offering one. Taking somebody off a list is a bigger change than adding them, so asking for that in a forward is shown to you for approval first.

Isn't it quicker to add them in the app myself?

For fifty people, yes, and every one of these apps has a proper import for exactly that. This is for the one person who has just emailed you asking to be on the list, where the by-hand version means opening the app, finding the list, retyping their address off the email and getting the tag right. Forwarding it takes a couple of seconds.

What happens to my email afterwards?

It gets deleted. ForwardThis holds your email briefly in case you press undo, then removes it completely. Nothing is stored long term.