What is MailChimp and why should I use it?

What is Mailchimp?

Mailchimp is a web-based mass email marketing service that you can send out to your database of client contacts. You can design branded newsletter templates, track statistics and manage your list easily.

Why do I need a special tool to email?

Whilst you can send a newsletter or announcement about upcoming shows or events through your personal email provider such as Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail etc, these services are only designed to send one email to a small group of people at once – never intended for a whole list of clients or contacts. This is a different task that is achieved much more effectively and professionally with a different tool such as Mailchimp, here are a few reasons why….

Approved bulk mailer

Most email services and Internet service providers (ISP) limit the number of emails you can send at one time. This is to prevent spamming. With a tool like MailChimp, you can send an email to an unlimited number of recipients at one time.

Greater deliverability

Services like MailChimp, work with ISPs and corporate domains to ensure your emails are recognized as safe and approved. If there is a problem with delivery, MailChimp will attempt to re-send the email and tell you why an email might be bouncing.

Adherence to privacy laws

Bulk mailers are required by law to include an unsubscribe link in every email. MailChimp and other email marketing services include this automatically and ask recipients why they are removing themselves from your list.

Professional styling

MailChimp offers a wide variety of customizable templates for designing polished emails. You can also build a template from scratch to use with MailChimp.

Compatible with various email readers and devices

MailChimp gives your recipients the option to read your emails in fully styled HTML or text only. They can also click a link to read the email in a web browser instead of their email.

Know if people are reading your emails

If you send an email through your personal email, you have no idea who opened it. Email marketing tools give you all sorts of fun analytics on successful deliveries and open rates so you know your fans are listening.

How much does it cost?

There are free different types of plans you can use.

Forever Free: As long as you’ve got fewer than 2,000 subscribers across all lists in your account, you can send up to 12,000 emails per month without paying a dime. So if you’ve got 1,999 subscribers you can email them all six times a month. (And really, only your mother wants to hear from you more than that.) They don’t even ask for a credit card.
Monthly Plans: You can upgrade to a paid plan if you don’t want limits on the number of emails you send a month. Unlimited email plans start at $10 for 500 subscribers and go up from there.
Pay As You Go: If you’re not a frequent sender, you can purchase credits that work like stamps for email. Buy them when you need them. Starting at $0.03 per email and decreasing in price as your volume increases.

If you would like to know more or would like to set up a Mailchimp account get in touch with us and we can manage your account as well as design and develop custom templates to suit your branding.