MailChimp is cloud-based software for email management designed by The Rocket Science Group. Though the group was focused on developing other software, they have narrowed down to MailChimp that brings together humour, creativity, and innovation. MailChimp is one of the top email management software because of its robust features and tools that have attracted over 6 million users including top corporates such as The Economist, TED, and Vice UK. In every month, MailChimp handles an average of about 5 billion emails. What is more enthralling is that MailChimp does not stop there; The Rocket Science Group keeps improving to give clients better, creative, and humorous experience.
MailChimp has three main pricing plans;
(i) The Free Plan
This plan is considered ideal for those with moderate needs. The plan allows users to have up to 2,000 subscribers and send approximately 12,000 emails in every month. What you do not get on the Free Plan is the Social Pro, Delivery By time Zone, Email Client Testing, email spam filters and diagnostics, and auto responders. To enjoy these services, you will need to subscribe to a higher plan.
(ii) The standard
In the standard plan, MailChimp offers two options; send-based and list-based. The two plans allow users to enjoy up to 600,000 subscribers. However, the main difference between send based (pay-as-you-go) and list-based (monthly) is that the former allows you to send unlimited emails while the list-based has monthly limits. It also comes with a free trial for users to establish which plan to stick to.
• Send-based has an unlimited number of messages you can send to subscribers for your marketing campaigns. You buy credits that are easy to renew anytime. The credits fall within a wide range from $0.03/email to high-volume pricing level of up to 5,000,000 emails from $0.00125/mail.
• The list-based plan can pay for their emails on a monthly basis while those with customer list of over 50,000 have the option of sending unlimited emails. For example, if your business has a subscriber base of 95,000 that pricing plan would be 90,001-100,000 that allows you to send 1,200,000 emails per month.
(iii) The MailChimp Pro
This is a new plan that has a price similar to add-ons, but with more additional features compared to other plans. The pro plan targets businesses that have over 50,000 subscribers even though you can still get it with fewer subscribers to enjoy the additional features. To enjoy the Pro plan, you are required to add $199 on top of your standard plan.
Top features of the pro plan include;
• Advanced reporting and diagnostic tools
• Multivariate testing features
• Stop delivery
• Priority support
Other additional features include inbox inspector that allow users to see how their emails appear in various programs. You also get the Social Pro that gathers data available in public such as social media so that you can tell about their age, social networks they use, and age.
Ease of using MailChimp
The process is very simple. You only need to include name and email address. If signing for the first time, MailChimp will ask a few more details such as your page, business name, and physical address.
MailChimp’s dashboard is easy to understand and use. You can create and send campaigns, create and list, or build an audience. After setting out what you want, the dashboard will start showing recent activities, growth list, and a lovely news feed. Though a new user may take some moment to familiarize with the process, it will be very easy to apply after mastering various aspects of the dashboard.
Using MailChimp for your marketing
• Creating email campaign
MailChimp requires the user to add their marketing campaigns, select tracking options and set the social media. MailChimp provides a variety of merge tags that helps you to effectively customize all emails. MailChimp has 23 basic templates and many others for themes that cover different occasions and industries.
Whether you want to work with a blank template or select a unique theme template, MailChimp has a template editor that allows you to include images, dividers, text blocks, social share icons, and buttons by simply dragging and dropping them into the template. Your work auto-saves every 20 seconds so that you do not lose any work.
For those who want to code their own work, HTML is an ideal method. However, it is still possible to import HTML codes from a zip file on your computer or website. The creator allows you to preview the outlook so that can know what clients will see on the desktop and mobile phones.
• Sending your email campaigns
Once the emails have been designed appropriately, you can select the list they will be sent to, release them right away, or schedule when they will be released at a future date.
To add a list to your MailChimp, consider uploading using an xls or csv file or import from a program such as Batchbook, Google, Zandesk, Eventbrite, and Salesforce. Similar to other legal ESPs, MailChimp insists in getting permission based opt-in lists.
On list management, MailChimp has great features to assist you to create sign up forms and personalize for social networking sites for your website. Besides, the user can segment the lists depending on various activities so that they can be sorted, depending on ratings.
• MailChimp reporting
MailChimp has an elaborate reporting system that allows you to carefully follow all your email campaigns. You can know the click rates, top links, and geographical location of subscribers. You also get the numbers for successful deliveries, unique opens, forwards, and even abuse reports. With MailChimp, you can also view bounces, unsubscribes, link performances, and social activities. Using the Advanced Tab, you can apply the Analytics 360 to follow high-level statistics. The statistics include Conversions, ROI, generated revenue, and value per visitor.
MailChimp support
MailChimp has an extensive support system that targets assisting users understand MailChimp and use it appropriately. They have live support through email that is available on a 24/7 daily. They also have Social Media and Live Chat Support that will answer every question that you may have about your MailChimp account. In addition to these, they have an elaborate knowledge base where users can get all the info they need about MailChimp and optimizing results from their accounts.
