I'm a nonprofiteer - will Mailchimp work for me?
Updated January 14, 2020

I'm a nonprofiteer - will Mailchimp work for me?

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

2013

Modules Used

  • Free Trial Version
  • Pay Version

Overall Satisfaction with Mailchimp

It's being used solely via the marketing dept. for e-newsletters for marketing campaigns. It solves the problem of reaching our community in an easy and visually acceptable manner.
  • I believe that the wysiwyg feature is good. For a novice, someone who is not a coder, you can easily drop in text and images, then view an immediate preview. Many newcomers to the product that I have managed have picked it up quickly and easily, given that they have no prior coding or email marketing tool experience.
  • The ability to upload, store and edit photos in real time is also an asset. Unlike Constant Contact in which you need to switch back and forth between files to view your photos and edit them, then another step to return back to you eblast templates can be a hassle. MailChimp gives all that to you in real time, in one section.
  • They do a great job on branding. The brand looks fun (a chimp), non-threatening and not over complicated. They communicate in a down to earth, playful manner with their users which conveys that they are ready to help and guide them through the eblast building process.
  • I think the help center for questions needs to be more prevalent. Many times I have not been able to find it and had to open another google tab, googling "mailchimp fill in the blank" the question I had.
  • I love the photo storage feature, but after trying to get your picture to fit just right (going thru various cropping edits) Mailchimp renames each photo and it becomes hard to tell which one is the final one, so that you can delete the others.
  • Mailchimp will also timeout after going through many series of photo edits, preview, edit again. You have to log out and log back in to get its cache cleared, which can be time consuming.
  • Mailchimp has helped us as an organization (non-profit) to reach our communications goals with our stakeholders given the very conservative budget that our marketing department has. Without their discount and easy to use features, I don't believe we would be able to have the same communications impact.
  • Mailchimp has also helped us to increase the efficiency of our volunteers. Many of those volunteering and engaging in our marketing communications committee are not tech savvy and come with no previous experience of email marketing. Their easy to use features has allow our volunteers to be more efficient, increasing the turnaround of projects so that they are streamlined and only require minor edits at the Director level at best.
  • Mailchimp has had a positive effect on our branding. We initiated an overhaul of our brand a couple of years ago and Mailchimp's ability to let us custom build or semi-custom build our templates has matched and complimented the brand elevation and consistency with our printed collateral. We get many compliments on the styling of our eblast and the easy to click-thru to email address, hyperlink and document attachment abilities. For a non-profit, it looks professional and high-end.
It's pretty easy and straightforward to use. I've introduced it to a number of people who do not have a design background, and once you show them the basics, they then start playing around with it on their own and have really mastered it! It has the power to empower everyone and anyone in marketing.
We only use it for e-blasts. It saves us time from importing lists everything or copy/pasting emails into a bcc etc.
It's easy to use and anyone can be easily trained on it, I'd say that's our biggest success. Empowering others, so that it just doesn't lay at the feet of one person.
I would ask: what are their email marketing goals and their targets, and what budget do they have to implement this? Mailchimp is a great tool for non-profits and small businesses - basically traditional non-marketers or when you're dealing with shorted staff. I wouldn't recommend it for a very large org with a large list of constituents, however given the value you receive for your money or for no money at all, since you can try Mailchimp for free forever with a limited email list. Their features and ease of use are directly inline with the small to medium business that is trying to increase market awareness of their product or services.

Mailchimp Feature Ratings

WYSIWYG email editor
9
Dynamic content
8
Ability to test dynamic content
8
Landing pages
9
A/B testing
Not Rated
Mobile optimization
Not Rated
Email deliverability reporting
9
List management
9
Triggered drip sequences
Not Rated
Standard reports
9

Using Mailchimp

  • Great value for a low cost
  • Non-profit discount
  • Segmented pre-designed templates by business sector
  • Ease of use
  • Branding
  • Free photo storage
  • UI guidance
  • Call outs: to make sure you've covered all the necessary items before sending out the eblast
  • Eblast timer: set the blast to send on your schedule
  • Nice array of styles: many fonts, colors and templates

Using Mailchimp

ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • The Preview and Send Test Message function
  • Adding hyperlink - glad it's automatic now for the link to "open in new window"!
  • the HTML coding - to tedious to go in and edit from the code when one of the function buttons are not working. And sometimes the code will go back to the way it was and won't stay to what it was changed to.
  • Justification... sometimes when you try and justify, nothing moves