Item: Mailchimp
Rating: 10
Author: Alicia Barevich, bCRE, bCEE

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Previous to my working at the organization, newsletters and event notices were sent out by BCC'ing all of the recipients on a normal email. However, at that time, our email service had a maximum of 50 (?) recipients per email, meaning each time we sent a mass email, we would actually be sending several. I chose to implement MailChimp for all mass emails for the museum. The graphic appeal of the emails skyrocketed with our variety of custom templates. Also, the ease of subscribing and unsubscribing was fantastic, and brought us into the present.

Pros and Cons

It is easy to create graphically appealing templates, and to use those templates with new content for each message.
Safe unsubscribe, and subscription options are great and reliable.
Delivery and message statistics were fantastic, especially considering we were coming from 0.

For our limited requirements (1-5 monthly emails to a list of 200 or so), with a few different templates and delivery statistics...everything worked perfectly! We didn't need anything to change at all.

Return on Investment

Faster sending of emails...with less time, we had emails sent to more people, that looked WAY better!
The emails looked so much better, and may have increased event attendance (around the same time, I changed a variety of marketing procedures, so it's hard to completely evaluate each)

Alternatives Considered

Blackbaud NetCommunity

I worked with these different systems at highly different organizations, so I'm not really comfortable giving a comparison. MailChimp worked fantastically for the small organization, and BBNC works fantastically at the school. Though I haven't used it, MailChimp does have some integration features that make it a decent option for organizations with a good database.

Usability

Very intuitive to create and send emails. List management was a little less intuitive than other databases I've worked with, so that's why I didn't give it a full 10/10. However, it is excellent for small-scale usage, and probably quite sufficient for many larger-scale usage situations. Go forth with your emails!

All-in-One Marketing Platform

We didn't use Mailchimp for any more than just sending emails. I'm not really sure which marketing activities Mailchimp is capable of managing, as I never really had the need to do any more than send emails and manage lists.

Lessons for Success

Keep your mailing lists clean and your emails well-designed, and it's a great platform to help with that mission!

Other Software Used

Blackbaud NetCommunity, The Raisers Edge, SAP Crystal

Likelihood to Recommend

I'm not totally sure how it may or may not integrate with a larger database, or compete in the market of extensive link click tracking, etc, but for the purposes of a small organization, it is absolutely a must-have. Nobody should be sending mass emails via BCC anymore. Make them look good with ease with MailChimp!

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

Designing emails
Managing lists

Difficult Tasks

Figuring out how to structure campaigns for your particular use-case

Simple, easy email editor for small organizations

Overall Satisfaction with Mailchimp