I used to not be a Mailchimp fan, but I've kinda changed my tune.
Updated April 03, 2021
I used to not be a Mailchimp fan, but I've kinda changed my tune.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
Free
Overall Satisfaction with Mailchimp
It is being used across the whole organization. Its free version is a good fit for the quantity and scope of emails this organization needs to get out. It does serve a limited media need, as this is a nonprofit organization that doesn't need a complex marketing funnel system.
- Audience tags--this has been such a great add-on in the toolkit.
- Drag-and-drop email design--not every marketing mail system uses this kind of design editing tool; it's a timesaver, there are a lot of options. Adding graphics with captions and boxed text relieves me of a lot of formatting issues.
- Issues with MS Outlook--because Outlook (so I've read and heard) depends on coding particular to MS Word, as opposed to more generic html-based formatting code, things can get really wonky in an email viewed in Outlook, such as text not wrapping properly around graphic images, horizontal line of images showing up vertically, etc. It's a coding issue. Believe me, my IT friends roll their eyes when we discuss this, and my non-tech clients' eyes glaze over when I try to explain why they should look at their test emails in their browsers or other mail software for a proper viewing rather than in Outlook.
- Feedback tab interrupting the right scroll bar. What a pain to lose the scrollbar for a half-inch of screen area.
- Since clients are using free version, I'd say it's a good ROI.
- Since the analytics are highly useful and informative on audience reachability, I'd say it's a good ROI.
- I used to think I preferred ReachMail over MailChimp. I still prefer ReachMail for contact quantities in their free version, but Mailchimp's drag-and-drop composing editor is easier to use (ReachMail uses a table format with columns and rows, which can be harder to navigate). The visual results for both, though, are quite attractive. Two of my clients prefers Mailchimp over ReachMail for drag-and-drop; another client prefers ReachMail because of audience capacity for its free version.
- Network for Good and Bloomerang are primarily fundraising SaaS systems, but both have the capacity for mass marketing to donor bases. They have good formatting tools, but not as robust as Mailchimp, and they aren't meant so much to reach new audiences as they are for donor-related campaigns for previous contributors.
It's great to automate to social media sites, especially with the use of social cards, titles, and descriptions. Of course, other marketing platforms use this as well, but overall, it is a great timesaver, and for those who use social media more than read emails through a mail server, the news gets out immediately.
It is extremely gratifying to watch and gauge analytics as campaigns are opened, clicked through, and re-read. While it has always been important to see response trends over a period of days, it is becoming more important to see instant, hourly, and daily trends, especially within audiences I know on a personal or professional level--it hones my marketing contributions and allows me to interpret trends to the client so they can plan better for their next campaign to the same audience. And that, to me, is the reason for email marketing.