Item: Mailchimp
Rating: 10
Author: Lisa Keyser

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Mailchimp to maintain contact lists of both my clients and prospects. I also manage Mailchimp accounts for several clients, including initial setup and configuration, and maintenance. Mailchimp makes it painless to create and maintain an email marketing list through its many integrations with other software. The free tier in particular makes it incredibly useful to many of my nonprofit clients.

Pros and Cons

Management of multiple email marketing lists
Creation & scheduling of email campaigns

More finite control over styles when editing
I'd love the ability to post emails directly to a website via RSS or other method.

Return on Investment

Several of my clients see a direct impact on event registrations and income following a Mailchimp campaign.
A nonprofit client found a direct correlation between meeting attendance and a Mailchimp email campaign. When emails are sent 2-3 days prior to the meeting, attendance is over 50% better than when no email is sent.

Alternatives Considered

Constant Contact and Streamsend

I much prefer Mailchimp to Constant Contact for a number of reasons, but the main one is ease of integration. I'm easily able to customize and integrate Mailchimp signup forms into websites and social media accounts. The WYSIWYG email creator is also much easier to use with Mailchimp. Managing lists for clients who use Constant Contact has been a painful experience, while with Mailchimp it's a much more intuitive process.

Usability

While I find it very easy to work with, I have had a few clients express frustration over certain aspects of the template creator and drag-and-drop interface. This is usually due to lack of familiarity with the controls and options and can be resolved fairly quickly. I also appreciate the ease of switching between accounts, since I manage the accounts of several clients.

All-in-One Marketing Platform

Utilizing Mailchimp to manage marketing campaigns means less repeat work, such as having to post to Facebook and Twitter when an email goes out. It lacks the ability to also push the campaign to a website, so that often has to be done manually. For one of my clients, we're able to set up their messaging for several months in advance and schedule all of the emails, so that the campaign runs itself with no upkeep needed throughout the year.

Lessons for Success

Mailchimp has helped both my company and my clients learn the best way to connect with clients via email. They offer several helpful tutorials and FAQs, along with suggestions, that help craft quality subject lines and messaging. The analytics they provide through reporting help drive future outreach as well by allowing for better targeting.

Likelihood to Recommend

I almost always recommend Mailchimp to my clients or others who are looking for email marketing software. The free tier makes it incredibly attractive for small organizations and nonprofits that don't have large (or any) marketing budgets but still need to communicate with their audience. In particular, Mailchimp is great for groups that use social media because of the integration with several platforms to drive engagement.

Business Processes Supported

Event registration announcement and reminders
Membership expiration and renewal notifications

Mailchimp delivers the right tools for online marketing.

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with Mailchimp