Item: Mailchimp
Rating: 6
Author: Phoebe Little

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We used Mailchimp for email campaigns. Our organization sent out two newsletters per week as well as one more in-depth newsletter that went out monthly. We used Mailchimp to type, and design these mailings before we sent them and then to track viewer metrics after the fact. Looking at viewer metrics helped us find areas of improvement and opportunities to narrow our audience.

Pros and Cons

Attractive Design Capabilities
Easy way to store templates and make building new newsletters easier
Easy to access breakdown of how many opens

I would like to immediately edit the design and content of the email before deciding on a subject/ highlighted text
I would like to size images visually instead of typing in dimensions to a separate window. I want to use a pull tab to move the image around the screen.
In the list of email campaigns I wish the list was accompanied by a visual of the email instead of just the internal title

Return on Investment

improved our ability to track user/ reader metrics
allowed us to create visually pleasing emails
Let us customize emails for brand consistency

Alternatives Considered

Neon CCM and WildApricot by Personify

Neon sends emails that are not as attractive as Mailchimp. In comparison to Neon, Mailchip is easier and more intuitive to use and it provides a more pleasing final result.
WildApricot doesn't have the email function that Mailchimp does. Mailchip has a far better database for contacts. Our integration with WildApricot allowed us to import comtacts to Mailchimp but that's the end of what WildApricot did for us.

Usability

I find Mailchimp quite intuitive. My main issues are around email customization and visual dashboard. As a highly visual thinker I sometimes find some Neon features to be text heavy. I wish Mailchimp had more CRM features and a greater ease of searching for, editing, and grouping contacts.

All-in-One Marketing Platform

It rocks that Mailchimp allows us to send emails, store contacts, and access basic engagement data. Our purposes would be better served if we had more capabilities to edit and track contacts. We are a membership organization and have to track audience payments and terms. Mailchimp is not so great for that. Mailchimp lacking that feature is what led us to switching to Neon for everything despite Neon having less attractive newsletter functions.

Lessons for Success

We have built some lovely emails! We used Mailchimp to build our weekly (and very complex) newsletters and found it easy and fun to do so. We received constant praise on our newsletters and were very pleased with the results. I also appreciated the feature that suggested email subjects and provided feedback on wording to improve audience engagement.

Key Insights

Do you think Mailchimp delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Mailchimp's feature set?

Yes

Did Mailchimp live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Mailchimp go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Mailchimp again?

Likelihood to Recommend

If a client is hoping to write and put together visually engaging or complex newsletters Mailchimp is a great product. Mailchimp is a great starter product for teams interested in engagement metrics but not nercessarily to get deeply in the weeds with those metrics. I was the primary metric monitor in my company but, because we're a teeny team of 4, I was unable to dig in too deeply to those stats. Mailchimp was great for me to get simple and comprehensible statistics to use.We used Mailchimp for email campaigns. Our organization sent out two newsletters per week as well as one more in-depth newsletter that went out monthly. We used Mailchimp to type, and design these mailings before we sent them and then to track viewer metrics after the fact. Looking at viewer metrics helped us find areas of improvement and opportunities to narrow our audience.

Why we love (but no longer use) Mailchimp

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with Mailchimp