Understanding Mailchimp: 5 Comprehensive Aspects

Choosing the right Email Marketing Service has a significant impact on the success of your campaigns. One such Email Marketing solution is Mailchimp, a popular solution known for its forever Free Service Plan. Mailchimp is an easy drag-and-drop email builder with auto-responders, contact segmentation, and simple analytic features. It can also tell users to set up email delivery based on the user’s timezone. 

Read on to find more about the pros and cons of Mailchimp, its features, and the basic Mailchimp terminology. 

Table of Contents

• Introduction to Mailchimp
• Key Benefits of using Mailchimp
  • Comparative Metrics
  • Email Blasts and Targeted Emails
  • Free of Cost
  • Reports and Analytics
  • Custom Forms
  • Multiple Integrations
  • Email Templates
• Basic Mailchimp Terminology
  • Subscriber
  • List
  • Campaign
  • Template
  • Merge Fields
  • Automation
• Setting up a New Mailchimp Email List
• Cons of Mailchimp
  • Generic Email Marketing Software
  • Expensive for Big Lists
  • Create your Templates
  • No Affiliate Marketing
• Conclusion

Introduction to Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a cost-effective, popular Email Marketing solution for small and medium enterprises with the capacity to handle large volumes of Email Campaigns for large-scale businesses. It allows users to efficiently build, deploy, analyze, and manage campaigns, subscribers, generate custom reports, view click-through rates, and track emails. 

Mailchimp features make it easier to construct a Sales Pipeline with targeted personal emails, allowing users to turn emails into Sales. Moreover, it offers free design templates that users can tweak to suit individual requirements. 

The most popular features are Custom Forms, Social Profiles, Geo Locations, Subscriber Profiles, A/B Testing, Segmentation and Groups, Integrations, Automation, Spam Filter Diagnosis, and Delivery by time zone. 

The Free Plan supports 2000 subscribers with a monthly cap of 10,000 emails. Moreover, it is also accessible via mobile, so you can easily track and manage campaigns. 

Key Benefits of using Mailchimp

Mailchimp has gained wide acceptance in the market. Some of the Key Benefits of using Mailchimp include:

• Comparative Metrics
• Email Blasts and Targeted Emails
• Free of Cost
• Reports and Analytics
• Custom Forms
• Multiple Integrations
• Email Templates

1) Comparative Metrics

It’s great to analyze how your Email Campaigns are performing. However, it’s better to know how your Email Campaigns perform compared to other users on the same platform. With Mailchimp, you can track your analytics and see how your metrics compare to other users. 

2) Email Blasts and Targeted Emails

Mailchimp has a polished product with an interactive and easy-to-use user interface. It allows you to segment or group your subscribers for more Targeted Marketing. You can segment your subscribers to geographical location or click/open history. Segments allow users to subset their subscriber’s list into categories like purchase activity, subscription status, interest, activity, etc. Users can add up to five conditions with the Free Plan. 

3) Free of Cost

Mailchimp is free to use until you reach 2000 subscribers. For bloggers and startups, the Free Plan allows them to make enough money from the email list to justify the expense of upgrading to a premium plan.

4) Reports and Analytics

Mailchimp also has an easy-to-understand Visual Report Dashboard to check which users are opening and clicking the emails and reply rates. Both mobile and web browser users can check these reports, which can also be shared with team members. Mailchimp comes with Google Analytics Integration so users can better understand their subscribers. It also helps analyze your Email Campaigns and how they are affecting your website Traffic and Sales. 

5) Custom Forms

Sign-up forms are an essential part of getting customers into your Sales Funnel. Mailchimp allows you to customize signup forms and also add your brand’s logo to them. Users can also add social media profiles on these forms. Furthermore, users can integrate their contact list from mobile devices to Mailchimp list for syncing data across devices. 

6) Multiple Integrations

Mailchimp allows users to connect their favorite apps for more innovative Marketing. Various third-party Integrations like WordPress and Squarespace are available. You can either manually connect a website or connect a supported e-commerce store. Users can connect platforms from social media, developer-friendly tools, connect form and survey data, chat support, subscription data, designer tools, and much more. 

7) Email Templates

Mailchimp has a vast library of templates available. You will have to sign up on the platform to access it. What sets this platform apart from others is that users can import their Email Templates. Users can also modify existing templates with a point and click editor without any coding knowledge. 

To know more about Mailchimp, visit this link.

Basic Mailchimp Terminology

Some of the Terminologies associated with Mailchimp include:

• Subscriber
• List
• Campaign
• Template
• Merge Fields
• Automation

1) Subscriber

Subscribers are people who have opted-in to receive emails from you. Everyone who shares their email address wants to receive your emails. They are called Mailchimp Subscribers. 

2) List

In Mailchimp, a List is a place where the details of all your subscribers are saved. Users can create unlimited Lists inside Mailchimp. For example, users can segregate their customers by location and activity or have different Lists for their subscribers and employees. Users can add every subscriber to various Lists. However, each subscription will count towards your Mailchimp subscriber count because they are considered two different subscribers.

3) Campaign

Campaigns are emails that you send to your email list. You can have a weekly newsletter that you prepare each week for all subscribers or a welcome email sent to every new subscriber. You can also segment Campaign recipients based on various criteria. Other Email Marketing providers can call this feature Newsletter or Broadcast. 

4) Template

The look and styling of your email are called an Email Template. You can have a new Template for new emails with different fonts, colors, and elements. Mailchimp offers preconfigured Templates that users can customize for their requirements. Users also have an option to import the Templates into information. 

5) Merge Fields

Merge Fields has detailed information about an individual subscriber. The most basic information is your subscriber’s email and first name. Users can choose to save more information about their subscribers like their birthdate, last name, geographic location, or more. Other Email Marketing providers usually call this feature Custom Fields. 

6) Automation

The default Marketing Automation setting in Mailchimp helps you to automate tasks. It uses predefined rules to trigger email messages on actions taken by your customers. Some examples are sending a welcome email when a customer signs up for your mailing list or sending a reminder whenever they abandon their cart. It takes repetitive tasks off your calendar so you can focus on creating unique content and keeping your customers engaged. 

Setting up a New Mailchimp Email List

Before starting any Email Campaign, users have to save their subscribers to a list. Although users can have multiple lists within Mailchimp, it’s best to create a separate list for different types of subscribers or various projects. 

Follow the below-mentioned steps to create your first list:

• Step 1: Sign up on Mailchimp
• Step 2: Navigate to Lists in the Mailchimp Dashboard
• Step 3: Customize your Signup Form
• Step 4: Import Subscribers

Step 1: Sign up on Mailchimp

Go to Mailchimp’s website and click the Sign Up for Free button in the top right corner. You will be directed to a signup form that asks for your email, username, and password. After activating your account, choose a plan. Users can start with a Free Plan that comes with 2,000 maximum contacts, and 10,000 email sends. 

Step 2: Navigate to Lists in the Mailchimp Dashboard

Click on Create List option in the List Menu. You’ll have to fill in details like list name, default from an email address, default from the name, and contact information for this list. You can also fill in details about how your subscribers signed up to your list. This information is shown in the footer. 

Step 3: Customize your Signup Form

Mailchimp creates an automatic signup form as soon as you create a list. By default, it will have three information fields: email address, first name, and last name. You can ask for additional information in the form. Users also have the option to remove the first and last name details as well. The only required field is the email address.

Step 4: Import Subscribers

The last step is to Import Subscribers from an existing list. However, you should have their explicit permission to send emails. You can manually upload a .csv or .txt file or copy & paste contacts from an .xls file. Alternatively, you can use one of Mailchimp’s integrated services, like Salesforce, Google Drive, Eventbrite, Zoho, and more to get subscribers. 

Cons of using Mailchimp

Mailchimp has come out to be an effective tool for Email Marketing Automation, however, some cons are associated with it. Below is the list of cons:

• Generic Email Marketing Software
• Expensive for Big Lists
• Create your Templates
• No Affiliate Marketing

1) Generic Email Marketing Software

The target audience of Mailchimp is anyone and everyone that wants to build an email list. It does not matter whether you are an online creator, blogger, hobbyist, or commerce entrepreneur. However, casting a white net on the Target Audience means it’s not the best solution for users in every industry. There are more specific, niche-targeted Email Marketing solutions in the market that cater to a particular audience. 

2) Expensive for Big Lists

Mailchimp is free to use for the first 2000 subscribers, but the pricing steeply increases as more people subscribe to your list. They don’t have unfair or outrageous pricing. However, that can be a roadblock if the price is an issue for you. 

3) Create your Templates

Mailchimp’s template library is extensive, but it does not have a lot of attractive options. Users have to either spend time creating attractive forms or spend money on importing them.

4) No Affiliate Marketing

Mailchimp prohibits Affiliate Marketing as an industry but allows affiliate links in campaigns. This means users can add affiliate links in their emails, but your email content should not be centered around the affiliate links. Moreover, it scans Email Campaigns for delisted URLs. It also retains the right to permanently close accounts that intentionally violate their terms of use. 

Conclusion

Mailchimp is an excellent tool for startups, individuals, and small to medium-sized businesses for sending occasional rounds of emails. Its drag and drop email builder is a joy to work with. However, the platform lacks the advanced segmentation and automation features required for an extensive Email Marketing Campaign. Users might not be able to design a sophisticated Email Marketing strategy for converting readers into their comprehensive Sales Funnel.

Visit our Website to Explore Hevo

Businesses can use automated platforms like Hevo Data to set the integration and handle the ETL process. It helps you directly transfer data from a source of your choice to a Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence tools, or any other desired destination in a fully automated and secure manner without having to write any code and will provide you a hassle-free experience.

Want to take Hevo for a spin? Sign Up for a 14-day free trial and experience the feature-rich Hevo suite first hand. You can also have a look at the unbeatable pricing that will help you choose the right plan for your business needs.

Share your experience of learning about Mailchimp in the comments section below!