Review of MailChimp Free Email Marketing and Templates
We began scouring the internet to look for a delivery service that would suit our needs. Our email list is small but growing. What we needed was a company that we could grow into. We hoped for a graduated low cost structure, templates and customer service.
What we found was that most online e-zine and newsletter companies were cost prohibitive. There were several with upscale templates, stats and other options that would be valuable to us as the list expands. They were just out of our price range.
Cost
A nonprofit colleague suggested looking into MailChimp.com. With them, you can have up to 2,000 email subscribers. As long as you send out fewer than 12,000 emails per month their services are free. More than that and you start paying. The pricing structure begins at only $15.00 per month.
Templates
Our nonprofit can afford that but would MailChimp have free eye catching templates and a blog to keep us up to date? If we got stuck in the development process I wanted a company that would have basic customer service. Would we be able to ask a question if we got stuck?
The answers to those questions is "yes". The even better news is that MailChimp doesn't stop there. They go far beyond what we had hoped for in a newsletter or e-zine.
You can still create a plain text e-zine but with these templates you won't want to. MailChimp offers a variety of free templates that grab your attention. These aren't simply plain text but deliver strong bold colors or softer designs for lighter newsletters.
Tutorials
MailChimp offers plenty of tutorials that helped us create the newsletter. These short but engaging videos helped us get started. Everything that we needed to know was a click away.
Stats
One thing that knocked my socks off about MailChimp is the stats that are available. These can tell us how many subscribers we have, the number of emails that are opened and what urls are clicked inside the newsletter. No other free e-zine or newsletter service offered anything close to this on free plans.
These stats will help us create content that our readers want. As we progress, we will be able to make newsletter become more interactive and track the progress.
Customer Service
My first experience with MailChimp customer service has me hooked more than anything else. I met with a colleague at a coffee house and received an error message every time I tried signing into my account.
Frustrated, I clicked on "Live Chat". The MailChimp staff was on the line is about a minute. He walked me through several things and changed my password. Nothing helped. It turns out that the coffee house was blocking access to our newsletter services! I wasn't happy with that but I was very happy with MailChimp.
My customer service experience didn't end there. An email arrived in my inbox asking if everything was working ok. If not, it was suggested that I email them back. I didn't and then received another email.
It turns out that this isn't an automated response. MailChimp actually cares if everything we went well or not. Color me shocked on that one. A friendly note came in after I responded. A customer service staff member told me they would be glad to help again if needed.
End result
All this, while on the free plan? You can bet that we'll be using MailChimp for a very, very long time.
Published by Gayle Crabtree
Gayle is an expert in budget and family travel. She is a trained mission team leader who has traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada. Her road trips experiences include traveling with di... View profile
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10 Comments
Post a CommentGreat info. Will email to some business owners I know
excellent work, thanks for sharing ♥
This is the first I've heard of this...Thank you!!!
Hey, this is very impressive. As a pastor, you seem like a gift from God. Before I was a pastor, I sent cards to my old pastor AND his wife, since their ministry is a team of two. Love your works.
Sounds like an excellent service.
Thanks Gayle, and well done!
Good information for those who need this type of service.
An excellent service! Thanks!
very helpful; thanks!
This is great news for many small companies. I'm going to pass this on to my son in case he knows of someone who could benefit from this great service. Thanks! rcj