Looking for new email marketing tool

[Michelle Casey]

Have been using Constant Contact - need something different. Obvious choice is Mailchimp - and likely choice. Any issues with using this ? How flexible and easy to use is it ? WE send about 2 newsletters a week to approx 300 each time. Thank you !

 

[Deleted member 69011]

Mailchimp is really easy to use and very clean and I think would be free for a list of that size.

ConvertKit is also excellent, especially if you need it for lead capture and email sequences. But it starts at $38 per month and you will need design skills if you want anything other than their standard (but very nice/plain) format.

If its a nicely formatted email to a warmed up list then I think mail chimp will do you just fine.

 

[Tony Kelly]

Based upon your number of subscribers and volume of emails you send, MailChimp will probably be your best option (at least free option).

I've used a few different providers and Campaign Monitor is probably the best I've used to date for one-off email campaigns, automation / nurture campaigns and producing forms, etc. for data capture / list building. Most providers should give you options like that at this point anyway I would assume.

 

[Michelle Casey]

Thank your responses. Mailchimp looks like the winner - hard to find a number where I can speak to someone though. Will keep looking !

 

[Jord.BillingServ]

I would say Mailchimp would be the easiest to use and for that mail size free. But you will have the Mailchimp logo in your footer as you are on the free plan.

 

[Michelle Casey]

Okay - that I didn't know. I don't find their website particularly user friendly just to compare options and find out whats right for me . Thanks for the feedback as that's important.

 

[Jord.BillingServ]

http://kb.mailchimp.com/accounts/billing/add-or-remove-monkeyrewards

Emails sent from our Forever Free plan are required to include the MailChimp MonkeyRewards badge in the email footer.

So you would have to upgrade to a paid account to remove that from the footer.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Why not just use a normal mail client like thunderbird? The mailmerge addon allows you to customise the emails for each recipient. For 300 emails, I'd have thought t-bird was sufficient...

 

[Bob Philpin]

Have you ever heard of GetResponse?

Although I started using MailChimp backin the day, GR soon took over as my personal favourite.

It includes landing page builders, form builders, popups, analytics and is reasonabaly priced for a small business.

Good luck!

Bob Buckley

 

[Xtm_Mike]

Why not just use a normal mail client like thunderbird? The mailmerge addon allows you to customise the emails for each recipient. For 300 emails, I'd have thought t-bird was sufficient...

Because they're not really designed for sending newsletter/bulk emails. There are dedicated services or this.

Thunderbird is software and still requires some service to send the email through. Providers like Gmail have very strict limits (100 emails per day in via desktop client - thunderbird). Other providers such as email that come with your hosting/domain name will have higher limits but will also be very strict and in most cases is against web hosts T&Cs to use their servers to send bulk email.

If things like delivery rate stats, open rate, link tracking, CTR, reports, better deliverability, automated subscribe/unsubscribe etc are not important to the sender then Thunderbird will be fine in small doses.

MailChimp is one the best but I use SendPulse.. better pricing and offers other messages services (SMTP, SMS, Push Notifications). I like having everything in one place.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Because they're not really designed for sending newsletter/bulk emails. There are dedicated services or this.

I wouldn't consider 300 emails as "bulk"...

If you want a dedicated service, then I'd favour getresponse or aweber over mailchimp at that sort of level (list size 300).

 

[Rob Herron]

I used dotMailer for a few years and have to say that it really is a different level. The functionality that it has, plus the educational content they post on their blog, sets them apart from everyone else. I think they have grown signifcantly in size since I switched away so it's probably even better now than a couple of years ago.

An alternative to dotMailer is Pure360. I've had literally hundreds of calls from them trying to get me to switch. They seemed to be monitoring the #dotmailer hastag on Twitter and then phoned everyone if there was an ongoing issues - acting a bit like a shark so I never really gave them a chance after that.

However after saying all of that.... they might not be cost effective if you are only emailing 300 people. We were sending over 2m emails a month.

I would take advantage of your list being small and stick with bcc'ing customers. Make sure you don't cc everyone by mistake! That way you can attached some images if needed and write a more personal email.

If you do want an online tool to help them head over to MailChimp.

 

[Xtm_Mike]

I wouldn't consider 300 emails as "bulk"...

If you want a dedicated service, then I'd favour getresponse or aweber over mailchimp at that sort of level (list size 300).

A bulk in terms of email is more than you would generally carbon copy.. Google considers 100 emails to be 'bulk'. 300 is definitely a bulk send.

GetResponse and Aweber are both great services but neither are recommended at this sort of level (list size 300) as they'll cost more than MailChimp (free for up to 2000 / 12,000 emails per month).

 

[threenine]

We use MailJet based on you volume, you get still use it for free

 

[UACU]

I use MailChimp. It is easy and great to use without advance knowledge in email marketing.

 

[EC1 Solutions]

I use Mautic. Its cloud based open-source email marketing - with integrated social media marketing, form builder, contact management - along with using reporting and analytics

 

[webgeek]

SendGrid here, though GetResponse previously. Both are decent choices. I'm sure there's many others, but these are the two I'd stick my neck out to recommend.

 

[Aileen B]

I love using Aweber. I was completely new to email marketing software and had a 7 day auto-responder and relevant opt-in forms up and running in less than 30 minutes. Broadcasts seem straight forward too.
I don't believe in reading the manual I found it extremely easy to use and intuitive.
Is cost an issue? Do you plan to grow your list?

 

[Certa-Hosting]

There are millions of businesses around the world that use MailChimp. There are various features and integrations, that allow you to send marketing emails, automated messages, and targeted campaigns.

 

[Rob Gordon]

Another vote for Mautic. Completely free if you self host (or pay someone to setup for you, or pay their hosted version), and full featured. Strong community support too.

 

[Chris Needham]

The thing to remember when you looking at email marketing tools is how many other professional use this tool if you wish to one day hire a professional to run your campaign or better integrate marketing automation. From speaking with a number of agencies and freelancers, mailchimp is streets ahead and you will be able to have a much greater pool of talent to choose from if that need every arises.

 

[Dan (CE)]

I have used MailChimp in the past and it’s very good but I use Campaign Monitor now for my marketing clients of all sizes. It's more professional without the logo at the bottom telling everyone what website you used to send the emails. The huge marketing agency that I used to work for a year ago switched to them as well. It’s easy to use and they’ve added automation as well which is great for warming up leads from cold by sending them interesting information automatically.

In terms of possibly hiring a freelancer or agency in the future then either will be fine - if they can produce code then they’ll know how to use either system.

If you've ever received an email from Nikon, Purell, UPS or D-Link in the past few years, then it will have been designed and coded by me. So let me know if you need advice on how to construct your emails and what they should look like.

 

[fisicx]

If you've ever received an email from Nikon, Purell, UPS or D-Link in the past few years, then it will have been designed and coded by me.

The ones I get from UPS don't ever work. None of the images load and because it's just plain text the formatting is all to cock.

 

[Dan (CE)]

The ones I get from UPS don't ever work. None of the images load and because it's just plain text the formatting is all to cock.

When was this? I haven't made any for them in the past 12 months. If it was since then, I'd hope the agency I worked for has employed someone who knows what they're doing but it's possible that they haven't.

International companies like them always use more than one agency, so it's also possible that they don't know what they're doing.

If you opted for the plain text version then you'll never see any images which is why they're not loading but the formatting should be structured properly.

 

[fisicx]

When was this?.

Every couple of weeks - when I due a delivery.

I didn't opt for anything - it's how they arrive in my iPhone.

Formatted emails will always be an issue as many email clients ignore your carefully formatted emails and a lot block external images by default.

 

[Dan (CE)]

Every couple of weeks - when I due a delivery.

I didn't opt for anything - it's how they arrive in my iPhone.

Formatted emails will always be an issue as many email clients ignore your carefully formatted emails and a lot block external images by default.

They're obviously using an agency that doesn't know what they're doing, or worse still they're doing it themselves.

Formatted emails are fine if they've been coded and tested properly as there's a fix or workaround for pretty much everything. This could be an issue if a visual website editor is being used, so make sure to test in as many email clients as possible before sending, even if they have a testing suite built into the website you're using - there's no substitute for the real thing. Create new email accounts if needed.

You're right about the images though - there is always a chance that they will be blocked which is why important information shouldn't be included in them. If it is then Alt Text will need to be added to make sure the recipient isn't missing out on anything. If the images loads then this is hidden but if it's blocked then the Alt Text will show to inform of information that can't be seen in the image.

Anyway, did you decide who to go with Michelle?

 

[fancymore]

If you need the app only for marketing, MailChimp is definitely the best choice, however if you are looking for some kind of an app to follow your customers, their contact details, etc, I recommend you Zoho or bpm'online marketing automation tool.

 

[Mike_Cartwright]

I have no problems with Mailchimp. But so far, we have been using GetResponse and it best fits our business. It is very affordable even as your list grows. Very easy-to-use. And it has an excellent A/B Testing feature. Try to check it as well.

 

[wheelchair]

i also need the same help

 

[HazelC]

I use and love Mailchimp - I have the paid version and have never had an issue with it.

 

[techguy4557]

Have been using Constant Contact - need something different. Obvious choice is Mailchimp - and likely choice. Any issues with using this ? How flexible and easy to use is it ? WE send about 2 newsletters a week to approx 300 each time. Thank you !

Mailchimp is indeed a great platform. Apart from this, there are lots of providers for email marketing solution. Check this out: Top 10 Email Marketing Services For Business It has well researched information on best 10 providers. You will definitely find what you are looking for.

Also, it is strongly recommended that you clean up your mailing list before sending bulk emails. It’s quite an easy to clean up the list. There are lots of providers who offer verification of bulk email addresses. I always keep a watch on the blog: Top 10 bulk email verification and validation services from AccuWeb Hosting. The author keeps blog updated with the latest updates and it is well informative blog.