Mailchimp for E-mail Marketing & Small Business

We’re fans of Mailchimp over here at Front-Shack. In fact, we build all our campaigns within the platform – do one thing and do it well, they say! So, let’s talk a little about the application. Mailchimp is a software which gives you the ability to create e-mail campaigns, automate, create mailing lists, manage newsletters, track analytics and much more.  Mailchimp delivers all the hassles of managing a campaign under one umbrella, putting you directly in the driver seat. While we love Mailchimp for it’s simple to understand interface, there is a lot to dive into.

We LOVE E-mail Marketing

In today’s digital world, we feel e-mail marketing should be center stage in your broader marketing plan. It’s cheap, scalable, targeted, and readable! With oversaturated markets and highly competitive landscapes, e-mail marketing has enormous potential. When done correctly, it could very well tip the scale in your favor. Of course, if e-mail marketing is not done properly, it could also damage a business’s reputation, or even come off as invasive.

Design & Launching Campaigns

We like how easy it is to dive right into MailChimp’s platform. If you have some marketing chops, you’re not insanely overwhelmed with the interface. Once you create an email list, you can launch a campaign with just a few clicks. Don’t worry about knowing HTML, or coding knowledge (though it could come in handy). Mailchimp provides you with several pre-designed campaigns, where you can pretty much just swap out text and images. You can write out your campaign, rearrange the format (somewhat with no coding knowledge) and send now or schedule for later!  Now, if you want to jazz things up a bit, and have your brand stand out more – that’s where you would need to tap a designer. We offer the service which you can check out at https://www.front-shack.com/email-marketing/. That’s the beauty of Mailchimp; it’s completely up to you!

Automation

With Mailchimp, you have the option to configure your campaigns to run on auto-pilot. This could be auto thank-you send-out once they sign up to a newsletter or any other meaningful content. One of the goals we aim for is to enhance the interaction between you and the subscriber. Remember, subscribers, are potential customers. With all kinds of integrations, Mailchimp is great to automate in unison with purchaser data.

What might an automated email campaign look like? It could be anything from a welcome letter, product suggestions related to purchase, an annual mailing to a subscriber wishing them a happy birthday with a special promotion or a channel to gain any kind of feedback.

Previews & Testing

When sending a mass e-mail to potential clients, testing and previewing is vital. One small typo or misprint could be viewed by thousands of potential customers. Having the ability to not only test but simulate the experience in your inbox is a fantastic quality control measure. Mailchimp also has a tool that will let you view the email campaign in over 40 different email clients assuring compatibility. You do not want one error, undoing all the time you put into your e-mail client.

Geotargeting  

With geotargeting, the user can target a group of users in a specific location. This is great for a situation where you are looking to run an email promotion for a location. List segmentation is a powerful way to get more bang for your buck.

All About Analytics

Analytical data is one of the most exciting and powerful features within Mailchimp. Which links received more clicks and how many? How many subscribers received your email? How many users clicked within your e-mail and where? How many subscribers opened your e-mail? How many subscribers unsubscribed? This kind of analytical data is crucial and gives you valuable feedback. With this data, users can make decisions based on behavioral patterns of a subscriber base. Does a particular segment prefer picture links opposed to text links for example? Are most of the clicks at the top or the bottom of the campaign? Are there dead zones in your email? With Mailchimps state of the art analytical data, you will be informed.

Integrated Forms

You should always be finding new ways to increase your subscribers. With Mailchimps ability to add dynamic forms that are user-friendly, you now have a way to easily allow users to sign up. Within Mailchimp, forms can be customized to match your branding and even embedded directly into your website. You can customize fields in your form and focus on collecting relevant information to your campaign. While it does help to have some coding experience to customize the forms, there are many user-friendly options available within the platform as well.

Integrating eCommerce 

Mailchimp allows users the ability to track the number and amount of purchases from a particular type of campaign. This is great for determining how well an email campaign performs in terms of generated sales and revenue. There are even options for you to connect your email campaign directly to your online store via simple API integration.

Yes, you can connect to platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, Prestashop, and Magento. The whole idea is to track data over time and figure out what you can do better the next time around. You are always analyzing, tweaking, and tightening your ship.

Access on the Fly & Cost

Are you someone who obsesses and drools over having all your data available to you at any time? Good news! Mailchimp – There’s an app for that. With Mailchimps mobile app you can manage lists, add subscribers, send or finalize campaigns, and view analytical reports. The app is available on both IOS and Android.

One of the big reasons we love Mailchimp for small businesses is because it is 100% free for up to 2,000 subscribers. This gives you enough resources to run several campaigns and generate profit before needing to decide on upgrading further. The pricing structure scales as the number of subscribers increases. 

Clean Email Marketing  

For those starting out, Mailchimp is a no brainer with its intuitive, clean interface, powerful analytical backbone, $0 dollar startup cost, and a boatload of features. Growing an engaged subscriber base does not only produce dollars, but it also builds strong brand value and reputation.