MailChimp and email marketing. There are a number of bulk email services, but MailChimp seems to be the best. In my experience, MailChimp have the most reputable bulk email service, meaning you get through to more of your subscribers.
MailChimp and Email Marketing
I run a number of regular email campaigns for clients and every time a campaign is run, we see immediate results. It’s fun to watch people visiting just after a campaign and what they do when visiting the websites. (See the ‘Tracking’ page.)
While your email may only be opened by around 35% of the people on your email list, this is still enough to see very good responses and certainly justifies the expense. There are ways to maximise the open rate up, mostly, “keep it small”! Many clients, understandably, want to shout about every offer, every special and every service you offer. However, a better way to increase open rates is to keep emails very small, just focus on one topic.
Monthly emails are fine, but once every two weeks, with smaller content, works the best.
Collect Email Addresses
While some might consider them a little intrusive, a popup on your website asking for an email address can have a very beneficial effect. People do leave their email addresses.
With current GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) rules, confirming clients’ email addresses is getting a bit more difficult. If you sell online, even existing customers will need to confirm that they’re ok with you sending emails.
Expect an ‘Open’ Rate of about 35%
Email servers – Gmail, Hotmail, etc. – are becoming more and more touchy with regard to spam/junk email. There’s just so much junk mail that your genuine email will sometimes get lost. In my experience, we can expect an ‘open rate’ of about 35%, although that number can be helped.
General tips for email marketing include, keep it small, do it regularly, focus on just one topic.
GDPR – General Data Protection Regulation
What is the GDPR? Europe’s new data privacy and security law includes hundreds of pages’ worth of new requirements for organizations around the world. This GDPR overview will help you understand the law and determine what parts of it apply to you.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the toughest privacy and security law in the world. Though it was drafted and passed by the European Union (EU), it imposes obligations onto organizations anywhere, so long as they target or collect data related to people in the EU. The regulation was put into effect on May 25, 2018. The GDPR will levy harsh fines against those who violate its privacy and security standards, with penalties reaching into the tens of millions of euros.
“…the toughest privacy and security law in the world”, and they are tough!
While the EU laws do protect people from unsolicited junk mail and general pestering, we still need to inform our guests, clients or customers with newsletters. The hoops we’ll need to jump through are considerably great er than they used to be, but it’s still very much worth it.
Bulk Email Services
MailChimp is certainly my favourite of those I’ve tried. But it can also be quite expensive. For less than 2,000 contacts, MailChimp is free, but prices jump up as soon as you hit that limit. Just for fairness, here’s a list of some of the most popular bulk mail companies.
- MailChimp. Reliable and great to use. Can get pricy with lots of contacts
- SendinBlue. Sendinblue is an all-in-one marketing platform for engaging with your contacts and building better customer relationships through targeted and meaningful communication.
- Constant Contact. Nice to use, but expensive. Reliable open rates.
- Mailjet. Mailjet is a midmarket solution, providing just enough functionality to make it a viable solution, but nothing that makes it stand out.
- SendPulse. Much less expensive than MailChimp, but lower opening rate and clunky interface,