Have A Banana

I was introduced to MailChimp recently by a client.  I wasn’t too keen on using it to start, it was free for less than 500 subscribers as long as you put their advertising on the end of the email.

Turns out, their advert is a really cute stamp with a monkey on it.  That’s it.  So if you have less than 500 people on your list, I suggest you give this a go.  The rates after 500 people are very competitive too.  If you are just starting or if you started recently, think about moving over.   If you have a current database of people, you can import them without having them re-subscribe so you wont lose out.

Other great things are the videos, most people when they get into database mailing list software are often overwhelmed at how much they are supposed to know and how to get something simple set up, MailChimp has a boat load of video tutorials to get things started.

The other thing that really appealed was the amount of control you have over the sign up box.  A couple of the list companies have no control, the others have some if you know html, playing around with MailChimp however was a blast.  They have the html version, but they also have a fantastic tool to let you design how your sign up will look with images, borders, backgrounds, sizes, everything can be tweaked to how you like it.  They also have variations on the way it appears, either a link to a page (hosted by them, designed by you using the earlier mentioned design tool) or a standard sidebar / header opt-in box and a nifty little thing that appears as a sort of hover over the page after a set number of seconds of the potential client landing on your website.

There are also options for full campaign marketing, multiple lists with sign ups, follow up emails and auto responders.

I really did love the MailChimp, I have a soft spot for monkeys as many of you know, the software has simply re-affirmed this!

This is a genuine opinion, not a sales pitch, I don’t have an affiliate with them, I truly believe they offer amazing service for what is tantamount to a free service for people that dont need the extra expense while they try to get their business started.

www.mailchimp.com sign up and have a play around with it.