This isn’t about putting Mailchimp down – it is a really good product and has its uses – however there are several small bits of information we feel you should know. These could affect you, your website or business if you are not careful. More importantly, these disadvantages might impact your marketing strategies!
It’s fair to say that Mailchimp has come a long way and over the years, and it has had its share of improvements. Mailchimp is currently the market leader for free email marketing solutions.
With the forever-free membership (for the first 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails monthly), the very interactive user interface and excellent back-end dashboard, your email marketing problem is solved, right?
Well, we wish that was the case, but it isn’t. There are some Mailchimp weaknesses and disadvantages which you should be aware off, or else they are going to bite you where it hurts the most – destroying your email list.
The ‘issues’ with Mailchimp all revolve around their legal policies. They are pretty strict especially for many marketers. In particular, two policies could trouble you or land you in trouble.
Firstly, most B2B companies purchase data to supplement their lead generation activities and most certainly cannot say that their data has ‘consented’ (under GDPR legislation) to receiving their emails. Mailchimp works on consent when you send emails to your data. If they believe you don’t have consent (high bounce rate is an indicator) they can delete your mailing lists. As they state in the terms ‘you won’t use purchased, rented, or third-party lists of email addresses’. Here’s the link to their rules. https://Mailchimp.com/legal/terms/#Rules_and_Abuse
Yes, I know… your initiation fear has just increased 10-fold!
I recently got this message from a LinkedIn connection. It just goes to highlight the above and that Mailchimp does indeed delete contacts.
Secondly, Mailchimp have ‘prohibited’ lead generation. Why? Well take a look at their terms of use https://Mailchimp.com/legal/acceptable_use/. Most of it seems ok and sensible, but there is one section in there under ‘prohibited content’ that says, ‘we can’t allow businesses that offer these types of services, products, or content’ and one of those services, products, or content is ‘lead generation opportunities’.
The main reason they do this is because ‘some industries have higher-than-average abuse complaints, which can jeopardize the deliverability of our entire system. Nothing personal, but in order to maintain the highest delivery rates possible for all, we can’t allow businesses that offer these types of services, products, or content’.
The issue your deliverability could be affected is you share the same domain or IP as everyone else who uses Mailchimp. If someone does something ‘dodgy’ then that could affect you and your sending. Liken it to a car on a single-track road. If someone breaks down, then everyone on the road is affected.
We could be wrong, but email marketing is either selling/promoting products or creating some sort of lead generation for your business. If this is your aim using email as one channel to do so then Mailchimp might not be the vehicle for you.
There are other providers out there so look around or get in touch and we can talk you through CommuniGator and other options.
Alternatively have a read of our differences with Mailchimp. Hopefully see you on the other side!
