INSIGHTS•3 MIN READ
Why MailChimp Sucks.
Apina
Published on May 11, 2012
Published on Wealthy Affiliate — a platform for building real online businesses with modern training and AI.
Email marketing is an important aspect of Internet Marketing as a whole, and like everyone here who is building an authority site I have a list (a very small one) which I am trying to build.
Using an Autoresponder is vital in this situation, as it allows you to schedule and auto post emails over a length of time, and when a new person joins your list, it send them all to them, one at a time, invaluable!
So of course when I started out, I had zero cash to outlay on an autoresponder, as it simply wasnt worth my money when I had 3 people on the list and 2 of those were me testing the list...
So I used MailChimp, its free for up to 2000 list members, though without the auto responder feature, which is a bit sucky, but at least helped me start my list.
Or so I thought...
I am now ready to start using the auto responder feature to send out useful emails to my followers over at www.apinapress.com. So I looked into the prices and the terms and conditions a bit more closely at MailChimp and also Aweber.
I was really surprised.
Mailchimp is generally slightly cheaper than Aweber, but and this is a big but, the terms and conditions over at MailChimp state:
No offense intended, but because we must ensure the highest delivery rates possible for all our customers, we do not allow businesses that offer these types of services, products, or content:
Whilst some are valid, the ones I'm worried about are:
So, putting it politely, THAT SUCKS!
After doing some more searches, it is noted that MailChimp has and will ban accounts that break its TOS (understandable) but you can and often will not be able to get your list...
I cannot risk that.
No sane marketer should risk that.
I checked Awebers Terms (which are quite limited in length) and they make no mention of not being allowed to market, their key concern is that you don't SPAM. Which is cool, I won't be spamming.
So now what am I going to do?
Well I am going to use Aweber, this will mean a few issues for me, I will have to change some of the code on my site, but more importantly I will have to transfer my list over. This will mean that everyone on the list will have to re-sign up, which inevitably means that they will not all re-sign up.
Unfortunate, but necessary, I am just glad my list is still relatively small.
Using an Autoresponder is vital in this situation, as it allows you to schedule and auto post emails over a length of time, and when a new person joins your list, it send them all to them, one at a time, invaluable!
So of course when I started out, I had zero cash to outlay on an autoresponder, as it simply wasnt worth my money when I had 3 people on the list and 2 of those were me testing the list...
So I used MailChimp, its free for up to 2000 list members, though without the auto responder feature, which is a bit sucky, but at least helped me start my list.
Or so I thought...
I am now ready to start using the auto responder feature to send out useful emails to my followers over at www.apinapress.com. So I looked into the prices and the terms and conditions a bit more closely at MailChimp and also Aweber.
I was really surprised.
Mailchimp is generally slightly cheaper than Aweber, but and this is a big but, the terms and conditions over at MailChimp state:
No offense intended, but because we must ensure the highest delivery rates possible for all our customers, we do not allow businesses that offer these types of services, products, or content:
- Illegal goods or services
- Escort and dating services
- Pharmaceutical products
- Work from home, Internet Lead-gen, Make money on online opportunities, etc.
- Online trading, day trading tips, or stock market related content
- Gambling services, products or gambling education
- Multi-level marketing
- Affiliate marketers
- Credit repair, get-out-of-debt content
- Mortgages and/or Loans
- Nutritional Supplements, Herbal Supplements or Vitamin Supplements
- Pornography or nudity in content
- Adult novelty items or references in content
- List brokers or List rental services
- Marketing or sending commercial email without proper permission
Whilst some are valid, the ones I'm worried about are:
- Work from home, Internet Lead-gen, Make money on online opportunities, etc.
- Affiliate marketers
So, putting it politely, THAT SUCKS!
After doing some more searches, it is noted that MailChimp has and will ban accounts that break its TOS (understandable) but you can and often will not be able to get your list...
I cannot risk that.
No sane marketer should risk that.
I checked Awebers Terms (which are quite limited in length) and they make no mention of not being allowed to market, their key concern is that you don't SPAM. Which is cool, I won't be spamming.
So now what am I going to do?
Well I am going to use Aweber, this will mean a few issues for me, I will have to change some of the code on my site, but more importantly I will have to transfer my list over. This will mean that everyone on the list will have to re-sign up, which inevitably means that they will not all re-sign up.
Unfortunate, but necessary, I am just glad my list is still relatively small.
Share this insight
This conversation is happening inside the community.
Join free to continue it.The Internet Changed. Now It Is Time to Build Differently.
If this article resonated, the next step is learning how to apply it. Inside Wealthy Affiliate, we break this down into practical steps you can use to build a real online business.
No credit card. Instant access.