Close (X)

Blog

Email Marketing, Business & Monkeys

Freemium Email Marketing from MailChimp

September 1st, 2009 | by Ben

power-to-the-people-mailchimpI just read about this “freemium” approach to web startups. Basically, you build a cool app, make it free, build up a bunch of users, then find a way to “monetize” later. D’oh! Why didn’t anyone tell us about this when we started in 2001? We wasted all this time building a strong, profitable company with an awesome product and over 100,000 users, when we coulda been just giving it all away?  We’ve got to make up for lost time, people!

We’re proud to announce our “Forever Free” plan, where customers can signup with 500 subscribers and send up to 3,000 emails a month. Noooo, this is not a watered-down, 30-day “free trial” plan. This is a “forever free” plan, where you get full access to our amazing, head-sploding features (and even our world-famous power features) list, so long as your list is under 500 subscribers.

This is perfect for small businesses and e-retailers, artists, bands, bloggers, non-profits, churches, and anyone just getting started in email marketing.

If you know someone out there who could use a powerful email marketing tool, help spread the monkey love, will ya?

Spread the monkey love:
  • TwitThis
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • del.icio.us
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • description
  • Google
  • LinkedIn
  • Ma.gnolia
  • MisterWong
  • Netvouz
  • NewsVine
  • Slashdot
  • Technorati
  • YahooMyWeb
  • BlinkList
  • Design Float
  • Mixx
  • Pownce
  • Propeller
  • Webnews.de

Posted in MailChimp News | 54 Comments »

54 Comments

    • caroline says:

      I logged in today to check on one of my campaigns, and thought there was some kind of an error! Very exciting stuff, and believe me, I’m spreading Monkey Love :D

      Reply to this comment
    • Adrian says:

      WOW! I just logged in and saw this! AWESOME!!! :) What a great news!!!

      Loving the MailChimp so far ;)

      Reply to this comment
    • Chris Tanner says:

      Was with a new client signing them up for the Chimp today, we were pleasantly surprised to see the new plans!

      Reply to this comment
    • Kevin Miller says:

      You guys are always doing something that impresses me (and so many other people as well). From the small features that make all the difference to something huge like this.

      Coming from a small non-profit, I can tell you that this is BIG news. I’ve been vocal about my love for Mailchimp so far, but I’ll try and step up my game as a way to say ‘thank you’.

      Reply to this comment
    • Derya says:

      Having just passed 100 subscribers this weekend I was so excited to see this! Yaay! Perfect timing! :)

      Reply to this comment
    • Maree Earnshaw says:

      Mailchimp was already one of the best value 4 money email marketing clients I could find – now you’re even better! Way to go!! Because of Mailchimp, I can produce great e-newsletters that helps abandoned and abused animals find new homes. Mailchimp is helping my non profit project to remain and grow. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

      Reply to this comment
    • Naomi Niles says:

      I think I love you guys. Actually, no I’m sure of it now.

      Thank you!

      Reply to this comment
    • Adam says:

      This is GREAT for us as a small business! We are expanding our list monthly and love the idea until our list gets larger!

      Now just spread some of this free full featured Monkey Love to the Survey team ;-) .

      j/k – They are great too!

      Reply to this comment
      • Ben says:

        @Adam – we actually don’t have a survey team. You’re probably talking about our relationship with SurveyMonkey. That’s an awesome survey product, but we’re not related in any way (except for the simian ancestry). But I will certainly pass on the love to them.

        Reply to this comment
    • Jay says:

      I have a list of about 250 – I had to buy credits a while back. How does that work? Burn through the credits then back to free until I push 500? Free bananas for life?

      Reply to this comment
      • Ben says:

        There’s some kind of conversion button in the app, but I believe most people on PAYG plans are burning through their credits before converting to free.

        Reply to this comment
    • Elie says:

      You guys are the best!

      Reply to this comment
    • Mika says:

      Thanks!

      I have a couple paid accounts and a free one. I think it’s awesome that you also retro applied these to existing free accounts, that’s really upstanding. Many companies have stupid rules where they only apply to new accounts and stuff like that.

      Reply to this comment
    • Tony says:

      Guys,

      It is a really great news! Especially for start ups and small business like our. Thanks a lot!

      You made my day! =)

      Reply to this comment
    • Keep Up Appearances says:

      Gotta love the chimp! I too thought there was some sort of error, but no, it’s the real deal. Can’t wait to get to the point where 500 Subscribers and 3000 emails a month isn’t enough. Wahooooooooooooooooooooo – Lots of monkey love from us.

      Reply to this comment
    • Christine says:

      I just started using MailChimp for my prayer letters (us missionaries need to keep friends and family updated!) and was a little disheartened when I realized I already had a list 94 persons strong! Being able to grow my list to 500 is going to really free me up to make beautiful, interesting frequent updates (that people are more inclined to actually read!). Thanks so much!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!

      Reply to this comment
      • Ben says:

        Cool, congrats on the list growth! Are you using the geo-map tracker in your reports to see where they’re all opening from? Bet that’s fun. And glad we’re able to help you keep sending those updates!

        Reply to this comment
    • Cale says:

      I, too, ended up paying monthly just to get a bigger limit than 100 people so I’m wondering if/how I could downgrade back to the free account now that that’s no longer a problem?

      Reply to this comment
      • lindsaymg says:

        Hey, as long as you have fewer than 500 users on all of your lists, you can actually go ahead and switch over to the free plan. Just go to your account page, then to pricing plans. There should be a button to switch you over.

        Reply to this comment
    • GoldenAppleCorps says:

      Just got put onto the Chimp thing by Yoast and love it! Thanks, perfect for me at the moment, hope to build lists so that I have to pay you soon!

      Reply to this comment
    • Sabine says:

      This is a fantastic offering. I’m so excited about it.

      Reply to this comment
    • jasonS says:

      This is absolutely fantastic! Thank you and I plan on spreading the word to other churches about this amazing service. You guys are the best!

      Reply to this comment
    • Ron B says:

      This is great. It is actually an incentive to get the list past 500, at which point I will feel really proud to pay you guys.

      Reply to this comment
    • ron says:

      THANKS!

      We’re a fan of the chimp~

      Reply to this comment
    • Jeff L says:

      I can’t believe this is free. Amazing functionality. easy to use and great reports. This is the first time I have used an email system and the power is incredible. I found MailChimp from Drupal.org. There is a Drupal module that syncs MailChimp and Drupal. I’ll probably end up becoming a paying customer.

      Reply to this comment
    • Ryan says:

      That’s so awesome, I would like to know, can I have multiple lists with it and just no more than 500 subscribers on all lists combined. Also if so would someone who is on multiple lists count as 1 subscriber or would the count as 1 for each list they are on. Not that it would matter too much I would still be well under 500 subscriber…for now anyway.

      Reply to this comment
      • Ryan says:

        ouch i think i’ll stick with pay as you go for now to keep my emails badge free, that’s one of the reasons i choose mailchimp is no footer advertising so my emails look more professional.

        Reply to this comment
    • '182 says:

      Oh, what’s that you say… all other prices reduced too? Sweeet! ;)

      Reply to this comment
    • Alessandra says:

      thank you! what a great promotion for your service.

      Reply to this comment
    • Pam Moore says:

      This is terrific! As a small biz owner in startup mode this is great news! It’s nice someone cares about the lil’ guys! Hopefully soon I’ll be upgrading to your paid service so you can actually make a few bucks on me.

      Also, in the interim I will definitely be referring the product and service to my customers.

      Also looking into your partner and affiliate programs.

      Thanks
      Pam

      Reply to this comment
    • Amanda says:

      I am so happy for this! Just like Ron B says, Once I reach 500, I will be happy to pay you. Just make sure you use up your credits before converting – it seems I just lost my remaining credits by switching to the Free account.

      Reply to this comment
    • Wesley says:

      Great stuff, you’re leading in this market!

      Just one question, how do you prevent people from just using your free system to spam (and create multiple accounts to do so)

      Reply to this comment
      • Ben says:

        That’s an excellent question, Wesley! But if we told you the answer, that would kinda tip off the bad guys. Let’s just say it’s a mix of human review plus a sprinkle of new-fangled computer technology. Also, keep in mind we’re not some startup trying to ramp up our numbers with a free version. We’ve been doing this since 2001, and have seen a whole lotta crap in our time.

        Finally, it doesn’t hurt that spammers (unfortunately) have much easier, cheaper, faster tools out there to get their work done.

        They *could* sit around and try to do what you describe, or they could just jump on the spam forums, pay a few bucks, and have access to a gigantic botnet of infected computers waiting to send spam for them – http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/07/dissecting-managed-spamming-service.html

        Reply to this comment
    • Jorge says:

      In theory it’s good news. In practice, I got the $10.00 invoice, as every month, even if I have a list under 500 subscribers and my sendings are well below 3000 times a month. Moreover, I sent an email to Mailchimp 28 hours to explain me the situation, and still no answer.

      Reply to this comment
      • Ben says:

        Jorge – If you’re currently on a monthly plan, the “Forever Free” plan is an actual account-type that you have to convert to. There’s a button in your settings allowing you to convert. If you were expecting it to auto-convert you to free just because you’re sending very few emails, sorry for the misunderstanding. The reason we don’t auto-convert you is the free account places a logo in your footer. Most people are fine with that, but some prefer no logos, and would rather pay. The reason you waited 28 hrs for a reply is probably because yesterday was Labor Day here in the US, and our customer svc. team was running on a skeleton crew.

        Reply to this comment
    • Donna Crane says:

      We are just getting started and so far it has taken us a lot longer to get up to speed than we anticipated. I’m okay with that, though. Mostly because I’m really okay with Freemiums. Which gets underlined when you write it ’cause you monkeys made that one up. Have to tell you that I’m a serious fan of “head-sploding”; that’s even a better word than Freemiums.

      Anybody NOT a Millennial over there in Chimp territory?

      Reply to this comment
    • Melvin Abundo says:

      Woohoo! This is great news for a youth pastor in the Philippines (me). Thank you Mailchimp! :-)

      Reply to this comment
    • Diane says:

      Just wanted to say a big THANK YOU :-)

      Reply to this comment
    • DJ Skeme says:

      WOW. I mean wow. As an independent podcaster this is 1 of the best tips/rewards I’ve received to help me expand. This is already a great tool with up to 100 subscribers, but now 500??? Combined with the iphone web app I’m a loyal chimp! Thanks!

      Reply to this comment
    • Michael Carnell says:

      This is really excellent. Great for those of us who are small enough that even the least expensive account from you, or your competitors, are a bit more than we need or can handle. Will certainly earn our loyalty and recommendations!

      Reply to this comment
    • Nick Hanning says:

      Thank you, thank you, thank you.

      As the admin of 2 small non-profit organisations I’m over the moon to discover we can now go free.

      Makes me even happier to sign up our main business to a fee paying account.

      Thank you and monkey love!

      Reply to this comment
    • Ian Sharp says:

      Just a simple thank you for this. Now I need to grow my list and get over 500 subscribers! I’ll be happy to pay you at that point – win-win time :-)

      You’re one of the best businesses I’ve ever dealt with, online or off. And you can quote me on that.

      More monkey love and thanks again.

      Reply to this comment
    • Josh says:

      Bless you, MailChimp. Bless you.

      Reply to this comment
    • Brian Dusablon says:

      This is awesome. I do a lot of work with non-profits and small businesses, and you just made them a great deal. Nice work!

      Reply to this comment
    • Raja Selvam says:

      Just started spreading monkey love and am loving doing it. The delivery is fabulous and am planning to sign up for a paid account soon. Just a suggestion, maybe you can add some plans such as a monthly payment for say 10000 emails. Apart from the pay as you go plan…. let me know the thoughts…

      Reply to this comment
    • Apres Ski says:

      My friend just got a new client and this is perfect timing! I’m going to show her this & she’ll give me finders fee . . . free dinner & all the Knob Creek/Grey Goose shots I can down!! YIPPEE!!

      And perfect for the business I’m going to start in November 2009. Can’t wait . . .

      Reply to this comment
    • Bill Hogg says:

      Great news that you are making this move. Interestingly, I have been using pay as you go since I crossed 100 subscribers (just topped 200) and recently purchased (as in last week!) 5,000 credits. Bummer on the timing ;)

      This will obviously take me some time for a monthly newsletter to use up and as I carefully build my database and hopefully I will be past the 500 mark before the 5,000 credits runs out..

      But for folks that are in my situation and have purcahsed credits already and therefore won’t be able to avail themselves of your great “freeforever” service — possibly you could offer a thank you in the form of inbox inspections or something similar.

      Or at least a few bananas.

      Reply to this comment
    • Wendy McDonnell says:

      this is absolutely wonderful! thank you for supporting small business. I stay at home with my kids and grow my coaching practice from home. I just switched. It was *so* easy! thank you, thank you :-)

      Reply to this comment

Leave a Reply

* indicated required
http://www.mailchimp.com/nonrestrictiveocean.php