Forums/Articles and Resources/Email Newsletter
Email Newsletter Platform Migration Update
Cory
posted this on August 24, 2010 15:23
This month we're proud to announce some exciting developments and changes in our email newsletter process. After months of testing, trials and prudent consideration we've decided to make the move away from MailChimp to our own customized email platform.
Our new email system can be accessed at prontomarketing.createsend.com.
The heart of the decision lies in MailChimp's account structure: managing hundreds of individual accounts wouldn't allow us to scale at the level of consistency and quality we'd like to be at. While we were always happy with MailChimp's exhaustive features, reporting and email deliverability, the system was never going to be a good long term fit for us.
Before we move on we'd like to note that the core of our email process will not be changing. Each month we'll still proactively generate new emails for you to review and then deliver on your behalf. For Pronto clients who like to be involved, your new email account includes exciting, easy to use tools to manage your own lists, view detailed reports and send your own campaigns. The rest of you can continue to have little (or no) involvement and let us take care of everything.
Additional Mailing Price
Each email campaign you send (to a list over 10 recipients) will have a $5 delivery charge and $0.01 per email address. This means a single mailing to a list size of 250 members would be $7.50.
250 email addresses x $0.01 ($2.50) + $5 devilry fee = $7.50 total.
Next week we will communicate a broader set of new programs and services for email marketing – stay tuned.
Ready to go Email Templates
Over the next month or so we'll be rolling out ready to go email templates for each account. These will include multiple template layouts all customized for your company. This newsletter WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor is MUCH smoother and easier to use than MailChimp's and we think you'll agree. If you're interested in getting that setup now let us know and we'll get you in our pioneer program.
Sample screen shot:
Account Tour
Your email account consists of four main sections: Overview, Create/Send, Lists & Subscribers and Reports.
Overview
Directly after logging in you'll find a dashboard of campaign activity including drafts, scheduled and recently sent newsletters. From here you can quickly get a snapshot of what's on the horizon and jump in if necessary.
Create/Send
This section allows you to create new campaigns or edit existing ones. Your account is already configured with the proper contact details and integrated with your Google Analytics account. If you're ever unsure about the content of your upcoming campaign, you can always come here and click "preview", or, we're happy to forward this information to you upon request.
Lists & Subscribers
The switch to our own email platform gives us better control over the email subscription forms and customized landing pages. We've already changed the forms on your current site and you'll notice a slight change there. Confirmations can now redirect to customized Thank You pages to track in Google Analytics. We can also add additional fields to the newsletter signup form such as Name or Company. If you're interested in getting either of these setup or have any additional questions let us know and we'll hook you up (inclusive in our service of course).
We've imported all previous lists from your old MailChimp account. This includes any additional ones you may have created and your suppression list (removed and unsubscribed emails). All new list notifications from MailChimp will be sent to our helpdesk where we'll manually update your new account. This will ensure nothing slips through the cracks and that your lists are 100% up to date.
If you're curious about your existing lists it's easy to export or search for subscribers. We're happy to do this upon request as well.
Reports
Immediately after a campaign is sent you'll be notified by email with a link to view real-time reports.
From here you'll get detailed reporting analytics, including:
- Reporting Overview - A snapshot of clicks and opens with a timeline, pie chart, numbers and percentages.
- Recipient Activity - Who opened, clicked, forwarded, etc. This in-depth reporting provides deep insight into your subscribers and can prove very useful for future campaigns, (e.g. pinpointing users who click every time for a targeted campaign).
- Link Activity & Overlay - The post popular links from your campaigns and a visual view of the campaign to see what links were clicked.
- Opens & Clicks Over Time - Find out when people are clicking and opening your newsletter - and who keeps opening your newsletter!
- Email Client Usage - Some insight into what email clients your subscribers are using. This data will help us optimize future campaigns.
- Bounce Summary - Find out how and why some emails aren't getting delivered.
Account Preferences
Full control over your account information, including email, address, username and password. No more support requests asking what your username and password is anymore!
Fully Loaded Knowledgebase
Your account is stocked with detailed answers to the top questions you may have about campaigns, reports or managing lists. Mind you, these help topics are not a substitute for our current helpdesk and we're more than happy to answer any of these questions via support email.
Additional Information
New IP Addresses
We'll be sending campaigns from a new list of IP addresses. If you had previously updated your spam filters to whitelist MailChimp's IP addresses this would be a good time to make these changes. You can get a full list of our new IP addresses here: http://support.prontomarketing.com/entries/245414-pronto-email-mark...
Old MailChimp Account
We've changed the passwords and downgraded all old MailChimp accounts. We have not however canceled ANY accounts and have no plan to do so. Old campaigns and reports will always be accessible upon request. If you'd like to retain your username and password we're happy to provide that as well. This recent password change was temporary to ensure lists were synced as we migrated accounts.
As always, if you have any questions or comments please do not hesitate to send a request our way at support@prontomarketing.com.
Comments
Hey Cory thanks for the info and work on this newsletter program. I wanted to share an observation that with MailChimp we did not get charged a fee to send additional campaigns as long as we stayed under the "allowance". Under your new program we get charged a fee for every additional campaign we send. My other observation is that the "all inclusive flat rate" for web design, hosting, maintenance, and marketing, that Pronto originally signed us up for is slowly changing to a "flat-rate" plus a la carte if you want to take advantage of any real marketing efforts (ie, SEM, add'l email marketing, etc.). I have another provider that I feel did a similar thing and our relationship has broken down to the point that instead of thousands of dollars a month that we spend with them we spend less than $100. Hope you don't mind the feedback.
As always, very much appreciate you guys constantly upgrading and improving your product. You guys are never satisfied which is appreciated. Looking forward to checking out this new system. Alan
@Edgar - Thanks for this feedback and I appreciate your concern here. On the new email platform, the back-end engine that sends the emails now charges per email vs. per month. This was a constant of all true agency platforms we reviewed. There is a zero markup from the price we pay and pass along to our clients - we aren't profiting from any additional campaigns you guys send.
We're already beginning to get organized with customized email templates and autoresponders. These features, including list management and support will stay inclusive in our services
If you feel like any of these new changes disagree with the original contract you singed up for please don't hesitate to let us know. It is definitely not our intention to begin gradually nickel-and-diming our clients. Our primary concern is your ultimate satisfaction.
@Alan - Our autoresponder project is making great headway. We're excited to start tracking results!
What about our current campaign in mailchip. some of us the replication functions. those this mean that I have to recreate my promotions and offerings in the new system? Please let me know if there is a way to get them on the new system. I also concern about the $ for sending emails.
Those the "Ready to go email" has anything to do with Microsoft "ready to go" campaign or that is just your term.
@Femi - Your MailChimp account is preserved. We only temporally changed the password to ensure lists and campaigns would stay in sync as we made the migration. We'll take care of any campaigns you need recreated in our new system.
The "Ready to go templates" don't have anything to do with Microsoft's campaigns, sorry about the confusion there.
I'm going to create a new ticket so we can discuss your MailChimp account info and alternative pricing offline.
Cory