34 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
34 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

MailChimp Free Email Marketing -Read The TOS Carefully

by tamalanwar
27 replies
For building a list you need a better email marketing software. MailChimp is one and often mentioned on the IM field as a free (upto 2,000 subs) platform; but after reading the terms it is clear they don't allow IMers to use that service, have a look:



Source: Terms of Use | MailChimp

Okay so I was looking for another email provider to build another list on the side, but this one is not okay with IM and promoting so thought of sharing. But if you are on a niche other than the ones mentioned above you can always give it a shot!

By the way, I am using amazon SES for my email marketing. Have used Aweber but quit because of the high cost.
#carefully #email #free #mailchimp #marketing #read #tos
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Note too, that Mailchimp can close your account down not only if you use their service for doing anything on that huge list of exclusions, but even if you do them elsewhere: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post3762385

    These threads may also help people considering this "overall situation" ...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7750787].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author tamalanwar
      Thanks for sharing that wealth of info!

      by the way:

      but even if you do them elsewhere
      What do you mean?
      Signature
      Tamal Anwar C.
      I transform old outdated 1990s/2000s websites
      into a fresh site of present time       Learn How
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7750793].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by tamalanwar View Post

        What do you mean?
        If you do affiliate marketing outside Mailchimp (e.g. you have an Aweber account as well, which you use for affiliate marketing, and use your Mailchimp account only to promote your own product which doesn't fall into any of the categories listed above), and Mailchimp finds out about it, they'll still close your account. They even say so openly.

        It isn't "using Mailchimp for affiliate marketing" (and all the other stuff on the list) to which they object: it's "being an affiliate marketer and a Mailchimp customer at the same time". Explained here: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post3762385
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7750802].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Malcolm Thomas
    Yeah for internet marketing purposes, most people are better advised to use either aweber or getresponse for their list building purposes.
    Signature
    Learn How To Make $100 Per Day Using This Dead Simple Method!

    The Easiest & Most Realistic $100 Per Day Method Ever Revealed!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7750821].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author wordwizard
      Thanks for this info. I'm not using Mailchimp but some of my clients do and I keep trying to warn them.

      They have too many weasely phrases there in their prohibited section, including the last one:

      "Marketing or sending commercial email without proper permission."

      That could mean just about anything!

      And if they "catch" you doing it elsewhere, they still reserve the right to shut down your account.

      Sheesh!
      Signature

      FREE Report: 5 Ways To Grow Your Affiliate Income
      Let Me Help You Sell: Sales Letters, Email Series, Pre-Sell Reports... PM me & we'll talk!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8019723].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    I recently moved my list from Mailchimp to GetResponse for that exact reason - I wasn't banned or anything, but someone pointed this out to me and I quickly exited their system and canceled my account.
    Signature

    -
    Ron Rule
    http://ronrule.com

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8019726].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author dbrwn
    I don't use any of the big named autoresponder services because I am building my lists through one that I have hosted on my server. The program that I use is called Animous Mailer, and you can find it here.

    Animus Mailing List for Newsletter & Mailing List - free PHP Mailing-list newsletter Project

    This is a free autoresponder that you install onto your site, and it works quite well. There are no limits to how large your lists can be, you can set up as many mailing lists as your little heart desires, and did I mention that it is free?

    Also the deliverability is excellent and I have had no problems with it for my online business
    Signature

    Discover the real truth about online business inside a brand new report called The Truth Is Out. It will be a real eye-opener for you the entrepreneur. To get a copy, visit the URL here below.

    http://www.teachmeinfomarketing.com/truthisout

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8020561].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Alex Greene
    Is getresponse a free service to use?
    Animus Mailing List for Newsletter & Mailing List - free PHP Mailing-list newsletter Project
    Thanks a lot for providing this valuable resource. Will have a try to this.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8020637].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Alex Greene View Post

      Is getresponse a free service to use?
      No ... they offer an initial "free month" to get people started, though. Their prices are a little lower than Aweber's, and those two companies are considered the "market leaders" for good reasons.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8020712].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author BIG Mike
    Banned
    Kudos to the OP for being savvy enough to look at the fine print before jumping on board.

    That's the real moral of this thread - seems like a lot of folks don't bother to carefully research 3rd party services before committing themselves to them and then end up getting booted and their business activities suffer as a result.

    There's nothing at all wrong with MailChimp by the way - it's a great service, very sophisticated, but...their focus is on mainstream business entities rather than IM/Direct Marketing - they don't want the hassle of spam complaints at the volume that IM'ers tend to drive.

    Like any business, they establish their rules and policies and enforce them to protect themselves (just like everyone here does, right?). Where they get a bad rap is when people start using them without reading the rules (which they agree to when they sign up) and then get banned.

    Suddenly, MailChimp is the bad guy, when they didn't do anything wrong - the person who didn't read those rules screwed up but can't accept that.

    We see the same thing in the WF all the time and I've seen it on countless other services over the years and am constantly amazed that the folks doing it can't accept responsibility for their own poorly thought out actions.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8020845].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author AlisonM
      If you are serious about building a business in listbuilding / email marketing, then you need to invest in your business.

      As previously mentioned both Aweber and Getresponse are market leaders.

      And they will repay you with the automation and time-saving they provide you with.

      There are definitely two things you should not skimp on - hosting and autoresponder.

      Yes you can get both for free, but if either or both free services were to discontinue, you'd be up the creek without the proverbial paddle.

      Not worth the risk as far as I am concerned.

      Kind regards
      Alison
      Signature
      FREE Video - Dean Holland - Internet Millionaire - reveals the 4 Step System he uses to earn online (well worth a watch)
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8021140].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author NewRiseDigital
    I've used YourMailingListProvider.Com for ages and find their service stable, reliable and easy to use. Great analytics and good pricing too...
    Signature
    Interviews With The Top Digital Marketing Experts - Get The New Book "Essential Digital Marketing For Small Business http://newrisedigital.com/book
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8021196].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author kentaiwan98
    Suggest that if you are interested in MailChimp for mailing lists, you check the TOS for more information. But also check the Quality Page, and lastly check the page below:

    Does MailChimp Ban Affiliate Links? | MailChimp.com
    Question:

    "I've heard rumors that MailChimp hates affiliate links, and will shut down my account if it finds them in my email campaigns."

    Answer:

    Not true.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8461454].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author HamzaW
      Originally Posted by kentaiwan98 View Post

      Does MailChimp Ban Affiliate Links? | MailChimp.com
      Question:

      "I've heard rumors that MailChimp hates affiliate links, and will shut down my account if it finds them in my email campaigns."

      Answer:

      Not true.
      Glad someone finally pointed this out. I'm a big fan of MailChimp, and although they certainly don't like customers who send out affiliate emails 3 times a day, they've got no problem with people providing their list with high quality content and throwing in the odd affiliate promotion every now and again.

      Er, isn't that what all us ethical marketers are supposed to be doing?
      Signature
      The Fastest & Easiest way to Get Your Landing Pages Online - with Built-In Split Testing, Geolocation and Analytics.

      Now on an UNBELIEVABLE monthly deal => SplitLeads.com
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8461960].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by HamzaW View Post

        Glad someone finally pointed this out.
        Even though it isn't actually true, Hamza?

        You might want to check out some of the posts like this one. There are rather a lot of them here, and for good reasons!

        These problems with Mailchimp can't be answered by quoting what's on their website: they're problems which arise because the information on their website is incorrect and misleading, as some of their support staff effectively admit.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8461971].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author HamzaW
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          Even though it isn't actually true, Hamza?

          You might want to check out some of the posts like this one. There are rather a lot of them here, and for good reasons!

          These problems with Mailchimp can't be answered by quoting what's on their website: they're problems which arise because the information on their website is incorrect and misleading, as some of their support staff effectively admit.
          To be fair, I couldn't see anyone on that thread who actually got cancelled - someone just got a smack (for no reason, admittedly) when uploading their list.

          But I agree that if you are in the affiliate business it's risky to rely on a service with such a schizophrenic attitude towards it.

          However, I still like them because they are completely relaxed about many more practices far more dodgy than affiliate marketing
          Signature
          The Fastest & Easiest way to Get Your Landing Pages Online - with Built-In Split Testing, Geolocation and Analytics.

          Now on an UNBELIEVABLE monthly deal => SplitLeads.com
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8461985].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author imeasysales
    I use Aweber myself but considered using Mailchimp a while back. I'm really glad I never chose them now! They are losing a lot of customers who would use their service for marketing. What really perplexes me is that they don't allow you to do any email marketing with any other autoresponder.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8461484].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author HamzaW
    Originally Posted by tamalanwar View Post

    By the way, I am using amazon SES for my email marketing. Have used Aweber but quit because of the high cost.
    SES really excited me at first but then when I very quickly ran the numbers I found that at high enough volumes (or rather list size vs send rate ratio) it was cheaper to go with Aweber all-you-can-eat.

    Do you think you'll ever reach a volume point when it makes sense to switch back to Aweber?
    Signature
    The Fastest & Easiest way to Get Your Landing Pages Online - with Built-In Split Testing, Geolocation and Analytics.

    Now on an UNBELIEVABLE monthly deal => SplitLeads.com
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8461972].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author brutecky
    Seems like MailChimp has a really skewed notion of affiliate marketers. Every once in a while I send out an affiliate link to my customers. Only when I think its a good product that they can use. I use the simple rule .. is it something I would buy.

    I guess that means Im technically engaging in affiliate marketing.
    I have a 58% open rate and have never had a spam complaint. So that kind of blows away MC's assumption that affiliate marketing results in higher abuse complaints.
    Signature
    Join over 7500 marketers on my Facebook group and also get tons of free tutorials and software to help you with your business.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8461974].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by brutecky View Post

      I have a 58% open rate and have never had a spam complaint. So that kind of blows away MC's assumption that affiliate marketing results in higher abuse complaints.
      Respectfully, I'm not quite sure it does, Brutecky. You could argue that it blows them away as "true 100% of the time", but I think that may not be too relevant, here? I think all it really does is show that there are some exceptions to what has sadly become the norm, or some outliers to what has sadly become the average, if you prefer to look at it that way?

      But you can't really blame Mailchimp for having policies designed to deal with the norm, rather than the exceptions such as yourself, I think?

      Hence their own staff's comments like the one shown here: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post3762385

      What you can blame them for, in my opinion, is some of the misleading and inaccurate information on their website about their policies in this regard, on which so many Warriors have now commented here, after discovering (sometimes very "easily"!) that it was a huge mistake to rely on that.

      I'm not complaining about their policies. It's up to them what their policies are, and I'll never use their service anyway, because I'm an affiliate marketer. I'm complaining about them not being open and honest with people about what their policies really are. That, in my opinion, is what's caused most of the problems discussed in the threads I've linked to a few posts above.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8461991].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author brutecky
    Great response Alexa,

    Whats kind of funny though is that paid MailChimp account have the "Monkey Rewards" option where your emails can have a small linked logo at the bottom of them. If people click them you get a credit with MC. Sounds a lot like an affiliate link to me. Seems MC has a double standard going on here. Affiliate marketing is bad .. unless of course it is marketing for them. Then is ok.
    Signature
    Join over 7500 marketers on my Facebook group and also get tons of free tutorials and software to help you with your business.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8462024].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author HamzaW
      Originally Posted by brutecky View Post

      Whats kind of funny though is that paid MailChimp account have the "Monkey Rewards" option where your emails can have a small linked logo at the bottom of them. If people click them you get a credit with MC. Sounds a lot like an affiliate link to me. Seems MC has a double standard going on here. Affiliate marketing is bad .. unless of course it is marketing for them. Then is ok.
      That's not "kind of funny" - that's hysterical.

      It almost makes me *want* to go on an affiliate spam rampage just so I can point that out to them when (if ) they shut me down.
      Signature
      The Fastest & Easiest way to Get Your Landing Pages Online - with Built-In Split Testing, Geolocation and Analytics.

      Now on an UNBELIEVABLE monthly deal => SplitLeads.com
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8462121].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author bt
        Have you ever heard of traffic wave.

        Alot of IMr's use their service and their prices are low, they also have a good deliver rate.

        They give you a 30 day free trial, and they have been in business for a long time.


        Terry
        Signature
        You could get 1 Million Visitors to your website for free, you have got to see this
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8462530].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author StingGB
          Internet marketing means marketing on the internet, and some of what's been said here is rubbish.

          I've used Mailchimp for about a year. Mailshotted my list weekly, and although included some useful information, I have relentlessly plugged and linked to my sales page at the beginning of every single email I've ever sent. I've never had any problem with Mailchimp.

          What's going on here I think, is people building lists for the sole purpose of pushing crap daily, resulting in huge bounce and opt out rates. Is it any surprise Mailchimp is gets rid of them. .
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8462879].message }}

Trending Topics