What is MailChimp and How Does It Work?
For many Sage customers, the announced integration with MailChimp that accompanied the release of Sage CRM 7.3 flew under the radar. So in this article, we’ll take a closer look at what MailChimp is, how it works with Sage CRM, and why you should even care.
What is MailChimp?
First things first. MailChimp is web-based email marketing software that helps you design emails (i.e. newsletters), create campaigns, send them out, and measure results.
Why would you need a special tool for email you ask? After all, you can certainly send email newsletters out through your own email servers or popular services like Gmail, Hotmail, or Outlook. But those are really designed to send one-to-one email – or maybe to a small group of people.
On the other hand, an email service provider (like MailChimp) is designed to send bulk email to hundreds or even thousands of recipients without taking down your in-house server or landing you on a spam/blacklist. An email service provider (ESP) also implements safeguards that help you remain in compliance with CAN-SPAM requirements. Last, and maybe most important, MailChimp provides detailed reports on opens, clicks, and other email activity that allow you to measure the success of your efforts.
Sage CRM Integration with MailChimp
When you integrate Sage CRM with MailChimp, you unlock efficiency that makes your email marketing easier and more effective. In a nutshell, the new integration allows you to:
- Push Sage CRM Contacts Into MailChimp – there’s no need to maintain multiple contact databases in two separate software applications which can get messy and out of sync.
- Create New Email Campaigns in Sage CRM – you remain right in Sage CRM as you launch new email campaigns. No need to switch back and forth between programs.
- View Campaign Results in Sage CRM – campaign results data (opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribe, etc.) captured in MailChimp is automatically written back to your contact records in Sage CRM. So the next time you bring up a contact and perhaps want to prepare for a follow up call, you can see how engaged they’ve been with your email outreach and what particular links they’ve clicked on right within Sage CRM. This data and activity can provide valuable insight into purchase intent and help drive more timely and effective follow up from your sales team.
Getting Started
Perhaps one of the best MailChimp features of all is that you can send email to up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month totally free. They call if the “Forever Free” plan.
If you have more than 2,000 subscribers/contacts, they also offer a variety of pricing plans depending on the size of your list, frequency of email, and desired “advanced” options.
Contact us with questions about the new integration with MailChimp or if you’d like help getting it set up and running within your Sage CRM system.
