Here at Akada, we’ve gotten pretty familiar with sending out emails coded in HTML. They look far better than plain text emails and we don’t really like sending out ugly stuff – even though we do from time to time. Anyway, thought you might appreciate hearing how we went about getting started and how our e-mailing has evolved.
In the Beginning…
About a year ago, I began sending out Akada Software’s Newsletter. At the time, I was using Microsoft Office Publisher and I thought we were pretty slick. After a few months of painstakingly entering content, repositioning images and basically reworking our email every time we sent one out, I decided there had to be a better way.
The Better Way
Trusted Email Marketing
So I stumbled onto Constant Contact (you’ve probably seen their commercials and internet ads by now) and have used their services for several months. Eventually, the demands of developing new software grabbed my focus and I stopped sending our newsletter for a few months. But don’t let that be a reflection on Constant Contact! I found it incredibly easy to use, full of great templates and exceptional support. If all we did was send out a newsletter every month and a few additional notifications, we would stick with Constant Contact forever (alright, so we haven’t even bothered to send out a newsletter for a few months – just take our word for it!). They have free 60 day trials and you probably won’t want to leave after you see what you can create.
What We’re Using Now
Beginning this June, I’m starting our newsletter back up and I’m using (yet another) Email Service Provider (ESP). This ESP is called Mail Chimp and besides having a fun name, it is actually fun to use. Between their cartoon chimp mascot Freddie and quirky YouTube video links, I always leave the site with a smile. So why the change if Constant Contact was so great? Mail Chimp just happens to be geared toward companies like us, that have lots of different mailing lists, customer groupings, and custom email templating requirements. Mail Chimp gave us the ability to automate our newsletter and product update emails, drawing content directly from our new blog. Best of all, Mail Chimp will give you a “forever free” account as long as your mailing list is 500 people or less and you send out less than 3,000 emails a month (sadly, we don’t qualify).
Why Should I Care?
I know, I know, all your email addresses are stored in DanceWorks, so why should you care about any of this? Well, because DanceWorks can export all of your stored email addresses and mail codes and you can import those email addresses right into Constant Contact or Mail Chimp. How do you do it? Try watching these:
In the future, we’re working toward building a link from DanceWorks to Constant Contact and Mail Chimp, so that you will be able to instantly add a DanceWorks account or student to your mailing list without all this import and export nonsense. While that’s still a bit off in the future, perhaps this will help you get started sending out emails that match your studio’s style.
This is cool. I think I want to try MailChimp. Especially because it seems we have several different email groups that have popped up where we need a way to send information. Yay, this is so awesome.
I hope you enjoy Mail Chimp. It took a bit to figure out how to use lists versus groups, but once I set it up it made segmenting groups much easier.
The videos are great! Very helpful. Even though I have used many of these functions before, I still learned easier or better ways to use my Danceworks software. Thank you
Thanks, Cynthia. Let us know if there is anything special you would like to see. You can leave us a comment here, use the suggestion tab on the right side of our blog, or leave us a comment on our YouTube Channel.