Do you use MailChimp or a similar email service for your business and feel like you’re paying too much each month? We’ve all been there. These tools are super useful, but can get expensive fast, especially if you have a large list or send frequent campaigns.
The good news is there are some easy ways to cut costs and optimize your spending. Before you go and downgrade your plan or switch services altogether, try out a few of these tips.
In this article, we will go through some simple ways to optimize the cost of MailChimp and email marketing services in general. By the end of this, you’ll be saving money in no time. So let’s get started!
Understanding MailChimp’s Pricing Structure
MailChimp offers several pricing plans based on the number of subscribers (monthly email sends) and features you need. Keep in mind, we have mentioned subscribers over here even though the MailChimp page mentions only monthly emails sent, as we believe that the emails sent will be equivalent to the number of subscribers.
Basic (Free)
Their basic plan is free for up to 1,000 subscribers and includes essentials like email templates, email support, creative assistance, over 300 integrations, and analytics. Once you exceed 1,000 subscribers, though, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Essential
This plan is priced at $9.19/month, but is currently at a discounted price of $4.59 per month if you pay for 12 months. This plan is for up to 5,000 subscribers and includes more advanced features like A/B testing, custom templates, automated journey points, removing MailChimp branding, and audience segmentation.
Standard
The standard plan is priced at $13.73 per month but is currently priced at $6.87 per month if you pay for 12 months. This plan is for up to 6,000 subscribers and includes features from both the previous plans and stuff like custom-coded templates, send time optimization, content optimizer, dynamic content, campaign manager, and so much more.
Premium
The premium plan is priced at $274.64 per month, but is currently at a discounted price of $137.32 per month if you pay for 12 months. The premium plan has all the same features as the standard plan but allows you to send emails to a whopping 150,000 subscribers. This is a huge gap and is mainly for enterprise-level businesses.
When choosing a plan, consider the following aspects to make sure you do not overspend on something you don’t need:
- Understand your open and click-through rate. If this metric is increasing then it makes sense to go for a higher plan
- Understand how often you send emails or email campaigns. If you do it on a regular basis, you may increase the budget.
- Evaluate if you need all the features. If you do not have certain features, opting for a cheaper plan is better.
Understanding how MailChimp charges and making the most of your current plan is the best way to optimize your costs. Regularly re-evaluating your needs and usage will ensure you have the right paid plan for your budget when it’s time to upgrade.
Audit Your Contacts and Lists
One of the main reasons for increased costs for MailChimp users is an unoptimized contact list. Go through your contacts and look for people who haven’t engaged recently. If someone hasn’t opened an email in 6-12 months, they’re probably not interested anymore.
Remove Inactive Contacts
Remove inactive contacts from your active campaigns and lists. This way, you’re not paying to email people who won’t even open your messages.
Remove Duplicate Contacts
By default, MailChimp scans for duplicates and removes them, but if you have multiple groups or Audiences, you may gather all of them into one group temporarily and let MailChimp scan and remove the duplicates before separating them again.
Segment Your Audience
Dividing your contacts into segmented lists allows you to send the most relevant and personalized content to each subscriber. This boosts open and click rates and helps you get a better ROI.
An optimized contact list is pivotal for an effective email marketing strategy. Regularly check and evaluate your contacts to make the most out of your investment.
Review Your Account Usage and Settings
To optimize your MailChimp costs, review how you’re using the account and make some adjustments.
Review Your Email Types
The type of emails you send also impacts your bill. Regular campaigns cost less than more robust email types like RSS-Driven Campaigns or Multivariate Campaigns (This is when MailChimp sends 8 email variations to see what works best). If you’re not using the advanced features of the pricier emails, switch to more basic types.
Adjust Your Sending Frequency
If you choose the “Pay As You Go” plan in your account settings, sending too many emails too often can increase your costs. For this plan, MailChimp charges per email sent. To save money, send weekly or monthly newsletters instead.
Use Email Templates
Take advantage of MailChimp’s free and paid email templates to save time designing your campaigns. The less time you spend building each email, the lower your costs will be.
Review Integrations
Even though MailChimp offers a lot of integrations, a majority of them have a price. Go through each of these integrations to see which ones are needed. If you do not need specific ones, remove them to avoid paying extra.
By optimizing your account usage and settings, you can lower your MailChimp bill each month. Only utilize those services that help you grow and get a good return on your investment.
Optimize Your Email Design
There are a lot of key aspects that are taken into consideration when judging if an email is spam or not. In order to make sure that your email campaigns reach the inbox and not the spam folder, optimize your design.
Simplify Your Layout
A cluttered layout with too many images, buttons, or links can trigger spam filters. Keep your design simple with enough white space.
Use a basic template with a header, content section, and footer. Only include necessary images and a call-to-action button.
Choose an Easy-to-Read Font
Select a simple, common font like Arial or Helvetica. Avoid fancy scripts or fonts which can be difficult for spam filters to read and analyze. Stick with font sizes between 10 to 14 points for paragraphs to make your content accessible.
Personalize Your Content
Personalization builds trust and engagement with your subscribers. Include your subscribers’ first names in the subject line and content. Mention your company name and sign off in a friendly, authentic way.
Optimizing your email design for better deliverability will ensure your emails reach your customers’ inboxes and not their spam folders, saving you money in the long run.
Negotiate Custom Pricing Based on Volume
MailChimp wants to keep your business, so they’re always open to providing volume discounts and custom contracts for larger businesses with more subscribers.
Check Your Metrics
See how much you’ve grown over the past 6-12 months in terms of subscribers, emails sent, open rates, and click-throughs. These metrics will help you get better deals while negotiating custom pricing.
Do Some Research
Find out what other high-volume senders are paying for email marketing software. If you have more than 200,000 subscribers, you can talk to MailChimp’s agents for custom pricing.
Explain Your Needs
Request a call to discuss volume pricing and see what they can offer. Come prepared with your key metrics and pricing research to support the type of discount you have in mind. But be flexible in negotiations.
While MailChimp and other email marketing services do have their rates listed, they’re also willing to negotiate to keep high-volume, long-term customers happy.
Leverage Automation Features
MailChimp offers many automation features that can save you time and money.
Utilize Autoresponders
Set up autoresponders to automatically send welcome emails to new subscribers. You can create a series of messages to onboard them into your list.
Make Use of Segmentation
Use segmentation to target specific groups of your audience. Set up triggers based on subscriber actions like opening an email or clicking a link. You can then send tailored content to that segment.
Schedule Email Campaigns
Create email campaigns in advance and schedule them to be automatically sent at a later date. This allows you to space out your messages and avoid bombarding your subscribers with too many emails at once.
Conduct A/B Testing
Take advantage of A/B testing to improve your email marketing results. See which one has a higher open or click rate, and send the higher-scoring campaign to the rest of your list.
Utilizing MailChimp’s automation features is an easy way to streamline your email marketing efforts. The more you automate, the less time and money you’ll spend on repetitive tasks.
To find more such useful strategies for optimizing your MailChimp budget, check out our YouTube tutorial.
Conclusion
So there you have it, the most effective ways to optimize the cost of MailChimp without compromising the quality of your email campaigns. By optimizing your list, choosing an appropriate plan, sending fewer but more optimized campaigns, and automating when possible, you’ll be well on your way to email marketing success without breaking the bank.
We hope this post has helped you optimize the cost of MailChimp or any other similar marketing tool!
