Think the New MailChimp Policy Changes Don't Affect YOU? Think Again...

[Developer]

If you're a MailChimp user, free or paid, you should have received an email from them recently. Do NOT ignore it,
as there are some really important updates to their legal policies, especially the Prohibited Content section.

SOURCE: http://mailchimp.com/legal/acceptable_use/

If you're a MailChimp user, how will this affect YOU or YOUR online business?

But how does this affect me?

You may be thinking "I don't use MailChimp, so I have nothing to worry about, right?"

Perhaps, however, how long, if ever, do you think it will be for other email marketing
providers such as Aweber, GetResponse, iContact, etc., to follow suit?

If they do, do YOU have a backup plan? If so, care to share?

What are your thoughts?

Post your response and let's get the party started, LOL.

 

[elcidofaguy]

Interesting update... My thinking here is that as long as someone has agreed to signup and recieve emails and that all messages have the option to opt out then why should it be an issue???

I suspect this announcement relates to the impact of the massive amounts of spam and issues caused as a result which impacts mailchimps IPs... i.e. blacklisting - which in turn impacts all other users with regards to deliverability etc... They probably realized that the majority of spam comes from those groups i.e. work from home, affiliate marketing, ... etc... and figured its just easier to drop them than to keep up with manual actions to resolve mailing / deliverability issues...

Regarding a backup - I've been banging on about setting up self hosted email with leveraging a third party SMTP on this forum such as with Amazon SES... Not only is it x100 cheaper its also very reliable once you've setup SPF/DKIM.. In addition as you own the database - you wont run into issues with being locked out of your account or having constraints such as importing lists etc.... I'm actually developing a self hosted autoresponder solution and look forward to revealing more in the coming weeks ;-) ... In my opinion hybrid self hosting which leverages 3rd party SMTP is the way to go!

 

[Developer]

Developer

That's actually pretty interesting. Please be sure to keep us all apprised of how that goes for you.

One question for you, how do you plan on handling deliver-ability rates? When many people think
self hosted, or even paid mailing campaign services, one of the biggest concerns, of course, is
the deliver-ability. Will there be any issues with this using a self hosted solution?

 

[elcidofaguy]

elcidofaguy

Indeed deliverability is a real pain the backside hence why I recommend a hybrid solution which is a mix of self hosting with use of a third party to send out the emails... i.e. you self host the database/application but when it comes to actually sending out the emails thats done through a third party such as Amazon SES, Mandrill etc... With use of a third party you then leverage their infrastructure and hence you wont run into issues with web hosts such as max number of emails per hour etc... Another thing to note is the ability to quickly re-configure SMTP settings with pointing to another provider i.e. lets say Amazon SES is causing issues you can then point it else where and at the sametime not worry about setting up new accounts and importing data etc....

With SPF/DKIM setup on your web server you also increase reliability as you add an extra layer of security which proves the email is authorized from your domain and as such you can avoid issues of spoofing - I also recommend dmarc being setup on your server with the setting to inform recipients to reject messages completely on spf/dkim failure as then you avoid spoofed emails landing in peoples in-boxes and with that your domain being hit with a ban...

Hope that helps!

 

[Ron Killian]

Thanks for the info Developer. Though, seems that has been their stance for a long time.

It's been no secret that they don't like or want marketers. Don't know why so many still use them.

Well, if you offer anything free, it's bound to be plenty of people who will abuse it.

Some good info elcidofaguy

 

[Developer]

True, it has been an "undocumented" stance of theirs for quite some time now,
but, I thought posting the announcement would just give that much more credit
to what you and I (and others) have tried pointing out quite a few times here on
WMS alone, you know...

 

[Ron Killian]

Ron Killian

Oh ya, good idea. I am sure I am not the only one to appreciate you posting it

Maybe if enough people see it in black and white right?

 

[Developer]

We can certainly hope, but if they don't get it, at least they
can't say they weren't warned, right?

(You can always tell who's a parent and who's not, LOLOL)...

 

[elcidofaguy]

I just found out that Mandrill is also under going changes... From the 16th March - all Mandrill users will be forced to get a Mailchimp paid account... That's gonna be a lot people pi**ed off and looking to move away ASAP....

If you want to know more as well as the long list of complaints then check out the below references:

http://magemail.co/blog/mandrill-debacle.html
http://thenextweb.com/dd/2016/02/25/in-hostile-move-mandrill-gives-all-developers-60-days-to-switch-to-paid-mailchimp-service/
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/269902/mailchimp-forces-mandrill-developers-to-pay-up.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/47fw61/mandrill_users_will_now_be_required_to_have_a/

Good news is that there are plenty of alternatives and on my part I'm of the opion you can forget Mandrill or Mailchimp for your emails as a Internet Marketer...

 

[MrT]

They actually started documenting it in 2013. It was hidden between different pages they put out so people that read the terms wouldn't find it.

They also said they allow affiliate marketing, but they don't allow affiliate marketers. Their stance was that if Mrs. Doubtfire was a blogger, and 99% of her emails would be about her blog and content updates but 1% included an affiliate link, it wouldn't be a problem. Glad to see they're being more open about it now.

I always though Mailchimp is hands down the best platform to use for general business use... just not aff marketing. Best deliverability in the industry by far, at least based on my experience.

I used it mostly for clients, but also for myself to generate leads/clients. They don't have a problem with marketers, just the stuff that over the years have become both a bit spammy and scammy.

Mailchimp is great for non affiliate purposes and of course in other industries than the ones mentioned.