Mailchimp Onboarding Email Breakdown
An email marketing service sending me marketing emails.
Series Overview
Technically, I didn’t sign up for a free trial, since Mailchimp has a free plan. However, for the purpose of this breakdown, I captured the onboarding emails sent during my first 30 days. I chose 30 days since there’s free email and chat support for the first month on free accounts. Over that time, I received nine emails — including one authentication message.
One interesting choice to note is that Mailchimp emails sent like clockwork every fourth day. I received emails on the 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, 20th, 24th, 28th, and 1st. Goes to show you don’t have to overthink the cadence of a time-based sequence too much.
Day 1.1: Authentication
Subject Line: Activate Your Mailchimp Account
Sender Name: Mailchimp Client Services
Send Time: Immediately after signup
Objective/Content: Confirm account
CTA: Activate Account
Strengths:
Pretty straightforward as far as authentication emails go, but I do like the warm welcome. They also let me know why they’re asking me to press the button, in case I wasn’t sure.
What to learn:
You don’t always need a fancy email, but it is nice to be nice
Day 1.2: Introduce the Building Block
Subject Line: We’re So Glad You’re Here
Sender Name: Mailchimp
Send Time: Immediately after authentication
Objective/Content: Get the user to design their first email campaign
CTA: Try it out
Strengths:
Mailchimp is back at it with the niceness! The subject line from Day 1 is very welcoming. I also appreciate their very straightforward headline.
My favorite part of this email, and the emails below, is the time symbol. Users may hesitate to click through an email and learn more or act because it may take a lot of time. By letting readers know this is a 5-minute task, they’re making it more enticing to click through.
What to learn:
If a task is easy to complete, make sure a user knows! Take a play from Medium and Mailchimp’s playbook and let a user know how long it will take them to read through/accomplish a task.
Weaknesses:
I feel like Mailchimp totally skipped past Welcome and straight into Building Block. The subject line makes it feel like a welcome email, but once inside there’s no introduction to the company and what they stand for. They just get right down to business. Getting a user to act right away is great, but I think a tiny statement of their mission or values would be nice.
What to learn:
You don’t always have to spend an entire email re-introducing your brand, but a little intro is nice
Day 5: Feature Spotlight
Subject Line: Build your list with a little help from us
Sender Name: Mailchimp
Send Time: Day 5, 3:43 PM CST
Objective/Content: Get the user to add email list
CTA: Start Building Your List
Strengths:
I went back and forth between categorizing this email as a Feature Spotlight or Introduce the Building Block message, and I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer. The first non-authentication email from Mailchimp covered the basics of designing an email, which is undoubtedly important. But, you need someone to send the email to. That’s why this email, which talks about building an email list, is also a building block. When considering an email and an email list, you can’t utilize one to its full potential without the other.
As far as the email contents go, they’re nearly identical to Day 1. But I ain’t mad. The copy is simple but effective; it highlights the importance of this step while removing barriers or objections someone may have to get started.
They also have value-add content at the bottom of every email.
What to learn:
You can send a dedicated Value-Add Content email or include relevant resources within each email
Simultaneously push and pull users forward. Pull them to try with the benefits and outcomes, and push them forward by mitigating objections
Day 9: Feature Spotlight
Subject Line: Pop-up forms when and where you need them
Sender Name: Mailchimp
Send Time: Day 9, 3:45 PM CST
Objective/Content: Introduce pop-up forms
CTA: Preview Your Form
Strengths:
One word stands out most to me in this email: preview. I know it has a practical use — you do preview a form before implementing it. However, and it could be a coincidence, it makes taking action feel less intimidating. I don’t have to commit to something, I don’t have to go here and do something that’s final — I just gotta check it out. Ease into it.
The subject line also makes me feel in control. Put the pop-ups when and where I want. Cool. It’s also useful that there’s a simple image of what a pop-up form is. A strong stat doesn’t hurt, either.
Also, I see you with all this value-add content!
What to learn from it:
If you’ve got rockin’ stats, flaunt ’em (but avoid too many, or their magic starts to fade)
You can use words to make users feel like they’re in control, as opposed to being told what to do
