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Welcome to our first issue of the MonkeyWrench Newsletter! The idea here is to "go beyond the basic stuff" and give our more "advanced" MailChimp users some cool tips and tricks they can use for their campaigns (oh yeah, and we give away some kind of kooky gift to one lucky subscriber). So let's roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty, shall we?
Segmenting Your Managed Lists?
As most of you know, MailChimp's Managed List functionality is primarily for simple "monthly newsletters" where you need an easy way to collect data in a form, and then send out regular emails to your subscribers. On the other hand, MailChimp's "External List" option is for people who manage their own database(s), and want to copy-paste segments into MailChimp to send more targeted campaigns. Managed lists = simple email newsletters, while External lists = advanced email marketing.
But did you know that there's a way to "rig" the system, so that you can segment your managed list, and then send it using the "external list" option? It's pretty easy to do. Go to your managed list in MailChimp. View all your members. Export that list into Microsoft Excel. From excel, segment the list any way you want. In MailChimp's "Create" screen, select, "Externally Managed List" under the recipients section. Copy paste your segmented list (use the numerical mail-merge tags, if you want to personalize the campaign).
But you'll need an unsubscribe link. And that "UNSUB TAG" that we give for managed lists won't work (here comes the rig). Instead of using the "UNSUB TAG," you can use the URL that the UNSUB TAG generates for your particular list. To get the URL, click the "List" tab in MailChimp, and then the "Subscribe Links and Unsubscribe Tag" option in the List Control Panel. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, and you'll see the unique URL to use for your list's unsubscribe link. If you use that link, MailChimp will handle your opt-outs for you.
Incidentally, our programmers are working on MailChimp 3.0 (due sometime in April, we hope), which will include 2 major new features: infinitely many lists, and segmenting. Until then, you can use this rig to segment your managed lists, or use the external list option to copy-paste your segmented list from your database.
Obscure HTML Email Tips & Tricks
Over at the MonkeyBrains Blog, we recently posted a few articles about some weird HTML email quirks we stumbled upon. If you don't already follow the blog, you should definitely check these out:
Extreme Newsletter Chimp-Overs
We're looking for about 5-10 MailChimp users to let us "makeover your newsletter." If you've got an HTML email design that you think could use a "facelift," let us know.
Details in our blog...
"Guerilla" Email Marketing Stories Needed
Yikes, I've been asked to speak for a webinar about email marketing. My topic is going to be "Guerilla Email Marketing Tactics" (Get it? Gorilla?). Anyways, I've got a few tactics I've used in the past, but I'd love to hear from our MailChimp users. Send me any kind of "marketing on a dime" or "viral" ideas that have worked for you. We'll showcase your story in the presentation, plus post it on our MailChimp website. Send your stories to ben@mailchimp.com
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Mark Twain once said, "There are 3 kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies, and statistics." Still, they're pretty fun to look at, and managers sure do love 'em. So we analyzed the data across all MailChimp users over the last 6 months, and came up with the following statistics. How do you compare?
Avg opt-out rate among MailChimp Managed Lists over 100 recipients
Avg bounceback rate across all campaigns over 100 recipients
The number of genes shared by chimps and humans [source]
Banana Candy Prize
For every issue of MonkeyWrench, we like to give away some kind of kooky, monkey-related gift to one lucky subscriber.
 Congratulations to the folks at Quint and Quint - you won the thirty pounds of banana candy. You might want to keep some toothbrushes around the office---these things are highly addictive.
Get Listed
I had one of those Reese's "peanut butter and chocolate!" kind of moments the other day. On the one hand, we've got lots of people who use MailChimp, and need help with their email designs. On the other hand, we've got lots of designers who use MailChimp, and they're always looking for more clients. In order to bring the two together, we decided to post a "creative directory" on the MailChimp website. If you provide design services, and would like to be on the list, email me your company name, URL, and a logo. We'll launch the directory when we roll out our next version of MailChimp.
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