In case you’ve been relying solely on e-mail advertising to achieve your prospects, you’re lacking out on the channel they really test most – their textual content messages. Whereas emails sit unopened in overflowing inboxes, textual content messages boast sky-high open charges and instant consideration.
Mailchimp SMS Advertising and marketing brings textual content messaging capabilities to the platform recognized primarily for e-mail campaigns. As an add-on to Mailchimp’s paid plans, SMS advertising helps you to attain prospects immediately on their telephones whereas managing all the pieces from one unified dashboard. However is including SMS to your Mailchimp account value the additional price, or must you look elsewhere to your textual content advertising wants?
Key Options
Mailchimp SMS integrates textual content messaging into the e-mail advertising platform utilized by tens of millions of companies worldwide. The instrument focuses on creating omnichannel campaigns that coordinate e-mail and SMS for max impression.
Plans and Pricing
In contrast to Mailchimp’s tiered e-mail plans, SMS operates on a credit-based system obtainable to anybody with a paid Mailchimp account. You’ll want not less than an Necessities plan ($13/month for 500 contacts) earlier than you may add SMS capabilities.
SMS credit begin at $20 for 1,000 credit and improve in blocks from there. Every normal SMS message prices 1 credit score to ship, whereas multimedia messages (MMS) containing photographs or longer textual content price 3 credit every. Credit are bought month-to-month and routinely renew in your billing date, however right here’s the catch – unused credit expire on the finish of every month with no rollover.
You’ll additionally want to finish an SMS Advertising and marketing software and get approval from Mailchimp earlier than buying credit, including an additional step to getting began. The excellent news? Certified prospects can entry a 14-day free SMS trial to check the waters.
Unified E-mail and SMS Platform
The standout function right here is integration. Slightly than juggling separate platforms for e-mail and SMS, you handle each channels from the identical Mailchimp dashboard. In line with Mailchimp’s information, customers who ship each e-mail and SMS campaigns see as much as 97% greater click on charges in comparison with email-only campaigns.
This unified strategy means your buyer information, segmentation, and automation workflows work throughout each channels. You possibly can set off an e-mail marketing campaign and comply with up with an SMS reminder, all from a single buyer journey builder.
AI-Powered Messaging with Intuit Help
Mailchimp’s AI assistant helps draft SMS copy, producing message concepts based mostly in your marketing campaign objectives and model voice. The instrument has helped prospects ship over 3.1 billion emails with AI-generated content material, and now extends this functionality to textual content messages.
Whilst you’ll nonetheless must evaluate and refine AI solutions, having a place to begin hastens marketing campaign creation – particularly useful given the 160-character constraint of SMS messages.
Automation and Buyer Journeys
Pre-built automation workflows allow you to ship triggered messages based mostly on buyer actions. Probably the most useful automation? Deserted cart restoration. Mailchimp claims customers see as much as 16.5x ROI after launching their first SMS marketing campaign, largely pushed by well timed cart abandonment reminders.
Different automation choices embody welcome sequence for brand new subscribers, post-purchase follow-ups, appointment reminders, and birthday messages. You can too arrange keyword-triggered responses the place prospects textual content a selected phrase to your quantity to obtain automated data or presents.
SMS Quick Codes
Mailchimp now presents SMS quick codes – these memorable 5-6 digit numbers you see from main manufacturers. Quick codes can ship as much as 100 messages per second and seem extra skilled than normal 10-digit numbers, probably bettering open charges and model belief.
The registration course of takes 8-12 weeks from software to approval, however you may proceed utilizing your normal quantity whereas ready. Quick codes require a further month-to-month charge past SMS credit score prices.
Compliance and Consent Administration
Textual content messaging comes with strict regulatory necessities, and Mailchimp handles a lot of the compliance burden for you. The platform consists of built-in consent administration, quiet hours settings (stopping messages throughout late-night hours), simple opt-out administration, and steering on double opt-in necessities.
With 24+ years of expertise in information safety, Mailchimp applies the identical privateness requirements to SMS which have made it trusted for e-mail advertising.
Benefits
- Seamless Multi-Channel Advertising and marketing
The power to coordinate e-mail and SMS campaigns from one platform eliminates the effort of managing a number of instruments. Your buyer segments, automation triggers, and analytics all work throughout each channels, creating a really unified advertising strategy. - Excessive Engagement and ROI
SMS advertising delivers outcomes that justify the funding. Mailchimp customers report as much as 58% greater click on charges when utilizing each e-mail and SMS in comparison with e-mail alone, and first-time SMS campaigns generate a median 16.5x return on funding for e-commerce companies. - Automation That Truly Saves Time
Pre-built buyer journey templates take the guesswork out of SMS automation. Arrange deserted cart restoration, post-purchase sequences, or re-engagement campaigns in minutes reasonably than hours. The AI copywriting assistant additional accelerates marketing campaign creation. - Flexibility With out Lengthy-Time period Dedication
The pay-as-you-go credit score system means you’re by no means locked into costly contracts. Scale your SMS quantity up or down month-to-month based mostly in your wants, and pause SMS completely in case you want a break with out affecting your e-mail plan.
Disadvantages
- Geographic and Characteristic Limitations
SMS advertising is barely obtainable in choose nations, primarily the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. MMS (multimedia messages) are restricted to US and Canada for Customary and Premium plans solely. When you have a world buyer base or want international SMS capabilities, you’ll want a distinct answer. - Expiring Credit Create Stress
In contrast to Mailchimp’s e-mail credit that beforehand by no means expired, SMS credit disappear on the finish of every month. In case you don’t use all of your credit, you lose them – creating stress to ship messages you won’t have despatched in any other case, or just losing cash on unused credit. - Greater Per-Message Prices
At 1 credit score per SMS and $20 per 1,000 credit, you’re paying $0.02 per textual content message. Devoted SMS advertising platforms usually supply decrease per-message charges, particularly at greater volumes. For companies sending tens of 1000’s of messages month-to-month, these pennies add up shortly. - Extra Approval Hurdle
The appliance and approval course of provides friction to getting began. Whereas Mailchimp claims this protects in opposition to spam and maintains service relationships, it means you may’t begin sending SMS the second you resolve so as to add the function.
Closing Phrase
Mailchimp SMS Advertising and marketing makes essentially the most sense for companies already utilizing Mailchimp for e-mail who need to add textual content messaging with out the complexity of managing a number of platforms. The unified dashboard, shared buyer information, and coordinated automation create real effectivity features that justify the premium pricing for a lot of small companies.
The mixture of e-mail and SMS in a single platform delivers measurable outcomes – as much as 97% greater click on charges and 16.5x ROI on SMS campaigns inform a compelling story. In case you’re critical about omnichannel advertising and worth simplicity over rock-bottom pricing, Mailchimp SMS deserves consideration.
Nonetheless, companies needing worldwide SMS capabilities, very excessive message volumes, or most price effectivity per message ought to discover devoted SMS platforms. The expiring credit score construction and geographic limitations make Mailchimp SMS much less appropriate for sure enterprise fashions.
For many small to mid-sized US companies already within the Mailchimp ecosystem, including SMS capabilities presents a straightforward path to greater engagement and income – simply be sure to’ll use these credit earlier than they expire every month.