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MailChimp Article

It's hard to believe that October has already come and gone.Maybe we can blame Halloween and the ensuing candy coma, but last month seemed surprisingly quiet in the CMS and DXP news cycle.But that's not entirely true: rather than tracking big mergers or major releases, we were served a number of small yet significant improvements from various vendors – more like those mini-sized candy bars that still get the job done.For the record, we're big fans of Almond Joy.The e-commerce sector drove most of the trends in an otherwise not-so-spooky month, with several companies releasing more integrations designed to make online selling easier and more accessible. We're also seeing headless commerce take center stage as more brands look to grow their online sales in an omnichannel world, and it's growing in popularity every day. If you're evaluating solutions, be sure to check out our recent article on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/">top headless commerce platforms.</a>If you're ready to close out October's tricks and treats, keep reading.<h2>Postman's 2021 "State of API" report shows the world is moving towards an API-first digital era</h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/postman-report.jpg" alt="Postman chart image" />Forget Halloween. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.postman.com/">Postman</a>, a leading platform for building and using APIs, delivered an early Christmas gift with this year's free "State of the API" report. This baby is chock full of data and statistics about API trends across industries and has become a primer for understanding how API-first strategies are transforming everything. For the report, Postman surveyed more than 28,000 developers and API professionals who shared their thoughts on a range of topics, including their organizations' development priorities, how they get their work done, and where they see the industry going. Postman's authors combined these insights with data observed on the Postman API Platform to build a more complete picture of the current state – and the future direction – of APIs.Here are some of the key findings from the report:<ul><li>The pandemic changed the world, and the world responded with APIs: Just a short of two-thirds of respondents stated that the pandemic somewhat or significantly affected their work.</li><li>The API ecosystem is global and growing: Over the past 12 months, Postman users signed in from an impressive 234 different countries and geographies while making 855 million API requests (up 56% from the prior year).</li><li>Developers are spending more time with APIs: Exactly how much time is spent working with APIs? 49% of respondents said that more than half of the organization's development effort is spent on APIs – compared to just over 40% last year.</li><li>More companies are embracing the API-first philosophy: This year, 67% of survey respondents ranked themselves as a five or higher in terms of embracing an API-first philosophy, while only 62% ranked themselves in this way in 2020.</li></ul>Want more? Of course, you do! Let your own API consume the free 57-page report here.<h2>Mailchimp and Shopify launch direct integration</h2> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/mailchimp-shopify-e1635869888639.jpg" alt="MailChimp and Shopify logos" />Monkey see, monkey shop? Yup. And it's now easier than ever. Mailchimp, a leading email and marketing automation platform, <a target="_blank" href="https://mailchimp.com/mailchimp-and-shopify-launch-direct-integration/">announced</a> that they've partnered with Shopify – a leader in e-commerce – to deliver a new integration that's available today. New and existing users of both platforms will be able to connect their Mailchimp account to their Shopify storefront through <a target="_blank" href="https://mailchimp.com/integrations/shopify/">direct integration</a>, eliminating the need for third-party tools and manual data transfers.By connecting Mailchimp and Shopify, merchants will be able to combine the power of purchase data with marketing data and use those insights to help drive conversions, increase revenue, and reach more customers at the right point in their buying journey. The new integration also makes it possible for small business customers to connect with their audiences. This integration is of critical importance right now as retailers gear up for the 2021 holiday season. According to U.S. News &amp; World Report, this year's online holiday spending is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.usnews.com/news/economy/articles/2021-10-20/adobe-forecasts-record-online-holiday-spending-season-as-supply-chain-issues-persist#:~:text=Global%20online%20spending%20is%20likewise,new%20milestone%20in%20e%2Dcommerce.">predicted to increase by 11%</a>. By connecting MailChimp and Shopify, brands and retailers can accelerate their marketing and e-commerce capabilities and capitalize on more online transactions than ever before. "Last year, Mailchimp customers generated 36 percent more orders from Thanksgiving to Giving Tuesday than they did in 2019, showing just how important having an online presence for commerce and retail businesses really is," said Joni Deus, VP of App Marketplace at Mailchimp. "We're thrilled to have partnered with Shopify again ahead of our customers' busiest season to make it easier for merchants to reach their customers, sell more stuff, and be successful.""As our merchants prepare for the holiday season and continue to adjust to the new realities of commerce, we're excited to welcome Mailchimp to the Shopify Partner Ecosystem," said Fatima Yusuf, Director of Commercial, App Ecosystem, Shopify. "The combined power of Mailchimp's suite of marketing tools and Shopify's robust commerce infrastructure will level the playing field and unlock even more opportunity for independent businesses to grow and succeed into the future."<h2>Adobe adds Workfront integrations to creative and marketing apps</h2> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/adobe-workfront-featured-image.jpeg" />Talk about "working it out."Adobe has finally announced some new capabilities in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.workfront.com/integrations/adobe/experience-manager">Adobe Workfront</a>, targeting one of the most challenging aspects of delivering personalized content at both speed and scale: dynamic collaboration, communication, and workflows within creative teams and between creative and marketing teams.Of course, this has been a long-anticipated evolution. Last year, the creative experience powerhouse <a target="_blank" href="https://news.adobe.com/news/news-details/2020/Adobe-to-Acquire-Workfront/default.aspx">acquired Workfront</a> – a leading work management platform for marketers – for $1.50 billion. The goal was to integrate Workfront's capabilities into Adobe's Experience Cloud and allow customers to manage complex marketing workflows. Finally, that integration has begun to bear fruit. The new capabilities in Workfront integrate seamlessly with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Experience Manager, and Adobe XD. As an example, the Photoshop plugin gives users the ability to work together through an embedded Workfront update screen. Creators can see tasks and issues and post and view comments related to their projects. They can also log time, export assets, and seamlessly collaborate on digital proofing, reviews, and approvals — all without ever leaving <a target="_blank" href="https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html">Photoshop</a>. The integration with Adobe Experience Manager provides integrated approvals and content delivery for enterprises. You can sync metadata between projects and final assets – and keep the work flowing with advanced enterprise workflows, including auto-publishing of assets. This integration is currently available for enterprise customers.There's also an update to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.adobe.com/products/xd.html">Adobe XD</a> plugin, empowering designers to work with internal/external stakeholders, log time, and view details on all projects, tasks, issues, and documents. They have full access to all Workfront folders and documents, can upload work, send shared links for review, attach proof workflows to assets and maintain version control. This plugin is available now on both the Adobe Marketplace and Creative Cloud Desktop.Adobe also announced additional capabilities to enhance experience delivery to B2B brands and make accessing Workfront features easier for all Adobe customers. This includes the Adobe Marketo Engage Connector for scaling customer engagement and supporting global efforts with a small team – and the Adobe Identity Service for authentication and validation of the end-users, including federation and Single-Sign-On (SSO)."The ability to align complex workflows, processes and the foundational work — especially those handoffs between marketing strategy and content development — is critical in enabling teams to get personalized content to customers faster, with greater impact, and aligned to company strategy," said Liz Miller, Vice President, and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research. "Adobe Workfront brings order to the nimble, bidirectional madness of marketing work, serving as the 'effectiveness engine' for the modern marketing machine so critical to moving digital business forward."<h2>BigCommerce launches Ads and Listings on Google, giving merchants a one-stop-shop to list and sync products for free</h2> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/bigcommerce-google-ads-e1635877084866.png" />Love it or list it... on Google. There's no question that Google is drifting deeper into the e-commerce ecosystem, providing a direct path "from search to sell" for a wide range of services. A lot of this has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the consumer shift to online purchases and deliveries. In fact, if you've searched for, say, a new pizza place near you, Google is serving up more than options – it's allowing you to view a menu and place an order without ever leaving Google.Sure, this presents some competitive challenges to e-commerce platform providers, but Google is a ways off from consuming all storefronts. In the meantime, they present a dynamic channel for sellers and retailers to reach audiences at the point of search.To that end, BigCommerce, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/">popular cloud e-commerce platform</a> for fast-growing and established brands, just announced the launch of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/dm/google-native/?utm_source=Press%20Release&amp;utm_medium=Landing%20Page&amp;utm_id=Google%20Ads%20Listings">Ads and Listings on Google</a> – a new native app that enables small to medium-sized BigCommerce merchants in the U.S. to connect their store to the Google Merchant Center and add products for free. Merchants can also take advantage of Google Ads campaigns to reach more customers and uncover performance insights and trends, ensuring a consistent brand experience.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/dm/google-native/?utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_source=partner_google&amp;utm_campaign=keyword_launch_post">With this new integration</a>, BigCommerce merchants of all sizes will be able to easily list their products for free on Google, create ad campaigns, and review performance metrics directly in their BigCommerce store. This also means BigCommerce merchants can now integrate with Google's shopping features across Search, Shopping, Image Search, and YouTube."Ads and Listings on Google is a logical next step for our omnichannel merchants to reach further and attract new customers who rely on Google's powerful shopping capabilities to drive traffic and growth," said Sharon Gee, Vice President and General Manager of Omnichannel at BigCommerce. "As more retailers enter the e-commerce landscape, the more crowded it will be for them to reach the right shoppers across the channels they're searching in. Ads and Listings on Google give merchants a true advantage to get discovered without ever having to leave their BigCommerce store."Merchants can directly access the Ads and Listings on the Google app via the BigCommerce Channel Manager, creating a one-stop-shop experience to upload products, produce paid ad campaigns, and generate reports to track and monitor shopper activities. Key benefits include:<ul><li>Manage product catalogs from a single location: Merchants can upload product listings, create paid campaigns and track and analyze performance all from within their BigCommerce store. Any changes will automatically sync to Google, ensuring a consistent brand experience across all Google channels.</li><li>Reach new audiences and drive traffic: Merchants can connect with the right shoppers at the right moment when they're searching for products across Google Search, YouTube, Gmail, and the web to extend customer reach further.</li><li>Gain more insight: In Google's Merchant Center, merchants can measure the impact of every sale and show products to the most valuable customers to better maximize marketing efforts.</li></ul>The Ads and Listings on the Google app are now available to all small to mid-sized BigCommerce merchants and currently support USD currency with international currencies soon to follow. Learn more about the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/dm/google-native/?utm_source=Press%20Release&amp;utm_medium=Landing%20Page&amp;utm_id=Google%20Ads%20Listings">Ads and Listings on the Google app here</a>.

CMS Monthly Recap: Mailchimp and Shopify Launch Direct Integration, BigCommerce Launches Ads and Listings on Google, and More

paris-tuzun

Featured image of CMS Critic Monthly Recap logo with background of Halloween decorations and jack-o-lantern

In this digital age, the need for a business to keep a unique and compelling conversation going with their customers is more prevalent than ever. Not only do businesses need to have a strong email marketing strategy to have this conversation, but they also need to be comfortable enough with that platform to trust it, almost implicitly, to handle and home their marketing needs.
However, regardless of whether the business is just opening its doors, or has been around for generations, finding an email marketing platform that synchronizes well enough with the business that the owner is willing to invest in this kind of trust is hard. There are many factors to consider and while there are leading platforms, there isn’t one that is perfect for every business.
So, here is a comprehensive list of the best and the worst aspects of 6 top email marketing platforms, so that every business owner can decide what is the best option for their business.
<h2>MailChimp</h2>
Founded in 2001, <a href="https://mailchimp.com/" target="_blank">MailChimp</a> started as a side project for a variation of web developer but has grown into a trusted ally among millions of businesses, worldwide. With the businesses (and individuals) that utilize this platform ranging in size, experience, and email marketing need, MailChimp covers the scope of the market and has become a leader in the industry. This platform is known for having a welcoming, fun, and engaging atmosphere, while still being able to lend a serious advantage to businesses; especially those that are just starting out.
Pros:
MailChimp is extremely easy to work with, having a simple design and a cute disposition. (Who doesn’t like a monkey wearing a hat?) Yet, the whimsical nature of this platform does not dampen the pros for their professional function ability.
Two of the best pros going for MailChimp is their awesome freemium plan and they're thorough, yet easy to comprehend reporting methods for tracking the success of a company’s email marketing campaign.
The first is the ample amount of free content that is available to users with under 2,000 email subscribers. Complete campaigns to this number of subscribers, sending 12,000 emails per month is an exceptionally large girth for businesses who are looking to build up their marketing. There is a limited amount of options that require users to upgrade to the fee-based subscriptions, so long as the business stays within the free-subscription requirements.
The second, piggybacking off the first pro is the depth and ease of reporting that comes with MailChimp’s service. Garnering reports on how a campaign is doing, or did, especially in terms of the free subscription is extremely useful and user-friendly on this platform.
Cons: 
Unfortunately, while simple design is great for learning and exploring a platform, it doesn’t bode well for creativity and while the platform is functional, the more in-depth features are lacking.
One of the two major issues with MailChimp is the lack of originality in their email templates. For a savvy email subscriber, it is easy to spot an email created on this platform. While there is a host of templates to choose from, the ability to truly customize an email template is a difficult feat to overcome.
The other major issue with MailChimp is the high price point for fee-based plans, versus the low quality of email automation. When a subscriber upgrades to a service, they expect to get better more than what they had before. While the freemium plan is generous and with it, people don’t seem to care so much about the lacking email automation, when businesses start to pay for MailChimp, they are disappointed to find that they still cannot accurately automate their marketing strategy.
<h2>Constant Contact</h2>
<a href="/products/constant-contact" target="_blank">Constant Contact</a>, founded in 1995 under the initial name, Roving Software started out as something of an early social media platform. Initially, it was simply a way for friends to keep in contact with one another online. However, instead of becoming the initial Facebook, this company utilized their platform to help small businesses compete with large corporations in terms of marketing and communication.
Constant Contact is the father of the email marketing platforms we have today, while continuously developing to keep up with their ever-evolving predecessors.
Pros: 
Constant Contact is easy to navigate, it is tried and true with over and has a lot of niche features that other platforms do not offer. One feature is event management. This feature is extremely useful and as easy to navigate as the rest of the platform. Therefore, if such a unique feature is a good fit for your business, this platform might be a good fit for you.
Secondly, the physical approach that Constant Contact takes to helping businesses learn about their email marketing is unique for their niche market. Constant Contact employs the use of seminars and training sessions that have experts touring the country, speaking in different venues to spread information. This direct link to a company, especially a digital company, is extremely rare and people respond well to this tactic; especially their constituents, considering business owners are not always tech-savvy. Therefore, having the ability to talk to a real person, during an event close to their home or business is important.
Cons: 
While being revolutionary has its benefits, eventually, what was once novel becomes commonplace and with a reverence that Constant Contact deserves, the cons of this platform stem from their age.
Two major cons for this platform include the fees for Constant Contact being vastly overrated, for service that has become the status quo for most of the other companies and the virtual customer service.
The first is the price point that Constant Contact is working with. While they do offer a generous 60-Day free trial of either tier of their service, once that time is up, the fees are top heavy, compared to the service that is received. Based entirely on the number of email subscribers the packages start at twenty dollars per month, for up to 500 email subscribers and goes up from there. However, the basic plan, regardless of how many subscribers, doesn’t offer email automation at all.
The second issue with Constant Contact is their virtual customer service. While their physical customer service tactics are on point with what business owners want, their virtual customer service leaves much to be desired. Unfortunately, customers have often found the service they received to be completely unhelpful; that is if they can even find the link to get to the service desk they are trying to reach. It has even been reported that people have encountered links that don’t work, or lead to an error screen. 
(Ouch!)
<h2>Drip</h2>
<a href="https://www.drip.com/" target="_blank">Drip</a> was started in 2013 by a man named Rob Walling, who was trying to create a better email marketing platform. Along with co-founder, Derrick Reimer, Drip grew into the first, self-proclaimed, ECRM (E-commerce CRM). This means, that instead of focusing completely on the inner-workings of the business, this customer relationship management (CRM) system also integrates the e-commerce of the business. This is meant to smooth the transaction between customer service and e-commerce. The website is colorful, eye-catching, strangely 90’s sitcomish, meets millennial but it is also clean enough to be professional. The appearance of Drip’s marketing is unique, but it works.
Pros: 
Drip is known for having excellent automation capabilities and marketing collectivity, which is what Drip set out to do when it was created. 
The automation capabilities are excelled and the information sharing that is available on the platform is enlightening. The ease in which different automation can be executed, based solely on how the individual customer reacts to an email is unmatched. The setup for this automation, as well as the rest of the platform, is straightforward and since the automation is so in-depth, the reports that it works from are exponentially useful to the business owner as well.
The second major pro for Drip is the marketing collectivity and connectivity. Instead of simply being able to set up email campaigns, this platform takes marketing to a new level by truly integrating different facets of marketing strategy. Instead of having to force the social networking, the email subscribers, and the website contacts to work together, Drip’s platform allows seamless connectivity and the sharing of information. Once it is set up, the CRM portion of the ECRM connects customers while the E-commerce portion individualizes those customers, based on their spending habits.
Cons:
Drip is, by all accounts a solid email marketing (ECRM) platform, but that doesn’t mean it exists without faults; after all, this platform, like all platforms, isn’t for everyone. Two major issues users have with Dip is the price point and the complexity of the platform.
The first con is the price point. While there is a free option to use Drip, if the platform reaches over 100 contacts, which is easy to do, the minimum paid fee is $41. That fee is undeniably heftier than the other top email marketing platforms. However, if you are utilizing all the functions instead of having an email marketing platform and a CRM system, this price point can possibly be rationalized. Yet, if this price point isn’t in your budget, especially for new businesses, then it doesn’t matter what the ECRM can do for you because you won’t be able to use it.
The other problem is the complexity of the platform. While on the surface Drip is simple to use, there are a lot more cogs to this platform than others. With the integration feature, as seamless as it may be, still brings the baggage of depth that some beginning email marketers might be overwhelmed by. Additionally, considering the amount of the integration this system can do, businesses could end up overpaying for a service they don’t even know they’re not using to its full capacity.
In summation, email marketing platforms are as vast as the businesses they serve. These three email marketing platforms are the most reliable, affordable, and versatile on the market today. Ultimately, the decision can only be made by the business owner, as it is important that every business finds the email marketing platform that is right for them.

3 Top Email Marketing Platforms

mike-johnston

MailChimp is integrating their service into so many other apps it is almost time to ask: “Which service does not have MailChimp integration?” The latest apps to join the list are: Pinterest, Instagram, and Hootsuite.
<h3>Put a Pin in it</h3>
Pinterest has a sharp inclining user base to say the least. With over 100 million (yes I said million) unique site visits in one month it is easy to see why it has MailChimp's attention.
<blockquote>“Pinterest ‘lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web' with anyone. This popular pioneer in the new trend of visual bookmarking is a free service for everyone.”</blockquote>
So Pinterest is wildly popular attracting more and more users because of its easy to share pinboard style interface. Do you want to have a fun way to “bookmark” your interests? Done. Do you want to share these “pinboards” with whomever you wish? Done. But why is this integration between MailChimp and Pinterest attractive to businesses already using MailChimp for email newsletters?
For years a challenge for a typical company was connecting to their customers. It seems that the larger the company the easier it is for a communication gap to develop between said company and the end customer. What are our typical customers interested in? How do they communicate everyday? These questions beg answers and marketing departments need to tailor campaigns to the customer demographic and easily track the success or lack of success of a particular campaign. “Oh what ever can be done?” (southern ‘damsel in distress' voice)
Aha, now we see why this app integration and others like it are so meaningful for a company. If company “A” is submitting traffic on networks that potential customers frequent, company “A” stands a much better chance of engaging these individuals perhaps becoming part of their “circle” if you will.
Now you may think that it would be difficult to work with this “merging” of two different apps. MailChimp does not do “difficult”.
<blockquote>“To use this integration, head over to the Pinterest Chimplet. We’re always trying to find new ways to accomodate the needs of our users, and this integration is no exception. Type in your Pinterest username and you will instantly see a drop-down menu of your individual boards to choose from. You can create your campaign using all of your pins, or your pins from just one board!”</blockquote>

Make your Pinterest “pinboards”, add them to a MailChimp campaign, and share share share.
<h3>Instagram</h3>
Another MailChimp integration is with Instagram. Like Pinterest, Instagram has grown tremendously. Over 27 million users in a little over 2 years. Simple and easy photo sharing, “Instagram is a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends.”
Now MailChimp can pull in your instagram photo stream and share via an RSS campaign. ‘Hang on, maybe I do not want all photos going out over to a MailChimp list.” They thought of that.
<blockquote>“You will find that not only can you choose to create your RSS campaign from your Instagram username, but you can also create a campaign from a common hashtag, like #pugs.”
“Now let’s say you’re managing your company’s Instagram account. You’d like to send a campaign using not only your company’s images, but also all of the images taken by other users who have tagged your company’s account. You can do that, too! Just select “Include photos uploaded by or tagged as this hashtag” and enter your company’s Instagram username.”</blockquote>
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<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2013-11-11_07_11_23-mozilla_firefox_1125x0_tvhcfk.png" alt="Instagram_Integration" />
Pictures are so engaging it only makes sense to share!
<h3>Hootsuite</h3>
With all these social media outlets it could be a full time job just keeping them all up to date. You could use some type of social media management dashboard or something right? Well fortunately there are services like Hootsuite.
Social media management is powerful alone, but now you can link to MailChimp campaigns and push them out to your social networks. Hootsuite's stats are an added benefit to using this integration of social media and email campaigning.
<blockquote>“The link to your campaign will be shortened with HootSuite’s link shortener, ow.ly, instead of our link shortener, eepurl. The ow.ly link shortener allows HootSuite to track how the campaigns are shared across your social networks. Now you can see stats on your email campaigns’ social reach in context with the rest of your social-media metrics, from within HootSuite.”</blockquote>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/hootsuite_stats.jpg" alt="hootsuite_stats" />
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These latest integrations can bring businesses closer to their audience. These add-ons make it easier to communicate effectively across not only email, but social media as well.
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MailChimp Integrations, the Saga Continues

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