MailChimp Basics
A step by step guide to MailChimp
Course developed by Virginia Ridley
• By the end of this course you will:
• Know why a newsletter is important
• Have a brief understanding of Canada’s Anti Spam
Legislation (CASL)
• Have a MailChimp account
• Have built a basic email newsletter template
• Have a few subscribers to your newsletter
• Be able to create sign up forms for social media
• Be able to create sign up forms for your website
• Know how to access reports
• Recognize signs of success
Canada’s
Anti-Spam
Legislation
Information about Canadian Anti Spam Legislation
(CASL) from Mail’ Chimp’s Website
Liability
There are new consequences for spammers, including fines of $1-10M per
violation. It's important to note that individuals and companies, including
directors, officers and other agents, are responsible and liable for the
messages they send.
During the transitional period, the Canadian Radio-Television and
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the Competition Bureau, and
the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, may investigate and
litigate against entities who don't adhere to CASL. After July 1, 2017, any
individual will also be able to sue any entity they believe is sending spam
messages.
What's covered under CASL
CASL regulations apply to any "Commercial Electronic Message" (CEM) sent
from or to Canadian computers and devices in Canada. Messages routed
through Canadian computer systems are not subject to this law.
A CEM is any message that:
•is in an electronic format, including emails, instant messages, text
messages, and some social media communications;
•is sent to an electronic address, including email addresses, instant
message accounts, phone accounts, and social media accounts; and
•contains a message encouraging recipients to take part in some type of
commercial activity, including the promotion of products, services,
people/personas, companies, or organizations.
Fax messages and fax numbers aren't considered electronic formats or
addresses under CASL.
Exempt messages
These types of electronic messages are exempt from CASL for various
reasons. Please note that not all of these are allowable under MailChimp's
Terms of Use.
•Messages to family or a person with established personal relationship.
•Messages to an employee, consultant, or person associated with your
business.
•Responses to a current customer, or someone who has inquired in the last six
months.
•Messages that will be opened or accessed in a foreign country, including the
U.S., China, and most of Europe.
Exempt messages continued
•Messages sent on behalf of a charity or political organization for the
purposes of raising funds or soliciting contributions.
•Messages attempting to enforce a legal right or court order.
•Messages that provide warranty, recall, safety, or security information about a
product or service purchased by the recipient.
•Messages that provide information about a purchase, subscription,
membership, account, loan, or other ongoing relationship, including delivery of
product updates or upgrades.
•A single message to a recipient without an existing relationship on the basis
of a referral. The full name of the referring person must be disclosed in the
message. The referrer may be family or have another relationship with the
person to whom you're sending.
If your message does not meet one of these criteria, consent is required
under CASL.
Implied vs. Express Consent
The law defines two types of consent: implied and express. Implied
consent is a looser interpretation, whereas express consent requires
action from both sender and recipient.
Implied consent includes when:
•A recipient has purchased a product, service or made another business
deal, contract, or membership with your organization in the last 24
months;
•You are a registered charity or political organization, and the recipient
has made a donation or gift, has volunteered, or attended a meeting
organized by you; or
•A professional message is sent to someone whose email address was
given to you, or is conspicuously published, and who hasn't published or
told you that they don't want unsolicited messages.
If your recipients don't meet any of the above criteria, then express
consent is required before you can send campaigns to them.
Express consent means written or oral agreement to receive specific types of
messages, for example "You want to receive monthly newsletters and weekly
discount notifications from Company B.“
Express consent is only valid if the following information is included with your
request for consent:
•A clear and concise description of your purpose in obtaining consent
•A description of messages you'll be sending
•Requestor's name and contact information (physical mailing address
and telephone number, email address, or website URL)
•A statement that the recipient may unsubscribe at any time.
The requestor can be you or someone for whom you're asking. If you're
requesting consent on behalf of a client, the client's name and contact
information must be included with the consent request.
During the transition period, July 1, 2014-July 1, 2017, you may continue to
send messages to recipients from whom you have implied consent, unless
they unsubscribe. After the 2017 cut-off date, you may only send to recipients
with express consent or whose implied consent is currently valid under
CASL—that is, 24 months after a purchase or six months after an inquiry.
MailChimp Terms of Use
In many cases, MailChimp's Terms of Use are more strict than what's
outlined in CASL, particularly regarding third-parties and implied consent.
As a rule of thumb, you want to have written permission from every
subscriber.
Sticking to MailChimp's policies is not only required, it also helps improve
your campaign deliverability and subscriber engagement.
MailChimp Terms of Use continued
Here are some of MailChimp's Terms that differ from CASL.
•Customers must have made a purchase within the last 12 months. Inquiries
without a purchase don't count as permission.
•Family members and friends still need to provide written permission.
•Non-profit organizations, political groups, and courts still need to secure written
permission from recipients.
•Referrals and published email addresses are considered third-party, and
therefore, not allowed.
•Oral agreement to receive messages does not qualify as permission.
Additional Requirements
In addition to understanding what qualifies as a CASL-regulated message, and
what type of consent is needed, there are a few other details to keep in mind.
•You must retain a record of consent confirmations.
•When requesting consent, checkboxes cannot be pre-filled to suggest
consent. Each subscriber must check the box themselves for consent to be
valid.
•All messages sent must include your name, the person on whose behalf you
are sending (if any), your physical mailing address and your telephone number,
email address, or website URL.
•All messages sent after consent must also include an unsubscribe
mechanism, and unsubscribes must be processed within 10 days.
What does this mean for you?
• If your emails have any commercial content then they may be subject to
Canadian Anti Spam Legislation
• If someone wants to be removed, remove them
• Do not sign up individuals who are not members without their consent
• You do not have the right to share your email list with another organization
MailChimp is a tool which allows easy compliance with the legislation –
unsubscribe options, sign up forms, blind messaging, and legal disclaimers
Why send out a newsletter?
• Update members
• Engage readers
• Build and maintain relationships
• Promote upcoming events and opportunities
• Others?
Designing your email
Newsletters should have some degree of consistency.
Decide which elements will be regular elements and
which will change.
Some ideas:
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A regular update
Upcoming events
Health & Safety Messages
Items to watch
Once you have designed and entered
content into your newsletter – always
send to someone for review.
MailChimp allows you to ‘test’ a
campaign and get feedback by sending
to only specific people.
A quick note about design:
Even if you don’t have the skills or programs to
design an amazing custom header image, you can
create a pretty good looking one using original
photography and MailChimp.
There are many people who can create a custom
image for you – survey your members, family and
friends, or consider hiring someone to create this
for you.
Why MailChimp?
Now that you have designed your newsletter,
let’s talk about MailChimp functionality
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Separates Lists and Campaigns
Assign different editors
Easy forwarding and social sharing
Integration to website
Fundraising integration
MailChimp tracks opens and clicks.
MailChimp reports on when people are
reading your email.
MailChimp tells you what your readers
are interested in.
MailChimp tracks your social
performance.
Sign up Forms
General Form
Website Integration
Extras!
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Facebook
Twitter
Website
Survey Monkey
Eventbrite
These extra integrations can be
found in Account> Integrations
Last words of advice
• Learn by doing
• Google can be your friend
• When you see something successful – ask which
tools they are using
• Read your reports – learn what people are
interested in, and who is interested
• Try new things – and measure your successes