Changing Newsletter Services: Resources

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve used MailChimp for years, but I’m one of the many writers who is now abandoning ship as the platform experiments with new pricing and a different direction (toward customer relationship management).  For many writers, the costs won’t make sense for basic email newsletter marketing.

I have dreaded making a change since I realized I’d need to.  I changed banks in March and it was a heinous task,  taking two 8-hour days to dump a bank I’d used for the last 20 years.  It did end up being worth it, though, as I’m sure this change will be.

One reason it’s a pain is the fact that MailChimp is everywhere in regard to my stuff…on Facebook, integrated through WordPress on my site, as an email signup link for over 30 books, on my Amazon author page…the list goes on and on.  I’m not sure why I didn’t set up a landing page on my own site and then use the service’s form on it…but apparently, that’s exactly what I did.  I even had a splash page, but didn’t use it to host my newsletter signup.  I certainly won’t be taking that approach again, obviously.

If you paid for a MailChimp pay-as-you-go plan, as I did, you may have to delay leaving (not sure how or if they refund that money, so I just decided to send out one last email).  All of my final changes are taking place after my last MailChimp newsletter.  So far, I’ve set up a new account with the new service and have transferred my subscribers (the audience is still also at MailChimp for that last newsletter).

So far, the change has been easy because it’s been automated.

More Information on Why You Should Consider a Change

I’m going to direct you to the most-detailed and easiest-to-understand post, written by David Gaughran.

My Choice for a New Provider

I looked at various options and decided on MailerLite, which has an option to pull over MailChimp subscribers and is relatively inexpensive.  Other popular options that writers use are ConvertKit, Mad Mimi, and ActiveCampaign.

If You Decide on MailerLite

David Gaughran has yet another great post on how to change from MailChimp to MailerLite. 

Another helpful post is from Rachel McCollin with the ALLi group.  She also details how to switch from MailChimp to MailerLite, plus offers ideas for ‘future proofing’ mailing list sign-ups so we won’t be in the same boat if we have to switch newsletter services in the future (heaven forbid!)

I’ll update everyone later as to how the switch went from my end.  :)

What email service do you use?  Are you considering switching?

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