Mailchimp Releases SMS Marketing

Is Mailchimps new SMS platform the bees knees?

Big news from Mailchimp – they’ve rolled out a new feature – SMS Marketing! Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of SMS Marketing with Mailchimp.

Before you dive in, here are some things to keep in mind:

1) Who’s Eligible: For now, SMS Marketing is available to Mailchimp customers in the United States with an Essentials plan or higher, a Legacy Monthly plan, or Mailchimp Pro.

2) Account Roles: To get in on the SMS Marketing action, you gotta be an account Owner, Admin, or Manager.

3) The Green Light: Before you can send SMS marketing messages, you’ll need to submit an application and get the thumbs up.

4) SMS Credits: You’ll need SMS credits to send those text messages. 

5) Geographical Reach: Keep in mind that for now, SMS marketing messages can only be sent to mobile numbers in the US.

SMS Marketing uses Short Message Service (SMS) to shoot out text messages to mobile phones. With Mailchimp’s SMS Marketing, you can set up your own program, buy SMS credits, collect opt-ins from your contacts, and start sending SMS messages to your subscribers. And here’s the bonus – you can even include images or GIFs in your SMS messages using Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). 

Application: Start by applying for your SMS Marketing program.

Pick a Number: Choose a phone number for your SMS Marketing program. No worries, it’s not tied to any specific carrier like your personal number.

Get Set Up: Once your application gets approved, go ahead and buy SMS credits, import your existing contacts, and get permission from your email subscribers.

Ready, Set, Send: Now you’re all set to use your SMS credits to send SMS or MMS messages to your subscribers. Hit ’em up immediately or schedule messages for later.

Know the Limits

Keep an eye on those carrier rate limits and throttling – they determine how many messages you can send per day or minute to your subscribers. It depends on whether your business is on the Russell 3000 Index too.

For example:

• If your biz is on the Index, you can send up to 2,400 SMS or MMS messages per minute to AT&T recipients and 200,000 messages per day to T-Mobile recipients.
• If you’re not on the Index, you can send up to 4,500 SMS and 2,400 MMS messages per minute to AT&T recipients and up to 200,000 messages per day to T-Mobile recipients based on your brand score.

Watch Those Characters

The number of characters in an SMS message decides the message count. You can send two types of SMS messages: standard (GSM) and Unicode (non-GSM). Don’t worry, Mailchimp’s got you covered with the limits.

• Standard (GSM): 160 characters per 1 SMS message (153 characters for multipart sends).
• Unicode (non-GSM): 70 characters per 1 SMS message (67 characters for multipart sends).

Time It Right

You can only send SMS messages between 11 am and 9 pm ET. Yep, that’s what Mailchimp calls “quiet hours” – keeps you in the clear with the laws and rules.

Play By the Rules

Mailchimp has some guidelines to follow – no SMS marketing content related to sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, or tobacco (S.H.A.F.T.). And yep, content about cannabis, vaping, and CBD is a no-go too. Gotta keep things clean!

Wrapping Up

Mailchimp’s SMS Marketing is a fantastic way to connect with your audience through text messaging. So go ahead and explore this cool new feature – it’s a great addition to your marketing toolkit!

For more detailed info and to get started with SMS Marketing, or to setup some automations, feel free to reach out to us here at Boatr Marketing. Happy marketing, and have fun with your texts!

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