The Mailchimp campaigns that didn’t get sent

The emails that didn’t get sent

Is your Mailchimp account full of nearly-finished draft emails that never actually got sent? I see it SO often when auditing accounts - often there are more unsent drafts than sent emails. That’s an awful lot of time wasted. Results not achieved. And time = money etc etc.

So that’s what this blog is about.

And as an aside, also why I often use a simple 3‑2‑1 structure (it keeps me on track and my content /ideas radar turned on for future things to talk about). Here’s how it works.

My 3‑2‑1 structure

• 3 things to think about

• 2 things to do

• 1 thing to make you smile

Really simple, and also a very good way to make decisions faster, then create and ACTUALLY SEND emails that are helpful.

3 emaily things to remember

1. Feedback is not the same as strategy

Most internal feedback has nothing to do with your audience and THEIR priorities (which is, after all, why they a) subscribe and b) do or don’t read what you send them):

• Legal wants it a bit safer (and way more boring)

• Your MD wants it “on brand” and to tell the mailing list that the business has just celebrated its 12th birthday and you have a new hire (I’d put money on your readers not caring)

• Customer service wants to tell everyone you’re closed on Christmas Day (obvs!).

Not a single one of the internal stakeholders will be reading the email on their phone at 7:43am while making breakfast and trying to get out of the door.

Your job is not to make everyone internally comfortable. Your job is to make the email work and get results. If you don’t separate your audience’s needs and priorities from internal preferences, nothing ever gets sent.

2. Too many cooks make beige emails

When every opinion gets equal weight, the resulting email campaign isn’t better. It’s longer, harder to create, and less likely to get read or acted on.

Short emails turn into essays that no one will read (check my email length calculator to see how long emails get on mobiles). One clear and intentional CTA (call to action) becomes five, or ten, or twenty, “just in case”, personality disappears and your emails are very hard to finish and get out the door, so they can’t generate results.

Done and sent beats an email unfinished and sitting in drafts every time.

3. Structure gives you authority

A clear, previously decided structure is REALLY bloody helpful in a few ways:

• You have guidelines to refer to when people start chipping in “Oh can we also include…”

  • “No sorry - that will have to go in the next one”

  • The word-count is max 100 words”

  • “Images need to be 1000 × 750px”

  • “We already have the primary CTA for this campaign”

• You have a reliable, tried and tested structured template ready and waiting for you to fill in the gaps, making the whole thing quicker and easier to create, test, finalise and send too.

2 Mailchimpy things to do

1. Define your structure and build your Mailchimp template

Create your Mailchimp template once:

• Have the sections in place

• Have word count written on there

• Have the CTA buttons where needed, ready to add the links

• Have image placeholders with dimensions clearly written.

Then every email starts from the same point. If you haven’t tried Mailchimp’s New Builder yet, it’s worth a look – it’s much easier to work with. When the structure already exists, writing stops feeling like a big job.

2. Share the rules (and stick to them)

If more than one person feeds into emails, be explicit. Define:

• The structure

• The frequency

• The audience / segments

• How many messages go in one email

• The primary CTA (if a reader does only one thing when then open your email what do you want it to be? Make it easy and obvious)

• Image sizes and guidelines e.g. lifestyle photos measuring 1000×750px landscape. No infographics. Alt text provided.

• Word counts

• Links

• Deadlines.

If something misses the deadline, it goes in the next email. Simples.

1 thing to make you smile

🐧 Love is in the air.

The point of all this

Email marketing usually doesn’t fail because people can’t write. It fails because no one can decide, everyone wants a tweak and nothing ever feels finished. A simple structure and guidelines remove a lot of the hassle, unnecessary decisions and to-ing and fro-ing, and mean your emails get sent and get results.

Want help with this or anything else related to Mailchimp?

If your email campaigns are stuck in drafts, your Mailchimp setup is messy, or you want a calmer, more effective way of doing email properly, get in touch.

Toodle‑pip.
Claire