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Mandrill - Transactional Email from MailChimp

mandrill.com

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Re: Mandrill - Transactional Email from MailChimp

#21

Post by grease »

cmorrisrsg wrote: post #18
zbailey wrote: post #16

Looks awesome! I'm curious, there seem to be quite a few transactional mail services on the come-up these days, each with their own little bit of special sauce (SendGrid, Amazon SES, PostMark, et al). If I were evaluating Mandrill in addition to those services, what are the main things I should focus on that really sets Mandrill apart from those other providers?

There are a few things that we think set Mandrill apart from the pack. Our application is designed with responsiveness in mind, and we have mobile application on both of the major platforms so you can get access to your email stats and reputation wherever you are. We have search and analytics deeply ingrained in the application in a way that is fairly unique - letting you see your emails in context and trying to deri…

Does the Mandrill inbound email system parse out quoted text?

Re: Mandrill - Transactional Email from MailChimp

#22

Post by ericingram »

cmorrisrsg wrote: post #17
brittohalloran wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So how does this compare to something like SendGrid? More or less a direct competitor? I noticed you can only send mail via the API (no SMTP relay). Any other notable differences?

We're trying to make Mandrill a stable email platform for all uses, so in that way we're similar to SendGrid. Where we're really trying to focus isn't so much in just the delivery of the email, though we do have a ton of experience doing that well. Mandrill is a product that is trying to make your application-driven emails as easily tracked, tested, and understood as the bulk email you'd send using MailChimp. It's st…

I think deep integration with MailChimp is a huge reason to use Mandrill. I'm not and have never been a paid MailChimp customer, but this might get me there.

I currently use MailGun for transactional e-mail, and CampaignMonitor for marketing e-mail. MailGun's UI is really rough, so Mandrill is pulling me in for that reason alone, and CampaignMonitor pretty great but I haven't use it lately any way.

Have you considered discounts for developers deploying individual accounts for clients?

Re: Mandrill - Transactional Email from MailChimp

#23

Post by cmorrisrsg »

grease wrote: post #21
cmorrisrsg wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a few things that we think set Mandrill apart from the pack. Our application is designed with responsiveness in mind, and we have mobile application on both of the major platforms so you can get access to your email stats and reputation wherever you are. We have search and analytics deeply ingrained in the application in a way that is fairly unique - letting you see your emails in context and trying to deri…

Does the Mandrill inbound email system parse out quoted text?

Not yet. The inbound system right now is really basic - we'll parse out the messages and deliver them to a webhook, but we won't munge it much beyond breaking apart attachments and things.

Re: Mandrill - Transactional Email from MailChimp

#25

Post by programminggeek »

cmorrisrsg wrote: post #2

Hey - I'm Chad, the project lead for Mandrill. I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys might have.

Both MailChimp and Mandrill look great, but I have a pricing question. Is it possible to use Mandrill to send out newsletters since your Mandrill pricing is WAY cheaper than your pay as you go newsletter pricing?

I've been looking for a newsletter service that charges me reasonable rates for pay as you go sending of a monthly/semi-monthly email newsletter, using the pay as you go product, it would cost me $30 per 1,000 emails, whereas Mandrill's per email rates start around $0.90 per 1,000. You say that both are using the same infrastructure, so why is sending email newsletters with MailChimp 33x more expensive?

Re: Mandrill - Transactional Email from MailChimp

#26

Post by ceejayoz »

programminggeek wrote: post #25
cmorrisrsg wrote: post #2

Hey - I'm Chad, the project lead for Mandrill. I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys might have.

Both MailChimp and Mandrill look great, but I have a pricing question. Is it possible to use Mandrill to send out newsletters since your Mandrill pricing is WAY cheaper than your pay as you go newsletter pricing? I've been looking for a newsletter service that charges me reasonable rates for pay as you go sending of a monthly/semi-monthly email newsletter, using the pay as you go product, it would cost me $30 per 1,0…

I can't speak for MailChimp, but bulk e-mail requires a lot more managing - particularly for spam - than transactional.

Re: Mandrill - Transactional Email from MailChimp

#27

Post by cmorrisrsg »

programminggeek wrote: post #25
cmorrisrsg wrote: post #2

Hey - I'm Chad, the project lead for Mandrill. I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys might have.

Both MailChimp and Mandrill look great, but I have a pricing question. Is it possible to use Mandrill to send out newsletters since your Mandrill pricing is WAY cheaper than your pay as you go newsletter pricing? I've been looking for a newsletter service that charges me reasonable rates for pay as you go sending of a monthly/semi-monthly email newsletter, using the pay as you go product, it would cost me $30 per 1,0…

Yes - you can use Mandrill for newsletters if you want to code your own subscription logic and store your own list of emails. MailChimp is quite a bit more expensive than Mandrill, but it does a lot more too. MailChimp stores more analytics than Mandrill does and stores it longer. It handles scheduling, batch testing, social integrations and content management in ways that Mandrill really doesn't. MailChimp also has analytics and profiles for list subscribers that Mandrill doesn't have.

If Mandrill does everything you need it to do and you can do the rest on your own, you should use Mandrill. It is, as you note, much cheaper.

Re: Mandrill - Transactional Email from MailChimp

#28

Post by cmorrisrsg »

tszming wrote: post #24
cmorrisrsg wrote: post #2

Hey - I'm Chad, the project lead for Mandrill. I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys might have.

For DKIM Customization, I assume we can use FREE + a $29.95 dedicated IP plan?

You can customize DKIM without a dedicated IP. You do need to have a paid plan to get the dedicated IP, but that's really because you need at least a few hundred thousand emails per month of volume before getting a dedicated IP. With lower volumes (like anything that can fit in the free plan), the sending reputation of one of our shared IP addresses is certainly better than a dedicated IP with no reputation.

Re: Mandrill - Transactional Email from MailChimp

#29

Post by cmorrisrsg »

ericingram wrote: post #22
cmorrisrsg wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're trying to make Mandrill a stable email platform for all uses, so in that way we're similar to SendGrid. Where we're really trying to focus isn't so much in just the delivery of the email, though we do have a ton of experience doing that well. Mandrill is a product that is trying to make your application-driven emails as easily tracked, tested, and understood as the bulk email you'd send using MailChimp. It's st…

I think deep integration with MailChimp is a huge reason to use Mandrill. I'm not and have never been a paid MailChimp customer, but this might get me there. I currently use MailGun for transactional e-mail, and CampaignMonitor for marketing e-mail. MailGun's UI is really rough, so Mandrill is pulling me in for that reason alone, and CampaignMonitor pretty great but I haven't use it lately any way. Have you considere…

We've considered it, but we're still working on our reseller/integrator story.
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