Not a user but does single opt-in "by default" imply there is a setting to flip it back to double opt-in? If so, flip the switch
I can no longer recommend MailChimp
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Re: I can no longer recommend MailChimp
#12This only affects signup forms hosted by MailChimp. If you build your own form and use their API for signups, there has never been a requirement for double opt-in.
So I don't know if this is such a dramatic change -- depends on how many people use the default forms instead of an integrated signup experience.
Re: I can no longer recommend MailChimp
#13What reliable service should one use then? MailChimp is still pretty much the go-to option for me
How hard can it be to send an email? Why pay $$$ for it?
For deliverability, which is pretty good on Mailchimp.
However I think that send emails out using the gmail API or the Amazon SES might be the way to go. Also depends on what you are doing, I think that those that over analyse the mail openings are getting it wrong, focusing on the wrong metrics. You should be focused on the sales metrics not be navel gazing in newsletter software. Content is king, get that right and again, focus on that, not the analytics.
Re: I can no longer recommend MailChimp
#14They haven't "gone bananas". Removing double opt-in means more subscribers, which means higher revenue for them. Their revenue is based on subscriber counts, no matter how they were obtained. I hope everyone else does what I do: any bulk emails I did not subscribe to get marked as spam in gmail. Even a company the size of mailchimp can't cycle and "warm" email servers fast enough if a critical mass of people are tagg…
In the short term, probably more revenue. But once they race to the bottom of deliverability rates (like SES, for example), MailChimp will forever have lost it’s major defining feature: emails that actually make it to the inbox.
Re: I can no longer recommend MailChimp
#15Is this going to affect MailChimp's deliverability? It seems like it would, my understanding is the reason most relays and blacklists are so lenient with MailChimp is exactly because of their double opt-in policy. Looks like they're ultimately throwing their long-term business under the bus for a short burst of extra cash.
Absolutely it will.
If you use MailChimp and care about deliverability, I would recommend you begin looking at alternatives (if you haven't already).
Re: I can no longer recommend MailChimp
#16We use Mailchimp for B2B newsletters and have several thousand subscribers in our lists. This is the first time I hear anything about this. No mails whatsoever although I am a German user.
I've received two mails in the past week.
http://mailchi.mp/f3bc9acebf61/were-making-important-changes...
http://mailchi.mp/5fbac34cf976/were-making-important-changes...
Re: I can no longer recommend MailChimp
#17Not a user but does single opt-in "by default" imply there is a setting to flip it back to double opt-in? If so, flip the switch
Correct - they state you can still use double opt-in if you want to.
Re: I can no longer recommend MailChimp
#18They haven't "gone bananas". Removing double opt-in means more subscribers, which means higher revenue for them. Their revenue is based on subscriber counts, no matter how they were obtained. I hope everyone else does what I do: any bulk emails I did not subscribe to get marked as spam in gmail. Even a company the size of mailchimp can't cycle and "warm" email servers fast enough if a critical mass of people are tagg…
Yup, the "Spam" button is a true signal. A company I worked for had problems with the number of times people hit 'spam' on the emails (not even a newsletter, but transactional emails), and AWS SimpleEmailService put us on probation. I got to write a worker task that would consume the queue of "someone marked you as spam" from SES and remove them from our email list.
Re: I can no longer recommend MailChimp
#19For my fellow mail server administrators:
* 205.201.128.0/20
* 198.2.128.0/18
* 148.105.0.0/16
Those are the ranges you'll want to add to your blacklists.
Re: I can no longer recommend MailChimp
#20That is not problem of Mailchimp, it's problem of culture and "best practices". It's really annoying and it became annoying long before this change.
I receive lots of such emails not only from Mailchimp. At least Mailchimp has one-click unsubscribing, most custom-built mailing list systems don't have it, requiring to log in or just not working.
The problem with Mailchimp is:
- Spam filters work mediocre, despite AI hype. I think they are still based on linear regression on bag of words or something like that. Instead Gmail blocks your server if it sends mail for the first time instead of being large company's server that already sent 1e100 emails.
- Mailchimp exploits this. You can't send email on your own and have to buy their service. It also spreads additional FUD that you must use it, otherwise all your mail goes to spam.
- Gmail treats Mailchimp as privileged sender so if I mark promotional emails from hottest startups as spam, new similar emails are not sent to spam folder.
- Hottest startups know this and subscribe you to all their mailing lists each time they got your email.