For our 9 years in business we have used MailChimp for our Electronic Direct Mail (EDM). This month we are trying out the new SQSP Campaigns.
Since it went live in 2022, we have set Campaigns up for a few clients and it has its clear Pros an Cons. There are also rules you must follow regardless of the tools you use.
Aren’t emails outdated compared to social media?
In my opinion, email is still hands down the best way to engage your target audience, regardless of which email host or bulk email platform you use. Social media channels are great to spark interest but it’s not your platform, it belongs to the operator of the space.
Social media is rented space and you can be evicted from it leaving you disconnected from your audience.
An opt-in email builds community, adds credibility and offers value (if you do it right). You own the list and the space to comment in. No one can kick you out, you set the rules.
However, when you start offering ideas or record information from people you need to comply with the law and mitigate risk exposure.
Are you recording people’s information?
Australian Privacy Legislation recommends websites post a Privacy Policy statement if they collect ANY customer or website visitor information. This includes:
Email addresses
Postal addresses
Telephone numbers
Credit card numbers, etc.
So even if you have a basic Contact Form on your website you SHOULD have a Privacy Policy statement.
In Australia, we must adhere to the Spam Act 2003 and follow the Spam Regulations.
Complying with the law.
To comply with the law, you must first have consent from the person who will receive your emails. The states “Unsolicited commercial electronic messages must not be sent”.
That means don’t buy harvested email lists or use email harvesting software. If you think about it, you really only want people who want you anyway. People are only going to be disgruntled if you bombard them and they haven’t given you consent - see my example further down!
After you get consent, express or inferred, you must ensure your message:
identifies you as the sender
contains your contact details
makes it easy to unsubscribe
Coincidentally, as I was writing this, I received a cold call email from an Australian business. I clear this kind of dross out of my SPAM filter daily from businesses that have no regard for my time and countries that have no regard for the law, it’s just a numbers game.
I didn’t expect SPAM from a professional Australian business - a great example of what not to do! [cold call email sample - and my reply!]
Transactions aren’t SPAM.
Before we move on from consent, it’s important to note that transactional messages are outside of this law and they cannot be unsubscribed from. A transactional message is an invoice, statement, receipt or membership notification. If someone owes you money, they can’t simply unsubscribe from your invoice! To be ‘transactional’ the comms you send can’t have marketing or sales data contained within (otherwise it could be considered spam?).
The law is King. Consent is Queen.
You may see email lists for sale online? Do not buy them! Never purchase lists or use email harvesting software, this not only goes against the idea of consent, it actually isn’t great for your brand. If you don’t know where this out-of-the blue email is coming from, it doesn’t engender trust with the brand or sender (just see the example email I got today).
Our contact list is curated from our customers and from opt-in newsletter, contact and scheduling forms on our website, but if you don’t want to receive anything further from us, you simply Unsubscribe.
The law maybe the king, but consent is the queen! Why would you email someone who doesn’t want you? Personally, I want people who aren’t interested to opt-out. That’s one of the main reasons why you should use EDM software to manage the process (and why we do).
What other legal notices do you need?
In addition to the Privacy Policy, you should have a set of Terms & Conditions and a Disclaimer. If you use affiliate links, like we do, or if you accept paid endorsements, then you should also post notices to cover these too.
You have to be mindful of how you use affiliate links too, like cold calling, being too salesy can damage your credibility. At onlineiseasy.com.au, our website, blogs, articles and emails often contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission on a purchase without any additional cost to you, if you subscribe as a result of using our links.
In our case, the purpose of our work is to educate and share what we know about starting, running and marketing a business online, and that sometimes includes product/service recommendations.
We advocate for the products/services we mention because we often have direct, personal experience with them. But we never promote a product we haven't tried or that we don’t think you'll benefit from using.
Also, in our case, we never promote primarily for the affiliate income (as it’s usually quite small) and we also try to promote local businesses first. Understand that here are some websites that primarily drive traffic to their website just for ad revenue and affiliate income.
Incidentally, if you do purchase through one of our affiliate links, thank you so much for your support!
Email Campaign Showdown:
Squarespace vs. MailChimp
So back to the EDM software, which one is better? Already, it’s very clear that MailChimp has more features, SQSP Campaigns has no code injection ability and list management is clunky.
However, adding your blogs straight into your EDM is super easy and it saves time if you write blog posts on your site first.
Here’s a comparison table of my initial observations between the platforms:
| Squarespace Campaigns | MailChimp |
|---|---|
| Well known for the subscription based website builder | Most well known email marketing software |
| In-built email marketing | Connects to any website, including Squarespace. |
| Pricing based on Campaigns and/or Emails sent per month | Pricie based on the number of contacts |
| Can include Blog posts & Products in the email | Has superior Analytics, Reporting & A/B Testing |
| Outstanding templates | Advanced market segmentation |
| Great customer support and great community | Average support, good community |
| Simple automation | Advanced marketing automation |
| Starts at: Starter A$84 p/yr | Starts at: Essentials - A$236 p/yr |
| 14 day free trial | Free, up to 1,000 emails |
I intend to write more or refine this blog post in the next few months after I’ve given SQSP Campaigns a good crack.
Are you using SQSP Campaigns or MailChimp? How do you feel about navigating my emails as a reader? Feel free to email me feedback or click the button below to connect over Zoom.
