Mailchimp integrates Facebook to enhance its email marketing channels
MailChimp has ventured out of its email marketing comfort zone with a Facebook advertising integration so that users of the email marketing platform can now create Facebook ads and track performance in the same platform, the company reports.
In November, Facebook reported $6.8bn in advertising revenue for the third quarter of 2016, up from $4.3bn the same quarter in 2015. It also reported this month more than one billion people see advertisements through its Audience Network monthly.
"After email, Facebook ads are the next most popular choice with our customers for acquiring customers and generating revenue,” Tom Klein, CMO, said in a MailChimp blog post. “We created an ad buying experience that feels like MailChimp, so customers can create beautiful ads quickly and get back to building their business.”
John Foreman, VP of product management for MailChimp, said the platform is the "perfect place" to marry emailing marketing and Facebook advertising. Users can leverage existing data and content for new Facebook campaigns. "And since a user can sync up their store with MailChimp," Foreman added, "we can even tell you the ROI and sales your ad generated. That’s always been tough for entrepreneurs. Best of all, MailChimp doesn’t take a cut. Whatever you pay goes directly to Facebook.”
MailChimp was founded in 2001 by Ben Chestnut, now CEO, and Dan Kurzius, who now serves as chief customer officer. The global email marketing provider — which focuses its branding on a chimp named Freddie — has become increasingly data-driven over time to improve products and augment its warm, fuzzy reputation.
According to its 2016 annual report, MailChimp has 560 employees. Almost 86,000 MailChimp accounts are connected to ecommerce stores. Last year, MailChimp users sent 246.1bn emails.
Chestnut told the New York Times the private company recorded $280m in revenue in 2015 and was on track to top $400m in 2016.
MailChimp officials touted the ease of use and consistent messaging in its Facebook Ad Campaigns. MailChimp isn't the first to discover Facebook advertising gives marketers an easy way to target and reach particular audiences. It just wants to make it easier to connect MailChimp with Facebook.
“Using MailChimp’s intelligent segmentation to target recent customers or active subscribers, businesses can quickly create lookalike audiences in Facebook,” Foreman said. “There’s no more guessing at who to target your ads to. We integrate with Facebook’s data science models to make customer acquisition smart and easy.”