It’s been an interesting day today.

One of the services I offer is a Mailchimp Etc. Mini Action Package. It takes just 2 hours of your time (more of mine) and each one varies depending on specific needs and issues.

To give you a feel for what happens, here are little case studies of two of these sessions that I’ve done today. One immediately generated a 7-fold return on the cost of the session. That’s because I have over 13 years’ experience, meaning I know exactly what to look for.

No?

Go do it.

Here’s why…

In the last 13+ years of doing this, the conversation about whether to buy an email list, or how to use one that’s already been bought, comes up fairly often.

Here are some things to think about, and two little case studies that illustrate how it works in practice.

Unless you’re on a free Mailchimp account, every single contact in your Mailchimp account has an associated cost. So that means it needs to earn its keep for you. What is YOUR Mailchimp account costing per contact? Is it generating more revenue than that? Are you monitoring it? Are you tapping into its potential? And could that ROI be improved? Almost certainly.

Here are my 8 top tips to upping yours.

A plain English guide to what Mailchimp authentication and dmarc means when it comes to the new rules from Gmail and Yahoo, if it affects you, and if so, what you need to do.

If I could have a pound for every time I’ve started working with an organisation’s Mailchimp and they’ve said:

1. “I wish we’d started collecting that data sooner”…; OR

2. “Someone else used to look after our Mailchimp but they’ve left and we don’t understand what’s going on.”

Here’s how to future proof your Mailchimp. Trust me, you’ll be really glad you did this.

What would happen if your Mailchimp account got hacked tomorrow? Or you inadvertently breached a rule and your account was suspended (hopefully temporarily)? Or someone working on your account did something they shouldn't have? Or you deleted a box in your sign-up form and lost all the individual data sitting behind it?

Probably a disaster? Here’s how to protect your data just in case…

A while back Mailchimp asked if I’d be on their global Customer Advisory Board (CAB) this year - a small panel of Partners (Mailchimp experts) and 6 of their most innovative customers from around the world. Needless to say I said “Yes”. And then I went to Atlanta…!

Updated version. You know when you receive emails from big companies that look like a web-page with their website menu on the top? Not only do they look good, but they're also a brilliant way to showcase what you do in a glance and drive people to your website.

The best way to do it depends on whether you’re using Mailchimp’s Classic or New Builder as they both display differently for the recipient. Here’s are two quick and easy ways to DIY it on your own Mailchimp emails and newsletters without any programming skills.

Spam folders an be a pain in the bum if you send "bulk emails” or a newsletter using a tool like Mailchimp. It’s almost inevitable that some of your emails will end up in junk folders, but there are lots of things you can do to minimise the risk. Here’s tip 1

During the course of running networking events and workshops and coaching my clients, the subject of what people charge for their services and how much they can then pay themselves comes up a lot. And invariably it’s not enough for various reasons. Here are 5 things to consider when working out what to charge and how to pay yourself fairly.

I’m lucky to live right opposite a church with a wood behind it. In fact, I can see it right now if I look up from my desk. It’s a cloudy day and the trees are still bare but you get the idea.

Much to my delight but to the consternation of others and exclamations of delivery men, the church bells ring every 15 minutes. And it’s very interesting what I’ve come to notice coincides with those dongs. My phone often buzzes as a little flurry of email marketing comes through on quarters and particularly on the hour while the church bell is counting them out. At certain times of the day there’s a big swoosh of them together and my inbox suddenly fills up. Here’s what you can learn from those patterns and how to apply them in your own email marketing…

It doesn’t matter how fabulous your email marketing and newsletters are if no one ever opens them. So what’s normal? Where do you stand in that range? How do you improve it? And why it’s about more than open rates.