A review of Mailchimp websites
It started with wanting a cooked breakfast.
With 18 months of pandemic related restrictions, the Bradford on Avon business breakfasts have been on hold. I was missing the good food and the good conversation.
As life began to return to normality, a few of us were keen to get them going again (and BoA Business - which initially grew from these morning gatherings).
Fortunately Lucy, who took over as Chair from me in 2019, felt the same. So we hatched a plan in a good place to hatch plans (and enjoy a cooked breakfast), Timbrell’s Yard.
The result? You can see it here on this website developed using Mailchimp.
Which brings me to the point of this post … is Mailchimp’s answer to an easy website builder any good?
Mailchimp
I’ve used Mailchimp for client’s email newsletters since the noughties.
They made it very easy to launch an email campaign. For many it became the byword for email marketing in the way Google has for search.
They also had a lovely sense of humour which seems to have been lost as they have grown into a big business (I’m guessing, given the plethora of new features, a lot of venture capital has been invested in the last 2-3 years).
They now describe themselves as an “all in one marketing platform.” It’s true, you can do a lot more than email marketing with it.
I like playing around with new platforms and features. To test them and see if any of my clients could use them in the future. So when we decided we needed a quick, one page website to kickstart BoA Business, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to try out Mailchimp websites. Importantly, it had a free plan so I could experiment to my heart’s content.
Is it any good?
It’s very easy to use. However, the simplicity comes at the cost of flexibility.
Yes, you can create a well designed and attractive website quickly. You can create multiple pages, an online store, take customer bookings and, of course, encourage email sign ups. Quite a feature list.
There are a few layout options, but there isn’t quite enough choice to suit my specific wishes. I couldn’t drag text or image blocks to where I wanted them to be. Sometimes, alignment and padding wasn’t quite right which impacted the balance of the page.
There are some nice fonts, but there’s only about half a dozen to choose from. So if it’s not your brand font, bad luck. Choose the closest.
Adaptability is restricted. But, it is easy to use. And that is it’s raison d’etre.
Who’s it for?
They describe their website builder as “Brilliant web design, simplified.” I think that’s a good summary.
If you want to quickly launch a web page, or even an online store, this will do that. It will look professional and will get you on your way. You will probably want more flexibility at some stage down the line, but there is enough functionality to at least test an idea.
If you don’t need a custom domain and your email audience is fewer than 2000, it’s free.
For community groups on a restricted budget, it’s a wonderful solution. And it ties seamlessly in with your email sign up form. Given that BoA Business main communication is via email, the website ticks a lot of boxes.
For now. Once people decide what they want to do with the group, it’s quite possible that this quick landing page will be superseded. That’s fine. It didn’t take me long, but it will hopefully be enough to get me a cooked breakfast.
Please feel free to get in touch if you would you like a Mailchimp website designed for you (or any other kind).
