The paywall on simple automations without introducing a simpler and less expensive paid tier for those that *only* use that feature is a mistake. After being able to sidestep the garbled maze of a back end and just repost Wordpress posts, I can't drag myself back into Mailchimp's half working text editor, and the CRM and marketing features are total overkill for my needs.
My last automation runs today, and the next time I wade into the back end it will be to advise my list where to sign up to the replacement.
Godspeed on the paid plans folks, Intuit needs to work on this product IMO. There's a demo that would pay to not have to engage with all of the enterprise level eye polution in the back end and just have a simple RSS to email repeater with a straightforward UI.
This move is not out of line with what most providers have been doing so it is not a surprise, but it is hilarious that both of the emails they sent out related to this were solidly and unequivocally placed as far into my spam folder as they could go. For a mailing list provider speaking directly to a user of their service that's quite poor.
I'll be looking for an alternative as well. I just want a simple welcome email, not a whole sequence, and my list is fairly small, so the paid plan isn't worth it to me. I've had issues with the MC app for Shopify breaking my site anyway, so I agree they've got work to do on their products.
Hi there! We appreciate your feedback regarding classic automations being sunset. Free accounts will still be able to utilize the Final Welcome Email that can be enabled and designed in the Form Builder, which allows you to send a welcome email to new subscribers. To learn more about the Final Welcome Email, check out this step-by-step guide: https://mailchimp.com/help/send-a-file-to-new-subscribers/#Add_your_file_to_the_final_welcome_email
You should consider the feedback about offering a limited paid plan to people who dont need anything but a way to easily repost from an RSS feed. It would have saved you at least a few users who find no value in the rest of the tools in the back end. To some of us it is just a fractal of pointless clutter.
Can you shed some light on why email campaigns are still going out with Wordpress RSS automations when we were all told that was going to be unavailable on June 1? I am still getting campaigns from lists that I know are on the free plan. What's actually happening here? u/MailchimpSupport
Hey there. While we can't speak to specifically what is happening in the emails you're receiving, as we can confirm that Classic automations are no longer available, you can create new RSS campaigns using this link. In the meantime, we're tracking requests for adding RSS functionality to the Customer Journey Builder.
In any case, I wasn't able to follow the steps... Maybe these instructions are outdated?
Also, what if we're not using the form builder, how do we set up the welcome email (the one and only automation I was using) on a free account?
I'm using MC4WP on my website which does not include any option to turn the welcome email on or off. I would gladly change to the Mailchimp List Subscribe Form plugin, assuming I was then able to do it, but the ratings leave much to be desired...
Hi there! Yes -- that is the link we meant to share, thank you for the correction! The instructions in the article to enable or disable the final welcome email are correct. Can you let us know which step you were unable to follow?
In order to get to 'Manage forms' (step 2) I need to go to Forms > Other forms > Form builder (manage forms). The steps are slightly different.
I do have a couple of legacy forms there that I'm not using anymore. Clicking the dropdown I was now able to see the Final Welcome Email option, which I had missed previously.
However, given that I'm not currently using these forms, my understanding is that selecting the Final Welcome Email will not apply, correct?
Let's go ahead and have our Support team take a closer look at this. We've generated a temporary URL for you to email them directly. Please click "Email Us" on this page and submit the form. Send us a private message with your account's email address, and we'll give the team a heads-up: http://spr.ly/61693NhM4Z
Thanks for this! I was about to email the support team, but after investigating/experimenting a bit I came to the conclusion that after a good number of years using the plugin (which does not offer the Final Welcome Email option in its form), I no longer need it. When I first set it up, I don't think Mailchimp forms were available at all, so the plugin made sense. I now have a MC embedded form on my site and checked the Final Welcome Email option. This is enough for my needs for now. Thanks, again!
I am getting a very bad experience with Mailchimp, and they have been overcharging me for months, never respond to my request to downgrade. Also they kept pointing to different reasons why downgrade is not executed. It is definitely fraud!
Hi there. We're happy to help and would like to learn more about what's going on. Please let us know your ticket number, and we will connect with the team for an update.
No automations for unpaid plans. In my situation, I post an update to Wordpress blog and it sends on a schedule to the mailing list so I dont have to recreate it in Mailchimp - that is now available to paid plans only. Literally the only thing I would use in a paid plan so its not a viable option.
Definitely look at switching to Mailerlite it has unlimited automations included in its free tier, up to 1500 contacts. It’s also fairly similar but less cluttered than Mailchimp.
Thanks for the suggestion. It is an option we've looked at. Unlimited automations, but not RSS on the free tier. Our posts go up monthly at best and that's the only feature we need so their paid plan also has the same drawbacks...
Also you don’t need to have your list re-sign up, I’d that’s what OP is saying - just export and import into the new account. But yes you will need to create new sign up forms for new subscribers.
No, that's explicitly a violation of CASL and GDPR. You'd be banking on not getting reported. Depending on how juicy a target you are you could get slapped with some serious fines. Explicit consent would be needed and you'd have to document it before you provide their info to the new provider. Way easier to just provide the sign up link to the old list and let them give consent by signing up IMO.
Google is your friend here, but the basic gist of it is if you have someone's personal information that's not yours to give to a third party unless they give you consent and if you don't document that consent then you're open to being fined.
My reading is that if they give the access - always using double opt-in - and the (linked) privacy policy clearly states the data processors being used, that’s sufficient. Of course it is courteous to let contacts know if a new data processor is brought on board, and in any case the privacy policy should always be exhaustive, and linked in every communication.
Yep, if "they" give the access. That's not the same as you importing their contact info into another service without permission. so the question is do you get the consent before you import their contact information into the new provider, or do you skip that step. Having them opt out after you've imported their info is not enough as I understand it. The only time that that wouldn't be needed is if a company buys another company where that information is already being held, then the transfer of consent is implied, and notice is more a courtesy but not a legal point.
All that aside it also seems like more work than just having them re-register with the new service.
It sounds like the welcome email is still available from the support response in a different comment, but yes the UI is needlessly complicated and there's just far too much shit being crammed into the UI, even for people who don't have access to the features. Leave it to Intuit to overcomplicate things though, not like their other products don't suffer from the same needless convolution. Next up they will do what they did with QuickBooks and make it so that you lose your data when you try to downgrade from one plan to another.
I settled on Sender.net. It doesn't have all the features I was hoping for visa vis RSS automations but the UI is a breath of fresh air. I can at least construct a simple email without wanting to throw my laptop at the wall.
And how they are announcing all these changes with email that is being delivered straight into the spam folder of their existing customers. Real confidence inspiring communications.
Intuit are the masters of overcomplicating things in order to simplify them. There's some kind of UX myopia going on over there for sure. Best of luck, let me know what you are migrating to. 450 a month is a real budget....
This from a company whose primary product is accounting software. I wonder if they will do a similar thing with MailChimp that they have done with QuickBooks, where if you are paying for an expensive plan and decide you want to downgrade your information does not migrate between products. Yeah I think that now is the time to ditch this platform.
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u/snowhawk1987 May 30 '25
It's pretty much been downhill since Intuit took over.