We all know of the success story of WordPress that developed into more than “just a blogging platform.” Now, Mailchimp is following in its footsteps, and expanding into more than just an email marketing service. According to John Foreman, Senior Vice President of Product at Mailchimp, the new Mailchimp will enable usage of key tools, such as building websites, landing pages and targeting ads through social media.

There were a few things that really stood to me while talking to a developer from Computan, Alan Grainger. In the end, it all boiled down to the following:

  • Although it looks a little expensive at first look, ($200), it’s comparatively still less pricey than the big boss of inbound marketing- HubSpot. So it still seems probable that people will still go for it.
  • It’s got great potential. Having been in the marketing market (the irony) for so long and providing the best services in its field, there is obviously a lot of potential in it, and a lot of expectations.
  • This is also great news for small businesses who want all those good services, but they can’t invest in Thor’s hammer when all they need is a small one to fix up something minor. Seeing that 90% of Mailchimp’s customers are small businesses, it seems probable that this venture is going to be a success.

The kind of sincerity we see in Ben and Dan (the co-owners of Mailchimp) express in their posts about their passion to help small businesses grow hasn’t gone unnoticed. Whether it’s true sincerity or a marketing strategy, they have gotten the attention of small businesses, regardless of what the future holds. “Dan and I created Mailchimp for the love of small business,” says Ben, “And over the past 18 years, we’ve always thought about what kinds of tools and services would have helped our families grow their businesses and weather the competition.”

"Although the blatant promise of an “all-in-one” platform seems utopic," said, Muhammad Amjad, a developer working for a local IT firm,"We’ve yet to see how it really pans out, and where it starts slacking. Even with HubSpot, we constantly need integrations to get the best out of it. Mailchimp will have its own pros and cons too." Mr. Amjad has been working with clients using Mailchimp for several years.

One thing is for sure- the leaders in the eCommerce industry might want to sit tight, since things might get tougher with even more competition. Only time will tell how successful this venture will be, but we really have high expectations.

 

Fingers crossed!