You Teck's Blog

MailChimp – Awesome Product

Posted by You Teck - 26/02/12 at 02:02:27 pm

The Background:

Close to 11 months ago, I was working on a new project that requires the use of a mailing platform. The first few requirements I expected out of a mailing platform was:

• Intuitive interface
• Provide in-depth analytics
• Scalable

The Initial Trial:

• iContact
• Aweber

Obviously there are a lot more mailing platforms out there but the 2 above were the ones that came to my mind first. I played around with them during the trial period and I wasn’t really entirely convinced of using the either service. The interface didn’t seem right for me.

The Stumble:

I continued sourcing the web for another mailing platform and while I cannot exactly remember how I chanced upon MailChimp, I was glad I did.

The WOW Factors:

The first that blew me off was the user interface of MailChimp. It was so simple and intuitive that I didn’t have to put much processing thoughts to use it.

Next up is the freemium model they offer and it really made it a no brainer to do a test with them. The best thing about MailChimp’s freemium model is that the service is forever free until you hit a certain number of subscribers. This is pure gold especially for someone who is starting a new project.

Zero upfront cost for a premium product that is easy to use, what more can one asks for?

As with any marketing campaigns, it’s imperative that I can run up the stats to do an in-depth analysis on the campaign performance and I really think that MailChimp has got an awesome analytics reporting system.

Other than the standard report for open rate and click-through rate, the platform also offers in-depth reporting on click performance (% of clicks for each link) and social stats. Imagine a doctor having an advance x-ray system to run diagnostics on his patients. You get to save time and cost by having a clear insights into the areas that needs tweaking.

Bonus Factor:

I would not have normally give much notion to customer support since I was on freemium mode but MailChimp’s support just rocked my world.  I never had to wait for more than 24 hours to get a respond and this is the sort of support you would have expected as a paying customer.

Summary:

Selecting a mailing platform is just like choosing a house because it’s not something you would want to change unnecessarily.

MailChimp is a progressive platform and you could almost see continuous updates with regards to mobile or social apps integrations. The best part about the platform is that it allows the user to scale according to their needs and it can be done without much hassle.

Will I pay to continue to use the platform if I exceed the freemium quota? Without a doubt.

Don’t Sell Us a Product, Tell Us a Story

Posted by You Teck - 23/06/11 at 10:06:53 am

I think most of us can personally relate to a situation where we were instantly sold on buying certain products because of a story.

Story delivers a very unique kind of informative experience in the way that a listener wouldn’t probably get turn off even if there is certain amount of hype hidden it.

As opposed to selling via the product itself, story brings a listener into an imaginary space where they are actively participating in the “selling” process as they can better relate to the characters/ideas/products within.

Take for the example of an antique, the higher value ones usually have a background story attached to it. For example:

This piece of antique was on its way to Europe where the merchant ship that was holding it got waylaid during the 16 century naval wars. It was found in a sunken ship somewhere in the south china sea.

Product features are kind of dead (Can still matter to the 5% of the crowd) but they transform into something real and alive when introduced through a story.

So, try using a story to introduce your product/service/idea and see if it makes a difference in getting your point across in the future.

The Thing About Ideas… (Part 2)

Posted by You Teck - 30/05/11 at 12:05:55 am

In the previous post, I spoke about the non-existent value of an idea if it is not follow up with an execution.

An idea is only as good as the execution.

You might probably have come across the above phrase many times and it really isn’t all too hard to understand the intention of the message.

A simple explanation would be an excellent idea is never enough if it is not followed by an excellent execution. An average idea can deliver excellent result if followed by excellent execution while an excellent idea can deliver mediocre result if followed by mediocre execution.

If you got a good idea or maybe just an idea you want to work on, do yourself a favor by picking the best teammates you could ever find. A team of 2 awesome individuals beats a team of 5 mediocre individuals anytime. Baggage are excessive burden and you don’t want them when you are moving uphill.

 

Who Will You Pick?

Posted by You Teck - 29/05/11 at 04:05:53 pm

Say you were having a conversation with someone you just met and you popped the question “So what keeps you busy in your daily life?”

Developer A: I write codes for company xyz…

Developer B: I’m building a kick-ass application with company xyz…

Can you spot the difference in the class of mindset?

Taking into the consideration that both of these developers have the same level of skill, the selection as to which developer I will pick into my team couldn’ t have been more obvious. There is clearly no substitution for working with awesome individuals.

 

The Thing About Ideas… (Part 1)

Posted by You Teck - 19/05/11 at 01:05:38 pm

Ideas are highly contagious and Victor Hugo once said that “Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come“.  Ideas can be extremely viral and thus powerful but they depend on a single element call execution.

An idea will never become anything more than a thought if you don’t execute it. Having 100 ideas in your head and zero execution will never triumph someone who executed the very 1 idea he/she had. Execution creates an reaction which in turn creates a momentum to bring the idea to realization.

No one talks about the guy who thought of the idea (there could be 100 other people who thought of it as well) but the guy who executed and brought the idea to realization. I have come across many people who have some cool ideas but ultimately never brought them to life.

It’s definitely a great shame because instead of having the opportunity to reap the benefits of a potentially good idea they ended being the one on the sideway saying “Yeah, I thought of that idea way before”.

If you have an idea today which you think is great and it’s within your means to bring it to life, why not give it a go and see where it will lead you to at the end of the day?

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