Email Marketing Tools: Mad Mimi

Earlier this week, Mashable profiled Mad Mimi, a web-based email marketing service. Their article describes how their simplified approach could cut into sites like Constant Contact, a mainstay in the email marketing arena:

I tried Mad Mimi myself and it took all of ten minutes to throw together a simple newsletter (entering email addresses being the longest part). The user can build an address book and organize those addresses into lists.

In the editing screen, it's easy to choose from preset layouts and add images. The image library floats beside the editing screen and the thumbnail view is a nice touch. Images are added by dragging and dropping, and this works well. Upon sending Mad Mimi also takes care of some spam compliant details for the user.

The free subscription allows one to send to lists of up to 100 receivers. From there, you can scale up as your list grows to 5000, 15,000, or unlimited ($12/mo, $49/mo, and $199/mo, respectively). In comparison, Constant Contact's monthly charges are $15 for up to 500 contacts, $30 for 2500, $50 for 5000, $75 for 10,000, and $150 for 25,000. The 25,000+ range is accompanied by a link reading, "Request Pricing Form."

For small startups, Mad Mimi could be a great option. The tools offered aren't as powerful, but the strength is in their simplicity.