Comparison
Signedup or a marketing email tool
Mailchimp and the tools like it are good at sending. Pointed at colleagues, they are being asked to do a job they were not designed for.
Why a marketing tool gets used for this at all
Usually because it was available. A communications team needs to send something to a few hundred colleagues, the organisation already has a marketing platform for customers, and it can be used this afternoon without a procurement conversation. That is a completely reasonable decision and it is how most internal newsletters start.
It works, for a while. What it does not do is give the people on the list any way to correct their own details beyond unsubscribing entirely. A marketing audience is generally assumed to be strangers who either want the campaign or do not, so the only control most of them offer a recipient is a way out. Colleagues are not strangers, they are on the list for a long time, and what they want is not to leave but to change: a different site, a different team, three topics instead of eight.
So the list decays in a particular way. People who would have stayed if they could have adjusted what they got instead unsubscribe, or quietly stop opening. The number goes down and nobody can see why.
Side by side
Different jobs. The last row is the one that matters most.
| A marketing email platform | Signedup | |
|---|---|---|
| Designs and sends the message | Yes, and it is what they are for | No, deliberately |
| Open and click reporting | Yes, in depth | No |
| How pricing works | Per contact, rising as the list grows | Per subscriber band, with unlimited colleagues |
| What a recipient can change | Usually only whether they leave | Any answer they gave, at any time |
| Record of what somebody agreed to | Opt-in date, typically | The action, the date and the form version shown |
| Colleagues administering it | Often charged per seat | Unlimited and free on every plan |
| Staff who are rarely at a desk | Cannot be reached or added | Join from a printable poster with a code |
| How it is perceived internally | A marketing tool, which colleagues notice | A preference page belonging to your organisation |
| Works alongside the other | Yes: keep sending with it | Yes: export or hand it the current list |
A marketing email platform compared with Signedup
Designs and sends the message
- A marketing email platform
- Yes, and it is what they are for
- Signedup
- No, deliberately
Open and click reporting
- A marketing email platform
- Yes, in depth
- Signedup
- No
How pricing works
- A marketing email platform
- Per contact, rising as the list grows
- Signedup
- Per subscriber band, with unlimited colleagues
What a recipient can change
- A marketing email platform
- Usually only whether they leave
- Signedup
- Any answer they gave, at any time
Record of what somebody agreed to
- A marketing email platform
- Opt-in date, typically
- Signedup
- The action, the date and the form version shown
Colleagues administering it
- A marketing email platform
- Often charged per seat
- Signedup
- Unlimited and free on every plan
Staff who are rarely at a desk
- A marketing email platform
- Cannot be reached or added
- Signedup
- Join from a printable poster with a code
How it is perceived internally
- A marketing email platform
- A marketing tool, which colleagues notice
- Signedup
- A preference page belonging to your organisation
Works alongside the other
- A marketing email platform
- Yes: keep sending with it
- Signedup
- Yes: export or hand it the current list
Using both, which is what we would suggest
The arrangement that works is to let each do the half it is good at. Signedup holds the list and keeps it correct, because the people on it can correct it themselves. Your sending tool sends, because it is better at sending than anything we would build. You export the current list whenever you send, or keep it to hand, and the message goes out to an audience that is right today rather than right in March.
There is a cost argument too, though it is secondary. Marketing platforms price per contact, so a list that has accumulated leavers, duplicates and dead addresses is a list you are paying for twice: once in the bill and once in the deliverability damage those addresses do. A list that cleans itself is smaller and better, and both of those help.
The part that is not about cost at all is what a colleague experiences. Receiving internal communications through something visibly built for marketing sets a tone, and the footer of a marketing email says what it is. A preference page that belongs to your organisation, asking which of your sites somebody works at, reads as what it is: your organisation, asking.
Questions people ask
Do I have to stop using Mailchimp?
No. Signedup does not send email, so whatever you use to send today you keep using. The change is that the list you send to is one the recipients maintain themselves rather than one you maintain on their behalf.
Does it sync automatically with my sending tool?
Not yet. Today you export the current list as a spreadsheet file whenever you need it, which takes a few seconds. Direct synchronisation with the common sending platforms is planned but not built, and we would rather say so than let you assume it is there.
Is internal communication marketing, legally speaking?
Often it is not, but it depends on what you are sending and to whom, and it is a question for your own data protection adviser rather than for us. What is true either way is that being able to show when somebody chose to receive something, and what they were told at the time, is a stronger position than being able to show only that their address is in an audience.
What happens when somebody unsubscribes?
It is recorded permanently and they are not sent to again. They can also come back on their own terms later, from the same link, which a global unsubscribe in a sending tool generally makes awkward.
How much does it cost compared with a marketing platform?
Both are priced on how many people are on your lists, so the comparison depends on your numbers. The difference in shape is that colleagues who administer lists are unlimited and free here, where seats are commonly charged for elsewhere, and that a self-correcting list tends to be smaller than one that only ever grows.
Other comparisons
Signedup or a spreadsheet
The most common alternative, and where its one structural weakness is.
Signedup or an Outlook or Microsoft 365 distribution list
Accurate about employment, silent on preference.
Signedup or an intranet form
Already approved and already paid for. Why the list still goes stale.
Signedup or a full internal comms platform
When a full platform is right, and when it is more than the job requires.
Keep sending the way you send
30 days, no card. Export the list whenever you want it, at no charge.