If you have a Four51 eCommerce site that includes integration with Mandrill by MailChimp to deliver emails, you may need to take action by April 27, 2016.
Mandrill, formerly a free service, will soon require that you sign up for a paid MailChimp account. This fee is being charged directly by MailChimp and does not affect your Four51 subscription fee. Read on to learn more.
Here's how Mandrill by MailChimp describes itself.
Mandrill is a reliable, scalable, and secure delivery API for transactional emails from websites and applications. It's ideal for sending data-driven transactional emails, including targeted e-commerce and personalized one-to-one messages. Mandrill delivers billions of emails each month. Trusted by more than 500,000 customers, Mandrill runs on a globally distributed infrastructure that can deliver emails in milliseconds.
That's a good question. There is no lack of commentary in the development community. Here's an example of feedback critical of the decision. The email from MailChimp (below) explains the company's position.
Possibly, but we have not yet researched a Mandrill alternative, free or fee-based. We recommend you determine your price for continuing with Mandrill and then decide if the solution continues to add value to your business.
All Four51 customers who use Mandrill and want to continue using Mandrill should follow the instructions provided by MailChimp:
If you already have a paid monthly MailChimp account, you’ll be able to merge your accounts starting on 3/16.
If you don't have a paid monthly MailChimp account and decide to create one, you can go to mailchimp.com and do so at any time. You'll be able to merge your accounts starting on 3/16. We'll send detailed instructions at that time.
If you haven't already done so, you'll need to add SPF and DKIM records and verify ownership of your sending domains. Here's an article explaining how to do that. Starting 4/27, Mandrill will not send any email from unverified domains or domains without valid SPF and DKIM records, including public domains like gmail.com and yahoo.com.
From: Mandrill Team
Subject: Important Changes to Mandrill
We're writing to let you know about some significant changes that will affect your Mandrill account.
Going forward, all Mandrill users will be required to have a paid monthly MailChimp account and verify ownership of all sending domains.
Here's the timeline: Starting 3/16, all new Mandrill users will create accounts through MailChimp, and current Mandrill users can merge their existing Mandrill account with a monthly MailChimp account. Current users will have until 4/27 to merge their accounts.
Why we're making this change
The MailChimp team built Mandrill in 2012 as a transactional email tool. Mandrill has always been under the MailChimp umbrella, but it has functioned as a completely separate product. Mandrill is now becoming an optional add-on to paid MailChimp accounts. This is a strategic change we're making to close the gap between the two products and focus on the MailChimp marketing platform. MailChimp is designed for marketing, and Mandrill is designed for transactional messages. Each is powerful on its own, and offering Mandrill as an add-on makes MailChimp even more powerful for our small business and e-commerce customers. Our CEO and cofounder Ben Chestnut wrote more about the changes on the MailChimp blog.
What you need to know
The application's functionality and look and feel are not changing at this time. Here are the important changes that will affect your account:
Starting today, Mandrill will adopt MailChimp's Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policy. These terms reinforce that Mandrill should be used for transactional email, and bulk email/email marketing campaigns should be sent through MailChimp. In addition, MailChimp's Privacy Policy, which has always covered Mandrill, has been updated. If you have any questions about our policy changes, please email legal@mailchimp.com.
To continue using Mandrill, all users will be required to have a paid monthly MailChimp account by 4/27.
All Mandrill users will be required to verify their sending domains and add SPF and DKIM records by 4/27. This is already in effect for new Mandrill users.
Starting 3/16, all new Mandrill accounts will be created and accessed through MailChimp.
Starting 3/16, the Mandrill mobile application will no longer be available for installation. It will remain functional for existing users until 4/27.
Our billing and pricing model is also changing. MailChimp will generate one consolidated bill that covers your MailChimp and Mandrill charges. Mandrill credits will be sold in blocks of 25,000 emails. Blocks will start at $20 per month. This goes into effect once your accounts are merged.
Any existing discounts, free credits, and free accounts will no longer be valid once your accounts are merged.
What you need to do
If you already have a paid monthly MailChimp account, you’ll be able to merge your accounts starting on 3/16. We’ll send detailed instructions at that time.
If you don't have a paid monthly MailChimp account and decide to create one, you can go to mailchimp.com and do so at any time. You'll be able to merge your accounts starting on 3/16. We'll send detailed instructions at that time.
If you haven't already done so, you'll need to add SPF and DKIM records and verify ownership of your sending domains. Here's an article explaining how to do that. Starting 4/27, Mandrill will not send any email from unverified domains or domains without valid SPF and DKIM records, including public domains like gmail.com and yahoo.com.
If you don't have a paid monthly MailChimp account merged with your Mandrill account by 4/27, then your Mandrill account will be disabled.
If you have questions or need technical support, please log in to your Mandrill account and click Support in your dashboard. We've made support available to all users on free and paid accounts.
We know this is disruptive, and we understand that it may affect your decision to use Mandrill. Please know that we carefully considered these changes. The new structure will allow us to create more flexible products and better serve our customers. Thanks for using Mandrill, and we hope to welcome you to MailChimp soon.
- The Mandrill team
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