If you're using chimp in a rails app, watch out; their gems (mailchimp_fu and acts_as_mailchimp) are kind of crappy because:
* They're all untested.
* None of them support the concept of environments. If you run your test suite, it tries to call
mailchimp over the wire which is super slow and doesn't work on offline.
* Calls to chimp API are done synchronously an the AR after_save callback which kills performance.
* There is no method of batch process synch between your app and chimp.
I'm working on a gem that solves some of these problems at http://github.com/bradgessler/mailchimp/tree/master (this isn't even alpha yet) which should make chimp integration easier. If anybody is integrating their ruby/rails app with chimp and are finding those plugins I mentioned inadequate let me know and maybe we can solve this annoying problem.
Why does it cost so much to send out just a few thousand emails? It seems that MailChimp's marginal costs ought to be quite low. Are there any less expensive competitors, even if the process is more DIY w.r.t. campaign composition?
The marginal costs may be low, but overall the value is in their ease-of-use, reports and analytics, and time saved in not worrying about email deliverability.
I think it depends on what features you need and how much time you want to spend on it. I recently set up their RSS to email feature, which is really cool. When I write a blog post that I want to be sent in an email campaign, I just give it a certain tag ("newsletter") and then the next day it automatically goes out to my list.
It costs a lot when you aren't sending out regular emails like Skribit. If you have a monthly subscription you can send out as many emails you want to 50,000 subscribers in a month for only like $240 dollars. It is a matter of economies of scale.
Humans are involved with approving emails to make sure the user is complying with terms, general application use support, and making sure the e-mail gets delivered. Often times customers that pay less demand more from support, creating less incentive to try to lower prices. There are less expensive competitors out there.
How did MailChimp confirm that only 20% of the users even opened his email? If I use a mail client that doesn't load external images, is there an alternative way email 'read time' can be determined?
You can only confirm that at least 20% opened. If a user does not view the tracking image or click on any tracking links, there will be no way to know if they actually viewed.
Do these types of apps have any built-in safeguards to avoid spammers using them for their campaigns? Or do they not make judgments about what they're used for?
I've been starting to use MailChimp myself and they seem to be very active about policing their users. In the article he said that he was contacted by a human who reviewed his campaign before he sent it out.
