If you collect email addresses in your store, at events and trade shows, ditch the old notebook or fishbowl and check out Chimpadeedoo. It’s an iPad app that makes signing up to a newsletter list easy, and we just launched a new version with a lot of new features:

When we first launched Chimpadeedoo last year, we weren’t sure if people would find a simple signup app for the iPad even useful. Heck, we had no idea if people would find the iPad itself useful. So we built a prototype in April 2010, and after receiving lots of positive feedback, launched the official app in May. It’s been one year now, and Chimpadeedoo’s been downloaded over 4,000 times. We’ve received a ton of feedback from our early users (thank you!), and we thought it was time to launch Chimpadeedoo version 2.

Here’s a rundown of what’s new…

Screen Lock & Navigation

The previous version of Chimpadeedoo had a hidden “hot corner” where you’d tap your finger to reveal a menu for unlocking the app from “kiosk mode.” Since so many people had trouble locating that hot corner, we made it a lot more obvious. The top bar of Chimpadeedoo now looks like this when it’s locked and in kiosk mode:

 

When you tap the lock, you’ll be prompted to enter your password:

 

and once you’re in, the new menu looks like this:

 

You’ll notice new icons for editing your layout, logo, text, colors, and account settings.

 

Easy Setup via Camera

Whenever you setup Chimpadeedoo, you have the option of syncing it to your MailChimp account via API key. API keys are generally more secure than plugging in your username and password. But API keys are really long and hard to type (especially on an iPad).

Since the iPad 2 has built in cameras, setting up Chimpadeedoo is as easy as snapping a picture of your API key’s QR code.

Log in to MailChimp, go to your API keys screen (under /account/ ) and generate a new key for Chimpadeedoo (it’s always good practice to give your keys proper labels, so you can revoke access to apps if you ever need to).

Then, click its QR code icon:

 

to display the QR code:

 

In Chimpadeedoo, tap the camera icon inside the API Key field:

 

Then scan the QR code with your iPad:

Now Chimpadeedoo is connected to your MailChimp account, so you can configure the list and form fields.

 

 

Private Form Fields

We added a feature that lets you “tag” new subscribers by event. Let’s say you setup your signup form in MailChimp so that it has a hidden field called “event attended:”

 

Whenever you customize the signup form in Chimpadeedoo, you’ll find that hidden field under the “Private Fields” heading, and you can enter a default value that’ll be saved for each subscription via Chimpadeedoo. For example, if you’re taking the iPad to a trade show called “mobicamp,” and you want to know who signed up to your list from that event, you can enter the name of the event here:

 

Then, whenever you look at a subscriber’s profile in MailChimp, you can see that they signed up from that event.

Down the road, you could even send a targeted email campaign to those who signed up while attending that specific event:

 

 

Customizing Chimpadeedoo

In addition to adding a custom background image, you can now add your own logo file, and choose different layouts:

If you’re adding lots of fields to your signup form, you might want to choose one of the “logos on the side” placement options.

There’s also a color wheel for tweaking your text and buttons:

 

More Fields & Opt-in Choices

Our first iteration of Chimpadeedoo only allowed one form field: email address. Further, single opt-in was the only option. Our reasoning for the single form field was that the iPad’s form factor really isn’t conducive to entering lots of information (especially if you’re holding up the line behind you at a coffee shop). Our reasoning for only using single opt-in was because we thought users at trade shows (who might be giving away prizes in exchange for signing up) would need instantaneous subscriptions. Perhaps attendees at events would not be able to check their emails to click confirmation links.

Judging by user feedback, it seems our reasoning sucked, so our minds have been changed for us. :-)

Double Opt-in Available

You can now require double opt-in in Chimpadeedoo 2:

Note: Single opt-in is still available (backwards compatibility for previous users and all) or you can select single opt-in + welcome email.

For all new users, double opt-in is now the new default.

 

Longer Forms

Your signup forms can have as many fields as you want now:

 

The form will scroll appropriately (even in landscape mode with the keyboard activated):

 

Chimpadeedoo is practically a whole new app now, largely thanks to all the feedback we’ve received from our customers. But please keep the feedback coming!

Here are some ways you can combine Chimpadeedoo with other MailChimp features:

• Use our Autoresponder feature to send a drip campaign (an automatic email series, or an annual birthday campaign) to anybody who signs up from your store
• If you have multiple store locations, configure Chimpadeedoo with a default private field (as described above) that tags new subscribers by store.
• If you’re using “receive special offers and coupons” as an incentive, be sure to check out Pyow, our QR coupon tool for MailChimp.
• If you’re using Chimpadeedoo at a trade show, and “free white paper” is your incentive for subscribing, consider connecting your MailChimp list to Performable in order to automate a followup sequence.
• If you’re a store owner, and need help with your template designs, consider our AutoConnect templates to pull info in from your Yelp listing.
• If you’re an artist using Chimpadeedoo at arts or crafts shows, consider using our Etsy AutoConnect templates
• Getting people to sign up for your list via Chimpadeedoo is half the battle. How do you send regular content? Consider using RSS-to-email to automatically send them new content whenever you post a new blog update, a new flickr set, or fave new tweets (“fave” can be a verb, right?).