In celebration of of our Forever Free Plan, we wanted to launch a promotional t-shirt giveaway. Free email marketing, free t-shirts.. makes sense right? In the marketing world they call it synergy, but it just seemed like a great way to help spread the word about MailChimp while celebrating our users at the same time.
Our goal wasn’t necessarily to amass more Twitter followers or Facebook fans just for the sake of increasing our follower count. After all, with both Twitter and Facebook the number of fans or followers you have isn’t significant in any real way. Sure, the more fans you have the larger the group of people who will see your message, but that doesn’t necessarily dictate their level of interaction/engagement with your brand or business.
Chart showing a 42% increase in our Facebook fan growth
During the brainstorming process, our t-shirt promotion idea went through a bunch of different iterations. In a nut shell, we didn’t want to do anything spammy that might piss off Twitter (a la the #moonfruit debacle), or worse yet, annoy our users. As Chief Twitter Officer (CTO) around these parts, I’m particularly protective of MailChimp as a brand as well as our public perception. Not to mention the fact that my ass was on the line considering I’d be the first to hear about it if the t-shirt giveaway was not properly executed and managed.
a small selection of the people we sent shirts to
Let’s face it, asking people to re-tweet your message and include a hashtag is unoriginal and boring, not to mention really annoying. And it would be especially problematic for a brand like MailChimp that uses Twitter as a support channel for users. Think of all the questions and customer love we’d miss out on due to the influx of promotional tweets.
Anatomy of A Promo
We came up the idea to work with the chimps downstairs in the MailChimp DesignLab™ to create a landing page for our t-shirt giveaway. The page would have two basic modes– on, meaning the name/address/t-shirt size form fields were visible and able to be filled in, and off. The DesignLab™ would build a simple back end for the page using PHP and MySQL that would allow me to login, turn the form on or off, and export a CSV file of everyone who had successfully reserved a shirt. I would make the shirts available in batches of 50, which was just an arbitrary set number that we decided on– not too big and not too small.
t-shirt form in 'off' mode (click for full size image)
We asked our users to follow us on Twitter and/or Facebook so that we could notify them (by tweeting or posting a status update with a link on our fan page) when a new batch of t-shirts became available.
t-shirt form 'on' (click image to view large)
People Love Free Stuff
It turns out that people love free stuff. Especially well designed, awesome looking free tshirts. In Part II of this post, we’ll be delving into more charts and graphs, analyzing what worked, what didn’t, and what we learned the second time around.
Very cool promo (can’t wait for my shirt to arrive).
There are so many things one can do with this idea, or even take it a step further by personalizing the “free stuff”, whether it’s a key chain or cup!
Great job guys!
I don’t see anything wrong with the way this was handled. For people to get irate about it not being fare and all about the “follower count” is just plain ridiculous. You fine folks there at MailChimp don’t have to give away anything and people should just appreciate the chance to get on some goods. You have a great service and use nothing but professionalism on Twitter, Facebook, and email correspondence. I say kudos to you all and keep up the good work.
Thanks for not forcing RT’s. I think that contest model creates way too much chatter.
I kinda liked the mad frenzy for t-shirts after the tweet. I know you had a short supply, but the 50 shirts per tweet seemed to work better. 20 goes by WAY too quick.
I’m just disapointed that I never got one, as I think they look cool, and I lurveee mailchimp…
A technical question: We’ve done free shirt promotions but have always had the shirts preprinted in multiple sizes. But we always run out of a size and have others left over. How did you handle that in your promotion?
Same way you did. Had a bunch left over! I recall wishing we ordered more ladies sizes and men’s plus sizes. Delivery of all these shirts was an issue too, but I think Amanda’s going to cover that in part 2.
oh, hat tip on the “let’s ship the shirts using these discrete black bags that are commonly associated with adult magazines.” i kinda got some strange looks going up the elevator, especially when i audibly lol’d after reading the return-address.
well played, chimps. well played.
Standard scale for t-shirts is:
1-3-5-3 for adult sizes S-XL
Promotionals however run:
3-5-4 in a M-L-XL scale.
FYI from a supplier of stencil making products who lives in t-shirt companies.
I was wondering why diferentiate between regular and promo runs? We are getting ready to do a big shirt promo and are working with a 1-3-5-3-1 [XXL] model. Would love the input..
The only difference is price. Promos are like business cards and XXL can cost a lot more is the only difference, so it all depends on budget and if you want it worn or not. Promo runs can be inexpensive white cotton, or a nice spread with XXl in colors that the end user wants to wear. All depends on what you are willing to spend.
I agree with everyone else. You guys did a great job with what seems like a nearly impossible task. I can’t imagine what people were complaining about.
I liked the Twitter version a lot more than the most recent way it was done.
As if you didn’t already have a banging product (the email stuff), you managed to create a brand that people love and are proud to be a part of and promote.
BTW, my MailChimp shirt is the only vendor swag to make it out of bottom drawer purgatory and into regular rotation wardrobe heaven.
Thanks!
I love MailChimp, your services take the hassle and serious undertone out of being a small business and marketing today. I would have love to win a t-shirt. But I’m a huge fan and love your graphic work too.
I was wondering where you were able to get tee shirts printed with the large graphic on the side?
Most places you have to print generically in the center or upper left/right shoulder. This information would be very helpful.
Thanks!
hey Linden… to print on the side of shirt they load the shirt sideways on the printing platten – not with the front side of the shirt up.
[...] MailChimp: “Using Twitter For Promos Without Being a D-bag” [...]
Each season we host the Explore the Bruce Adventure Passport Contest. Vacationers request an Adventure Passport online then they are required to find all 12 hidden locations across the Bruce Peninsula here in Ontario, Canada. This season we offered an incentive of a Official Adventure T-Shirt for the first 1000 people to complete their Adventure Passport. All 1000 shirts were gone within 8 weeks. Keep in mind people had to work for it travelling on average 650km (400 miles) to find these hidden locations. Of course we used mailchimp to communicate with these people both pre and post their adventure.
Costs: Approx $6.50 per unit shipped to their door.
We had a 118% increase in participation this year. The power of the free t-shirt!!
“Keep in mind people had to work for it travelling on average 650km (400 miles) to find these hidden locations” – Ho.ly.Cow.
[...] @mailchimp Awesome post on using Twitter and FB for a giveaway without being a D-bag http://bit.ly/7rmul8 [...]
Damn!! Missed out on a t-shirt…
Wow!! Great thinking CTO and fellow chimps. We may have to imitate your technique for a T-shirt promo so we don’t look like d-bags
BTW – is the french word for ‘shower’ offensive over there?
My company (a MailChimp customer) just launched a hosted service for t-shirt giveaways so anyone can do what MailChimp did (run a t-shirt giveaway) with less effort.
In honor of not spamming like a Dbag, if anyone is interested in kicking the tires on our new service I’d be happy to give you your first giveaway item free – in exchange for some feedback as to what you liked/ did not like!
http://www.printfection.com/tour/giveaways
You simply distribute redemption codes to recipients and we take care of everything else. You don’t have to know mailing addresses or t-shirt sizes. Or anything about printing, shipping or fulfillment.
Email me casey.schorr@printfection.com if you want a free redemption code/ recipient.
These are cool T-Shirts. Can I buy them or are they only available via the promos?
[...] Sure. Will you have built real, lasting relationships with these consumers? Not unless there is a tie-in with your brand and a significant benefit to your audience. 4. It’s Ok to Ask How You’re Doing – There’s no shame in reaching out to your [...]
I LOVE those t-shirts!!! I want one!