Post Uses Email Marketing to Communicate with Members.

Use the email marketing tool to send post newsletters and more.

Severson-Cairns American Legion Post 501 in Madison, Wis., is in its third year with a post newsletter, The Weekly, that’s delivered through Mailchimp. Mailchimp is an email marketing tool that allows you to create, send, and manage newsletters. 

We felt that in today's constant flow of daily emails, important messages are easily lost. Standard email is functional for one-on-one communication, but for engaging our community, managing our audience, and ensuring our message is seen, it falls short.

Sure, we can send bulk emails with regular email, but that's where the comparison ends — and the limitations begin. 

Mailchimp provides a 30-day summary and other reports after each issue is sent. For example, our current open rate is 36.85%. We’ve sent 968 issues, which is an increase of 23%.

In the Post 501 weekly newsletter, we feature legislative updates, post programs, veteran activities and membership initiatives. Visit wipost501.com and sign up for our weekly newsletter from our homepage. You can opt out.

How to get started with Mailchimp. To create a newsletter in Mailchimp, you first must: 

• create an account, 

• build an audience list, and 

• use the "Create" button to design a campaign. 

Key steps include selecting a template, using the drag-and-drop editor to add text and images, setting recipients, and scheduling or sending the email.

We started with the free plan (500 sends per month). Our current $13 per month plan allows us to send 10,000 emails. We started with an audience of 90. Our current subscriber rate is 193, with no email bounces.

We found Udemy's online instruction helped speed up our learning curve.

Benefits of using MailChimp: 

Reports. All plans show progress charts and graphs.  We use it to review what interests our readers and adjust our message.

Professional appearance. Our post emails truly stand out among the constant flow of daily emails.

High-value content. We add links to other featured Legion activities, community events, and important invitations (like Oratorical and scholarship submissions), and to our Facebook site to expand coverage.

Maximum impact alerts. We distribute important news, such as providing alerts when members pass away. These obituaries are our most-clicked articles.

Improved public image. A polished, professional communication strategy has improved our post's public image.

Retention and recruitment. We integrate our digital outreach with new member search and existing member retention programs.

Audience reach. We can easily manage and communicate with our diverse audience, including other posts and veteran service organization members, friends in the community, and news desks.

Useful features:

Scheduled sending. We can schedule when our newsletter is sent (available with paid plans). Sunday mornings have worked well for us.

Subscription management. Our readers manage their own subscriptions; they can change their email address and opt out. This feature really eases our maintenance burden.

Morris Sadicario is the adjutant and historian of American Legion Post 501 in Madison, Wis.