Mailchimp, emotional design and brand advocacy

Email lists are a serious business. Our e-newsletter is sent out to several thousand people on a monthly basis and is one of the most important aspects of the Institute’s communications. A mailing list sits behind registrations for National Customer Service Week.

We use a service called Mailchimp to manage our lists and design our emails. We chose it because it’s easy to use, inexpensive and ethical: its terms and conditions preclude the use of bought mailing lists and subscribers have to double opt–in to sign up for a list.

I’m what you’d call a brand advocate for the service. If I’m asked to recommend a mailing list service I always suggest Mailchimp; it’s what I set up for clients when I build them a website. I’m enthusiastic about it, as is everyone I’ve recommended.

Emotional design

I like Mailchimp for all the sober reasons listed above. But I’m not sure they explain my enthusiasm, and a recent episode of the Boagworld podcast got me thinking about why I like it so much.

Mailchimp has invested a lot of effort in the emotional dimension of its service; from the language it employs to the waiting–to–login experience, it’s fun to use:

I like to think I’m not swayed by cutesy graphics and jokey copy, and I’m a firm believer in what the likes of Jakob Nielsen and Gerry McGovern have to say about users and their focus on tasks, but the MailChimp monkey makes me (and my work colleagues) smile:

This playfulness extends to all aspects of the Mailchimp business; even a notification email about a change in its terms and conditions, which begins:

It’s been ages since our last System Alert message. Since then, we experienced tremendous growth in our customer base, so for a lot of you, this will be your first time hearing from us (hi there). As a reminder, System Alerts are “important messages we send to all registered MailChimp users concerning your account.” We try to keep these few and far between. Promise.

Playful businesses

Mailchimp wouldn’t be a success if it wasn’t powerful, easy to use and flexible: It’s a serious service that serves a serious business purpose. Yet its tone is playful and fun, and I respond to this.

Obviously it’s a new–ish, online service that doesn’t have a long history of traditional marketing and communications. It would be odd (and downright annoying) if your gas company started adding cartoon characters to its bills. But that doesn’t mean the average user experience of everday tasks, such as paying bills or signing up for a service, shouldn’t provide some form of enjoyment or excitement.

What do you think? Are these sorts of experiences a nice to have extra, or should they form an integral part of customers’ experiences of brands?