Ughhh, the last 10 days were too hectic. I hardly had any time to focus on anything else apart from work.

I played less sport, worked out less, and did nothing for self-care. At some point, stress got to me, and I had to rebelliously abandon work for a few hours (only to realize I couldn’t do it for long and I need to get back at it asap.)

Somehow, I managed to spend time with friends and watch movies. That kept me sane.

Anyways, things are back to normal.

I slept like a baby for 2.5 hours, waking up with enough energy to write this issue.

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MailChimp for email marketing

Honestly, I have a love-hate relationship with MailChimp.

I’ve been using the tool for two months and will use it for at least two more months (the contract is secured till then.)

I have sent nearly 28,000 emails to 3,000 members, and I want to share a short MailChimp review if you’re considering it for email marketing.

• Affordability is sexy. We bought the essentials plan: You can send 25000 emails with INR 2300. That’s insane value for money, considering how much you can communicate with your audience.

• The features are decent. You get all the basic features you need to run a well-targeted campaign—tags, segments, sequencing, forms, etc.Stats are nice. They felt quick, accurate, and reliable; pretty detailed too.

• The paid versions have templates. Be it predesigned or AI-generated, both were decent enough to start working on them immediately. I haven’t used them personally, but I have checked out the designs.

• The text editor sucks. It’s too slow. I’d have said this is the best text editor in 2010, but today, it is fair to say that I’m sticking to MailChimp due to its price. If any other platform provides similar features and pricing with a smoother editor, I will move without a second thought.It’s too slow. Changing fonts, size, colour, and other basic things is a hassle. It’s not supportive when you copy-paste content from Google Docs. I tried changing the default content settings. No luck.

• The entire tool is kind of slow in terms of responsiveness. The first time I used I had to check my internet and Mac to see if there was an issue on my end.

• This is a HUGE turn-off: Scheduling is not a feature in the free plan. We have to send emails manually at the time we want to.Okay, let’s give an advantage to them since this is a free plan, I thought. It’s the same thing for the Essentials plan too.Basically, Mailchimp has 4 packages, starting with Free and going higher to the most premium plan. Essentials is number two.But scheduling isn’t a feature in this plan as well. This pissed me off.I had to run an email campaign and send emails manually every day. Imagine making plans in a way where you have to allocate 10 mins in the middle of something just to hit send.Next time, I’ll try to do some jugaad with sequencing.

Phewww, that’s my short review of MailChimp.

I totally love one part of the tool while the other part pisses me off.

Reminds me of my crush.

More from Cognition:

Non-Technical aka Fun Segment

Favourite line from a book

Let me put the chain of thought in content’s perspective to explain it better.

I’ve been creating content for nearly two years. Many friends who started with me are way ahead of me in terms of metrics.

Although I create an impact and receive many messages every week, mentioning how my content helps readers’ lives in one way or another, it’s not helping me make a living.

I’m confident I will get there one day, but this quote made me think.

It started negatively with “Am I persisting with something that’s not working?”

Then, I went through all the messages I received and my love for creation. It helped me realize I’m not inventing enough.

I was always a good creator but not a great promoter of my content.

I have always focused on impact over the numbers; only to realize now we can manage both. WIP.

Movies/Shows I watched recently

Ah, a long list.

1. Cold CaseIt’s a Horror-Crime film on Prime. It didn’t thrill me as much as I expected it to, but it didn’t bore me either. One-time watch if you like the genre.

2. Spiderman: Across the SpiderverseMan, what a film!!I so badly regret not watching this film on the big screen. The dialogues, the way it’s made, the animation, and especially the climax, it’s as perfect as it could get. Just WOW!You can’t blink because you’ll miss out on a lot of action. Just watch it if you haven’t, it’s too good.

3. Made in Heaven: Season 2I liked the first season. I watched the trailer of the second season, and it implied they were going to touch up on a few social elements.Usually in series/movies like this, I feel the true self of the story gets compromised to push a message out to the public.But the makers pulled it off exceptionally. They’ve always shown how a character felt (and even made me connect) and never gave me any message. I took it from the story.I think that’s what makes S2 10-20 times better than S1.

4. Boston StranglerIt’s a crime movie on serial killings. Based on a real story. Again, I wouldn’t say it’s a must-watch, but I didn’t feel like I was watching a bad film.That’s good enough for me.

5. Eddie the EagleI loved this sports drama. Again, based on a real story. It’s witty, engaging, and has sports madness in it. I’ve connected to it better because I play sports. If you do too, I’m sure you’ll love it.

6. Guns and GulabsHonestly, it didn’t feel like a Raj and DK show. It’s a good series but much below Raj and DK’s standard.I loved the character motivations and acting. I might have had a different opinion if the last 30 minutes were better.A few lines were beautiful though.

7. Red, Red 2I usually don’t like it when they combine comedy with horror or action. It’s a big turnoff.But both Red and Red 2 pulled off the comedy well without annoying me. They’ve established early that there will be comedy throughout, making it easier to accept the film as it is.

8. The Money ShortIt’s a documentary on PornHub. The first 75% was gripping and engaging, but the climax couldn’t make the impact it was trying to make.Nevertheless, it’s a good watch if you want to understand how the industry works, how users react, how creators work, what happens to victims, etc.They have done well in presenting multiple POVs.

YouTube video I loved recently

Discovered David Perell’s How I Write Podcast.

I like how they’re tapping into the processes of writers. I haven’t watched all the episodes, and I only finished half of what I’m recommending now.

But as far as I have watched, it’s good enough to explore and then decide.

Peek into my Personal Life:

Vikra's Café feels like home to people who enjoy reading light and beautiful content. If you love reading personal stories, travel blogs, and some authentic heartwarming writeups, this is your place:

Subscribe or read the archives first here.

(Trust me when I say this is growing faster than Cognition)

Song I’m listening to on a loop

Watching Guns and Gulabs (I love DQ) reminded me of Chota sa Fasana for Karwaan.

Such a beautiful song and an underrated film.

Irrfan Khan, DulQuer Salman, and Mithila Palkar: All my favourite actors in one frame.

That’s the 34th issue y’all!

Stay safe, take care, and consider MailChimp for your Biz.

Love,Vikra.