Mailchimp’s New Website Builder: Where We’re Heading Next

We eventually lost track of the number of different tools we were using to run Mailchimp. It was hard to keep our brand consistent without having one place that it could call home. And from growing up around small businesses, Dan and I knew we weren’t alone in our experience.

Why websites?

Back in May, we introduced Mailchimp as an all-in-one Marketing Platform. Our mission has always been to help small businesses succeed by giving them the tools they need to market smarter and grow.

But we also want to give entrepreneurs everything they need to get their business ideas off the ground. Adding websites and domain registration to our platform is a big step forward.

We decided to develop a website builder that will integrate seamlessly with your emails, landing pages, signup forms, social posts, and ads. It even comes with a built-in signup form, so you can build an audience of people who want to hear more about your brand right from the start.

And we’re giving you access to our website builder while it’s in beta, so you can help make it just what you need.

Learning what our customers need

Dan and I know that starting a business means navigating a lot of uncertainty and doubt. But we wanted to dig a little deeper to find out what entrepreneurs need when it comes to building a website.

So, what did we do?

• We worked with a research firm to survey over 500 small business owners about their startup experience
• We tested some concepts to help us figure out what entrepreneurs who are just starting a business would want or need from a website builder
• We invited a small group of new customers to try out our first iteration of the builder and help us figure out what we should do next

From our research study, we not only found that 31% of respondents ranked marketing as their biggest challenge, but they also told us that they wished they started promoting their businesses sooner.

This was just the insight we needed: We envisioned a website builder created for marketing, because that’s what entrepreneurs need most when they start a business.

With built-in signup forms, social posts and ads, email and landing pages, and a content studio to keep all your design assets at hand, you’ve got what you need to start marketing your business before you even launch.

The future of our website builder

We’re just getting started with our new website builder, and we can’t wait for you to try it out and let us know how it goes. Your feedback will help us make the builder even better.

Now you’ve got the tools you need to create and host a website in the same place you manage all your marketing channels:

• Buy a new domain or connect an existing one
• Create and host your website for free
• Start growing your audience with a built-in signup form
• Sell products from your online store
• Promote and drive traffic to your website with your marketing channels

After the beta period, your website and domain still belong to you. We’ll be adding new functionality like SEO tools, integrated pop-up forms, in-depth reporting, and more.

To bring it back to the beginning, this all started with the name, “Mailchimp.” Now that we offer websites and domain purchasing, we want other future world-changing companies to start with Mailchimp, too.