I’ve written quite a bit about “the Popcorn Popper Process” – whereby you use free services with limited functionality to keep engaged with potential customers / clients … until the “pop” into paying clients.

I came across an email program – www.mailchimp.com – which does this very well.

They offer a free account – no credit card required – allowing you to store up to 500 subscribers and send out up to 3,000 emails per month … FOR FREE.

I’ve long believed that email programs are far overpriced.  The cost to send email is negligible compared to the prices that most email programs charge.  MailChimp seems to be leveraging this; knowing that once I get my subscribers uploaded into their system (and better yet, the autoresponders set), I won’t very likely cancel their service.  More likely than not I’ll upgrade to a paid service when my account exceeds 500 subscribers.

Brilliant Marketing Strategy.