How effective is the ‘Mailchimp for Beginners: The Ultimate Email Marketing Course’ on Udemy — and what should someone look for when choosing an email marketing course in 2025?
What it does well
- These courses introduce the Mailchimp platform step-by-step: setting up an account, building lists, creating campaigns, using templates, tracking basic metrics. Class Central+1
- They tend to be beginner-friendly: if you have little to no prior experience in email marketing, you’ll likely come away with a usable foundation.
- Lifetime access (with Udemy) means you can revisit sections, which is helpful since things like emails, metrics and user-interfaces evolve. Class Central
Where it may fall short
- Some learners comment that updates may lag behind the very latest platform changes (UI, algorithm, deliverability best-practices). For example, one review of a Mailchimp-focused course said: “there’s only ever screenshots of Mailchimp and never any actual walkthroughs on the software.” Udemy
- While the platform mechanics are covered, strategic depth may be limited: mastering segmentation, deliverability, advanced automation, A/B testing, integrating with other channels may require additional learning.
- Using one specific tool (Mailchimp) is a double-edged sword: you’ll learn that tool well, but if your stack uses something else (ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, Brevo, etc) you’ll need to translate concepts.
- Some user feedback suggests that Mailchimp itself is being considered less modern compared with newer tools in some contexts. Reddit
- As always, a course is just the start — real value comes from doing: building lists, optimizing campaigns, learning from data, iterating.
My verdict: If you’re brand-new to email marketing and you specifically want to use Mailchimp (or learn via it), this type of Udemy course is a reasonable investment. It’ll get you up and running, help you avoid beginner mistakes, and give you confidence to launch campaigns. However — if you already have some experience, or if you need advanced automation, cross-channel strategy, or deep deliverability expertise, you’ll likely still need a follow-up or more specialized training.
What you should look for in an email marketing course in 2025
Given how email marketing has matured, here are criteria to evaluate any email-marketing course (not just on Mailchimp) in 2025:
- Recency & relevance of content
- Platforms change rapidly: user interface, analytics, compliance (GDPR, CAN-SPAM), deliverability norms. Check when the course was last updated.
- Tools beyond the platform: list building, segmentation strategy, integration with CRMs, AI-powered personalization, multi-channel flows.
- Practical, hands-on assignments
- It’s one thing to watch video demos, another to actually build a campaign, walk through A/B tests, interpret analytics.
- Does the course include downloadable assets, real-world case studies, and tasks you can do on your own?
- Can you replicate what the instructor shows step by step on your account?
- Strategic depth beyond tool mechanics
- Learning how to click in Mailchimp is useful, but better is understanding why: how to structure welcome sequences, nurture flows, abandoned-cart triggers (for e-commerce), re-engagement campaigns, segmentation by behaviour.
- Good courses will teach you how to interpret metrics: open rate, click-through, deliverability, list health, spam complaints — and how to act on them.
- Deliverability, list-growth & compliance
- Without good deliverability, the best campaign is wasted. Look for modules that cover list hygiene, sender reputation, spam filters, unsubscribes, and consent (opt-in) practices.
- Also look for compliance: what to do if you’re sending across jurisdictions, how to manage frequency, how to build ethical lists vs buying them.
- Integration & automation
- Email rarely stands alone. Does the course show how to integrate email with landing pages, CRM systems, e-commerce platforms, and other marketing channels (SMS, push, social)?
- Automation flows (triggered emails, workflows) are increasingly expected — the course should move beyond “send newsletter” to “send based on behaviour”.
- Evaluation & metrics / ROI
- A good course will show how to set goals (e.g., increase click-rate, reduce churn), how to measure results, how to iterate.
- Look for whether they teach you how to track revenue (if applicable), how to connect email performance to business outcomes.
- Community / support / ongoing updates
- Courses that offer access to instructor Q&A, discussion forums, or active community are more helpful.
- Because marketing evolves, good courses either update frequently or teach you frameworks that adapt rather than just “tool version X do this”.
- Tool-agnostic vs tool-specific balance
- If your goal is mastery of a specific tool (like Mailchimp) then a tool-specific course is appropriate.
- But if you’ll may switch tools (or use multiple tools), you might prefer a course that emphasises strategy and general principles, and touches on a few platforms.
- Reviews & student outcomes
- Check what past learners say: did they succeed in launching real campaigns? Did they report increased opens, click rates, conversions?
- Beware of very shallow “look what I learned” reviews; look for ones like “I increased my email list 200% in 3 months” or “my open rate improved from 12 % to 20 %”.
