From scattered contacts to a customer communication channel.
Dicronite Southwest · Website, audience development and email strategy
When I began rebuilding Dicronite Southwest’s website in 2020, I discovered a basic problem: marketing did not have a customer database it could readily use. The contacts existed across the business, but I could not simply export a complete list. Requests for usable CSV files went unanswered, so I began assembling the audience the slow way, entering addresses individually while developing the new website.
The work was unglamorous, but it created something the business needed: a way to reach customers directly and consistently.
A list built by hand.
I set up the Mailchimp account as part of the broader website and marketing work. The audience gave Dicronite Southwest a channel for operational notices, accreditation updates, trade show follow-up and information about its services. By September 14, 2026, that audience contained 7,110 contacts, up from 4,161 at the end of 2023.
That growth reflects the account over time. It should not be read as contacts I personally entered or acquired.
Closure notices, or a reason to pay attention?
The business frequently used email for holiday greetings and closure notices. Those messages had a practical purpose: customers needed to know when the shop would be available. But I believed the channel could do more for buyers and engineers deciding whether Dicronite Southwest could meet their technical and quality requirements.
The value of that approach became especially clear when the business needed to communicate about its NADCAP accreditation status in 2022–2023. Mailchimp could reach customers with a consistent written update during a sensitive period. My recommendation was to give that kind of business-critical communication, along with service and technical information, a more prominent place in the email program.
The available campaign history shows the tension. Of 46 regular campaigns sent from November 2022 through September 2026, including resends, 24 were holiday or closure messages, 16 addressed compliance or quality, four followed up on trade shows, and two covered services or technical information.
Every regular campaign, November 2022 – September 2026
Swipe to see every year · tap a dot for details
See all 46 campaigns as a list
| Date | Campaign | Type | Recipients | Open rate |
|---|
More of the list opened.
Across regular campaigns, the recorded open rate was 7.5% in 2023, 19.5% in 2024 and 22.3% in 2025. The two campaigns sent by September 27, 2026 recorded 24.3%. These are account-wide figures; changes in message subject, audience, sending practices and email privacy features can all affect them.
The numbers show that the audience grew and that more recipients opened the recorded campaigns over this period. They do not establish that a particular message strategy caused the increase.
Collect it. Organize it. Give it a purpose.
I built the website and helped establish the customer audience when accessible data was limited. I also pushed for a clearer purpose for email: timely notices when operations or accreditation affected customers, followed by useful information about the shop’s capabilities.
An email list becomes valuable when the business knows whom it can reach and gives those people a reason to pay attention.
That is the lesson I took from Dicronite Southwest. Building that channel starts with the difficult work of collecting and organizing the contacts. Making it useful takes judgment about what deserves a send.
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