u/br00000dak

My business partner and I run a small record label. We release a new record roughly every 3 months. The amount of mailchimp campaigns would vary from 1 a month to 1 every 3 months. We’ve had our mailchimp account for years so we’ve been grandfathered into the free plan as long as we have under 2000 contacts (we’re at about 1,700 subscribed as I archive non-subscribers and un-subscribed).

Most of our business is run online, we don't have a store front, and we do some pop ups here and there. We both have full time jobs but we’re both involved in the local music scene and do our best to run this passion project. 

Our email campaigns have always been written without AI, are nicely designed, and usually feature our latest record/artist, some sort of community event we are hosting or are a part of, and maybe some past records/artists).

from 2020 to 2024, our open rate would fluctuate from 33% - 50%. There was about a year where I wasn’t able to make time to design/schedule as my full-time job unfortunately took up more time than I would have liked and any time I could spend on promotion was through social media only. We sent an email in may 2025 and since then, our open rate has wavered around 20%. 

I can assume that having a lapse in consistent email marketing is one of the factors, if not the main factor for this drop in open rate. I can at least find solace in the fact that my click rates are consistent I guess.

Has anyone else noticed a drop in their open rates whether or not they have been consistent in connecting with their audience? If so, how did you combat this?

Is mailchimp punishing me for not upgrading? /s

Are people just overwhelmed with the amount of emails they receive in general that they don’t care anymore?

TLDR, I believe my inconsistent email marketing may be the reason my audience isn’t opening emails anymore and I would love any tips, advice, or suggestions you can offer to help me get back to my old open rate (if possible)