How to send a beautiful email newsletter from Mail.ru without Mailchimp or SendPulse
Build the email in Tilda's builder, grab the HTML and send it from your own mailbox through Thunderbird. Free and without any verification.
The backstory
Many businesses and freelancers run into the same problem: to send a newsletter through a dedicated service you have to upload an address book, get verified and deal with a pile of settings that eat up time.
But what if you just need to send one good-looking email to a few clients?
The answer turned out to be simple and elegant: combine Tilda, Thunderbird and Mail.ru (or Yandex, or Gmail).
Step by step
1. Install Thunderbird
Download the free Thunderbird email client. It connects to a Mail.ru, Yandex or Gmail mailbox and lets you work with email outside the browser.
2. Build the email in Tilda
- Sign up for Tilda and start a trial.
- Create an email campaign and assemble the email in the builder: headings, text, images, buttons.
- Download the clean HTML code of the email.
An example template: view the email.
3. Get an IMAP/SMTP password
To connect your mailbox to Thunderbird you need a separate app password:
- Mail.ru: the easiest option;
- Yandex: moderately complex;
- Gmail and creating an app password: the most complex.
4. Connect the mailbox and send
- Open Thunderbird and connect your email account via IMAP/SMTP.
- Create a new message and paste in the HTML code from Tilda.
- Add the recipients (up to 20-50 addresses a day).
- Click Send. Done!
Limits
Regular mailboxes cap the number of outgoing emails:
- Mail.ru and Yandex: about 50 recipients a day;
- Gmail: even fewer.
For mass mailings, a dedicated service is the better choice. But for one-off or targeted emails this method is ideal.
The video is also available on VK.
The takeaway
If you need to quickly make a good-looking email, send it to a few clients without paid services and keep the design and responsiveness intact, use Tilda, Thunderbird and Mail.ru. It's free, fast and convenient.
