March 6, 2020 · Oskar Glauser

Why did we create Minutemailer

Every product starts with a frustration. For Minutemailer, it was the simple realization that sending an email to a group of people should not be as complicated or expensive as most tools made it.

This is the story of how Minutemailer came to be, and why we built it the way we did.

The spark

I had been working with small businesses and organizations for a while, and one thing kept coming up. People wanted to stay in touch with their customers through email, but they felt overwhelmed by the tools available to them.

The popular email marketing platforms were built for marketing teams with budgets and expertise. They came loaded with features that most small business owners would never use: complex automation workflows, advanced segmentation engines, A/B testing suites, and intricate reporting dashboards. All of that is great if you are a marketing professional, but if you are a bakery owner who wants to tell customers about a weekend special, it is intimidating.

And then there was the cost. Monthly subscriptions that started reasonable but climbed quickly as your contact list grew. For someone sending a newsletter once or twice a month, those recurring charges felt out of proportion.

I kept thinking: there has to be a better way.

The gap in the market

When I looked more closely at the email marketing landscape, I noticed a gap. On one side, you had the big platforms with all their features and corresponding price tags. On the other, you had nothing. There was no simple, affordable option for people who just wanted to send a nice-looking email to their contacts without a degree in marketing.

The people I talked to did not need automation. They did not need advanced segmentation. They needed a tool that let them write an email, pick their contacts, and hit send. That was it.

And they needed it at a price that made sense for a small operation.

Building for simplicity

From the very beginning, simplicity was the core principle. Every decision we made was filtered through one question: does this make things simpler for the user?

That meant saying no to a lot of features that other platforms considered essential. We did not build a complex automation builder. We did not create a dozen different campaign types. We focused on the core experience: creating and sending emails.

The editor

We wanted the email editor to feel familiar and intuitive. No drag-and-drop builders with hundreds of blocks to choose from. Just a clean, straightforward editor where you can write your message, add images, and make it look good without struggling with layouts.

We designed it so that someone who has never used an email marketing tool could sit down and send their first newsletter within minutes. That is where the name comes from, actually. Minutemailer. Because it should only take a minute.

Contact management

Contact management in most tools is unnecessarily complex. We kept it simple. Import your contacts, organize them if you want to, and you are ready to go. No mandatory tags, segments, or workflows. Just people you want to reach.

And, importantly, we never charge for contacts. Your list can be as large as you want. You only pay when you send.

The sending experience

We wanted sending an email to feel satisfying, not stressful. No complicated scheduling workflows. No mandatory A/B tests before you can hit send. Just write your email, choose who gets it, and send it. If you want to schedule it for later, you can. But it is optional, not required.

Making it affordable

Price was a huge factor in our thinking. We saw too many small businesses give up on email marketing because the monthly fees did not make sense for their sending frequency.

That is why we went with a credit-based model. You buy credits, and each credit lets you send one email to one contact. No monthly subscription. No charges based on list size. You pay for what you use.

This model works especially well for businesses that send occasionally. A yoga studio that sends a monthly class schedule. A local shop that announces seasonal sales. A freelancer who shares a quarterly update. These are real use cases from real users, and our pricing makes email marketing accessible to all of them.

Who Minutemailer is for

We built Minutemailer for people who are not marketers. That does not mean marketers cannot use it. It means we designed it with the non-expert in mind.

Our users are small business owners, freelancers, associations, clubs, schools, and anyone who needs to communicate with a group of people via email. They do not have dedicated marketing teams. They do not have hours to spend learning a new platform. They want something that works, looks professional, and does not cost a fortune.

Some specific groups we had in mind:

• Local businesses. The coffee shop that wants to share this week’s special. The hair salon that wants to remind clients about open appointments.
• Freelancers and consultants. The designer who wants to showcase recent work. The consultant who shares industry insights.
• Organizations and clubs. The sports club that sends game schedules. The neighborhood association that shares community news.
• Event organizers. The person planning a wedding who wants to send updates. The small conference organizer who needs to reach attendees.

The journey from idea to product

Building Minutemailer was not a straight line. There were plenty of late nights, tricky technical challenges, and moments of doubt. But the conviction that small businesses deserved better never wavered.

We launched with a minimal feature set and let user feedback guide us. That approach has been invaluable. Our users tell us what they need, and we build it. Simple as that.

Some of the features we have added over time came directly from user conversations. Others came from watching how people used the tool and spotting friction points we had not anticipated. That feedback loop is something we value deeply. If you are curious about how we handle that, we have written about how Minutemailer works with user feedback.

What drives us

At the end of the day, what drives us is seeing people connect with their audience. Every time a small business owner tells us they sent their first newsletter and got a great response, it validates everything we have built.

Email is personal. When done well, it builds relationships in a way that social media cannot match. Our job is to make that as easy and affordable as possible.

Where we are now

Minutemailer has grown steadily since launch, and we continue to improve it based on what our users need. We have stayed true to our original vision: keep it simple, keep it affordable, and keep it accessible.

If you are new to email marketing and wondering where to start, our guide on how to start a newsletter walks you through the basics. And if budget is a concern, our post on email marketing on a budget has practical tips for making every credit count.

We built Minutemailer because we believed small businesses deserve great tools at fair prices. That belief has not changed, and it never will.