DIY Website Builder Wix Launches Email Newsletter Service

Wix has built a nice business for itself by giving people an easy way to build their own websites without the need to know HTML. Until now, however, if those users wanted to also send a newsletter, they had to go to services like MailChimp. Starting today, however, Wix users will be able to use the service to send email newsletters, too.

While it doesn’t quite have the feature set of services that only focus on email newsletters, Wix ShoutOut will give users an easy way to get in touch with their clients or friends. Many of the company’s users already use the service to collect their customers’ email addresses, so adding this new feature was a logical step for Wix. In addition, ShoutOut users will also be able to import email addresses from their Gmail contacts and Outlook CSV files.

Just like the rest of the Wix platform, the idea here is to give users an easy way to create their email campaigns without the need to touch any code. The company will offer four pre-made templates for these emails, and users will be able to customize them heavily.

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“We allow small business owners to create and manage their online presence with enterprise-level solutions but without the need for enterprise-level resources. Wix ShoutOut is a classic Wix product – it provides a user-friendly and code-free solution for a highly sought after business need,” said Avishai Abrahami, Wix Co-Founder and CEO, in a statement today. “This is the latest addition to our comprehensive product suite, and we see it as an important step in furthering the Wix vision of creating a true operating system for the web.”

As the Wix tells me, ShoutOut is the first service to use the company’s recently announced WixHive API. Users will get full analytics for all of their campaigns, including data on views, open and click-through rates.

During the beta, which is opening today, the service will be available for free. After that, it will join the company’s stable of freemium services.

As the company tells me, adding this new product, which is mostly geared toward small and medium businesses, is meant to help Wix move from “just” being a DIY website builder to becoming a platform that allows “SMB’s to fully create, manage and grow their business all from a single location.”