Mailchimp vs

Mailchimp vs The Rest of the World

Mailchimp vs whom? Take your pick, as Mailchimp have annoyed a lot of small businesses recently. Mailchimp put prices upon many of the previously free features. So I decided to reset and take another look at the Mailchimp alternatives out there. The gloves are going on Freddie the Chimp as he takes on other big hitters in “Email Marketing Service” boxing ring.

STOP PRESS Aweber has just announced a new Aweber Free which may be a new knockout blow to Mailchimp

Introducing my current champ (I’ve used Mailchimp since 2004). What made Mailchimp the largest marketing platform and favourite choice? It’s probably because it starts off free. Free normally helps grow any services as the trial wasn’t too restricted.

Mailchimp Overview
Mailchimp sends over 1 billion emails daily and has around 11 million users, so everyone has heard about them. Staggering facts from the Goliath Chimp. But is it the right solution for your business?

The good news is other Mailchimp alternatives aren’t currently locking you into an email marketing service. As most providers allow you to export and import your leads and move to a different provider if the need arises. So choose well, but don’t worry if you decide a change of service a few years down the line as your business matures.

Mailchimp vs GetResponse

GetResponse Overview
It has a wide variety of templates, A/B testing facilities, and autoresponders. Take a look at “Perfect Timing”. This feature will help to predict the perfect time of day to send out emails to increase open rates. With no contracts and obligations, you could try it as you can cancel anytime. If you are a small to medium businesses or marketer then this is an option.

Although Mailchimp is the leader in free for initial startup, GetResponse does come in with a 30 Day free trial offer. With around £20 for a 2000 list compared to this being free with Mailchimp.

Both are pretty strong Mailchimp competitors. Get response is particularly good at designer quality landing pages. These can be published in seconds, unlike Mailchimp. Mailchimp can integrate with several landing page tools. Mailchimp has unlimited autoresponders. Both of these features beats GetResponse with few features.

Round 1: Verdict – Mailchimp Wins

Mailchimp vs Drip

Drip Overview
Drip is one of the new kids on the block. It’s fresh, bouncy and ideal for small businesses that want to send event-based emails to their customers. It has a great interface, clean and lightweight and very user friendly. It starts off affordable with a free plan for up to 100 subscribers. The monthly fee is from $1 per month thereafter. It’s designed specifically with marketing automation in mind. It’s designed to send one mailing list per account, making it ideal for small businesses but bad for agencies.

Sadly Drip comes out with guns blazing but loses momentum. Landing pages is one of Mailchimp’s weaknesses, so here Drip has its big opportunity! Sadly Drip didn’t take this chance of getting a punch in as there is no landing page builder, although integrations are available.

Drip pretty much matches Mailchimp in all the ways you would expect. It has templates, tracking, a plugin for adding opt-in forms to your WordPress website. It does well for a young contender, 12 years the junior.

Round 2: Verdict – Declared A Draw

Mailchimp vs AWeber

AWeber Overview
Aweber is one of the originals. Its been there, done that and has the T-shirt. It’s ideal for small teams and medium to large business. Aweber is relatively expensive but a solid vehicle. (Actually, Aweber has hit back at Mailchimp since this was written with Aweber Free Account)

AWeber’s drag-and-drop email and campaigns builder is intuitive. with over 700 templates it still remains a popular choice with coders and those that want to have full control over there marketing campaigns. It’s pretty scalable with 25,000+ contacts requiring a special quote.

Compare to Mailchimp’s user interface, Aweber’s looks somewhat dated. It lacks any effort to help GDPR other than this blanket message. “If you collect EU resident data, you will probably be considered a Data Controller and may have other obligations. We recommend you seek legal advice if you believe it is necessary to be fully compliant with GDPR.” At least Mailchimp goes to some effort with its GDPR-friendly forms and double opt-in.

As with Mailchimp, Aweber has a full catalogue of integration plugins and connections to CRM and payment processing software. As you would expect WordPress is fully supported too. Aweber and Mailchimp are both strong, yet different. Freelancers and small business should start with Mailchimp. Any other would probably find AWeber a more sturdy vehicle.

Round 3: Verdict – Mailchimp Wins By A Narrow Margin

Mailchimp vs SendinBlue

SendinBlue Overview
SendinBlue is a very simple, but effective marketing tool that uses workflows to enable you to automatically interact with your contacts in a manner that’s relevant to the actions they’ve taken. It just feels solid and modern, with transactional email tracking.

Sadly though there are several limitations. It lacks a good range of 3rd party integration. Its A/B testing is only available using subject lines. The email builder is limited in what it can do, but it is easy to use. Responsive design templates are there, but you will probably want to get your own designer involved as they are very basic.

When it comes to GDPR and Mailchimp’s double opt-in, not many can challenge it. SendinBlue doesn’t do anything other than mention it. In its defense it has a leaning towards privacy and general security through out the setup area. I thought SendinBlue might be a strong challenge, but I think its actually fallen over itself.

Round 4: Verdict – Mailchimp Wins Easily

Mailchimp vs ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign Overview
They push the fact they offer true marketing automation. They actually lead the way in making this a fairly easy process. certainly with the event tracking enabled, ActiveCampaign helps you track video views, button clicks, orders, logins, and in-app behaviours. It has everything that Mailchimp is missing.

Mailchimp can match it in several of the areas like its templates and double opt-in. Also without the free option, Mailchimp continues its attraction. ActiveCampaign has good integration through its 250 apps. It also has unlimited sending but this isn’t cheap. Works out around £7 a month for 500 contacts or £33 a month for 2500 contacts.

ActiveCampaign is a powerful and easy-to-use marketing automation & sales CRM platform. Above all its the features for building your CRM and increasing sales that kills Mailchimp. If its costs that’s your main consideration, this is going to be a leap of faith.

Round 5: Verdict – A Narrow Win For ActiveCampaign

Conclusion

I’ve worked with Mailchimp and Aweber for 15 years. Therefore I’ve seen plenty of competition come and go. I didn’t see ActiveCampaign as a serious contender until I started investigating it. So take a look. All the above may be ideal, as they are very dependent on your requirements, budget, experience and skills. There is no right or wrong, but know what you want. If in doubt, stick with the “chimp champ”.

3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.

If your business is starting fresh with marketing automation tools, or you need someone to manage a list of clients emails providing full support and bespoke designs for any of your campaigns, I’m a Mailchimp expert. Just visit my marketing page for details.