The post Best Email Marketing Services for Small Business appeared first on WebMonkey.
]]>However, while larger companies have more flexibility to experiment or even create their own email marketing systems, small businesses often rely on existing options. When margins are tighter, a few percentage points of difference between a company can be enough to make or break your business.
With that in mind, we looked through the options to find the ten best email marketing services for small businesses. Before we get into the reviews, however, we want to briefly explain our process and how to interpret these reviews.
Every email marketing service is different, and even more importantly, so is every small business. What works for other stores in your industry won’t necessarily work for you, particularly when we account for your staff’s skill and how much time you can devote to creating marketing emails.
That’s why our top companies list is alphabetical and does not have a universal winner or “best overall”. Titles like those can imply that you should choose a particular service even when that may not be right for your business.
Instead, we recommend reading through the reviews of all of these services, then determining which of them best fits your needs as a small business. Once you know that, you can focus on choosing between your top choices.
Don’t forget to account for company growth. If your business is stable and unlikely to change significantly in the future, that’s different from a business where you may need significantly higher marketing capacity over the next few years. It’s better to go with the service you want to use in the future, even if that’s different from the best choice right now.
Finally, all of the information below is accurate as of the last time we updated this article. However, some elements (like pricing) may have changed since then. Always check the current pricing on a marketing service’s website before you sign up with them.
ActiveCampaign is an automation-focused marketing platform with a wide variety of features. Outside of email marketing, it also provides services like CRM, win probability estimations, market segmentation, and even engagement tracking.
This makes ActiveCampaign fundamentally more robust than email-focused companies, although not every small business wants or needs these features.
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Like all good marketing companies, ActiveCampaign features an extensive collection of analytics options to help you understand what your audience responds to. Once you know what works, you can perform additional tests to continue optimizing your emails and improving your results.
This is the fundamental key to success in email marketing as a small business. When the evidence guides your actions, you can produce better marketing emails with less effort. They even save older drafts so you can revert a template anytime you need to.
Overall, ActiveCampaign is a solid choice for many small businesses. It’s also extremely budget-friendly, with the basic email service available for as little as $9/mo if you have 500 or fewer contacts. The pricing goes up as you get more contacts, but you should get enough of a return on your investment to cover each stage when you get there.
We particularly like how you can focus on email marketing without paying for all of their other features. The premium option levels include more than most small businesses need, so paying for that would be a waste of funds.
That said, the other features also offer the opportunity for growth, so ActiveCampaign is a good choice if you expect your business to change over time and want easy access to marketing systems beyond emails.
AWeber is a small business email marketing system, which is a significant difference from ActiveCampaign above. Like our previous choice, they focus on using automation to streamline the process and improve results for companies like yours.
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Aside from its technological features, AWeber offers 24/7 customer support. That’s extremely useful if you’re planning a marketing campaign late at night or even early in the morning if you end up needing help with a technical issue.
Even better, they offer a free version of their services. This supports up to 500 subscribers on your list and 3000 emails per month maximum, but also offers outstanding access to their other software and services. AWeber free includes email design, campaign automation, landing pages, full technical support, and more.
We like this a lot. If you have an incredibly small business, free email marketing is the best deal you can get, and AWeber’s systems are good enough to make it work for you. Even if you have more customers than that, you can start with only part of your subscription base to test their system and get to know it, then sign up for a paid plan when you’re more familiar with it.
With all of that in mind, AWeber is a good choice only if you’re a small business and expect to remain so. It does not offer other types of marketing services, so you’d need to sign up with someone else to do anything else.
They’re also a bit more expensive than some competitors on the lower end, starting about $19/mo for up to 500 subscribers on a pro plan and scaling up to $149/mo for a maximum of 25,000 customers.
At that point, though, you’re stretching the definition of a small business and should consider other services. We like AWeber as an option for small companies, but it’s not a great choice for medium or large organizations.
Constant Contact is a comprehensive marketing platform offering email, online stores, website creation, and social media marketing as its main focuses. However, they also serve as a good example of when to scrutinize marketing hype.
For example, they claim that you can build an excellent website in minutes. While it’s true that you can use a template to set up the basics of a website, creating a truly comprehensive site that includes unique images and photos, company information, and content for users to access takes somewhat longer. In short, remember to be careful when a company hypes itself up.
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As we can see from these features, Constant Contact is fundamentally different from our first two choices. It’s not as easy to use as AWeber, so it’s not the best choice if you’re short on time and want to automate as much as you can. However, since it’s more interconnected, it offers seamless support for more marketing strategies.
Constant Contact also works out better for companies expecting some level of growth. The more types of marketing a company offers, the better it is as you continue growing. Constant Contact offers a 60-day email marketing trial, which is long enough to learn most of the nuances of their system.
Email marketing here starts at $20/mo, which is relatively high for the introductory level. Websites are sold separately and start at $10/month, and they include SSL Certificates, unlimited storage, analytics, custom domains, and eCommerce support. However, they have extra transaction fees, and that adds up over time.
ConvertKit is a creativity-focused marketing platform. Alongside email marketing, it also focuses on signup forms and landing pages for visitors. Note that this isn’t quite the same thing as a full website design. Landing pages are simpler, and users may not visit anywhere else, but sometimes that’s all you need.
The main difference here is that ConvertKit isn’t so much for small businesses as it is for tiny businesses. You might use it for selling individual products to relatively small groups of people, rather than a larger number of people around the world or in your neighborhood.
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All of these are decent features, and to an extent, we’re glad ConvertKit exists. There are only so many large businesses out there, and not every small business wants to grow that way. Companies that focus exclusively on the smallest businesses aren’t right for everyone, but they are right for some people, and that’s what really matters here.
In short, ConvertKit only makes sense if you’re extremely small and just want to do easy setups for marketing your products. This is closer to hobby-level than true business-level stuff. It’s also a good option if you want to test things with a smaller audience before opening up your marketing to a larger group. That’s a niche case, but it is a viable option.
Drip is a small business-focused eCommerce engine. Their main product is something they call ECRM, or eCommerce customer relationship management. This is an important distinction from purely email-based marketing because it means you can’t effectively separate the email from everything else. You should use all of their systems, or none of it, but nothing in-between.
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Like ConvertKit, Drip isn’t a great choice once your business grows past a certain point. It has a process to use, and that process certainly works, but it’s only flexible within its own structure and doesn’t connect too well to most outside services. That’s why businesses that want to work with a lot of other services should choose another email provider instead.
However, Drip is easy to set up and get going. Their workflows are the biggest part of this because most of those have been heavily optimized over the years to work for most people in most situations. You can realistically install dozens of well-made automated workflows in a couple of minutes, giving you an instant, fully-functioning marketing campaign.
Pricing starts at $19/month for up to 500 subscribers, with unlimited emails from your account during that period. This scales up to about $1,599/mo if you have 140,000 people, and anywhere higher than that is customized pricing. However, that’s well beyond small business, so chances are you’ll never have to worry about the high end of their fees.
GetResponse is an all-in-one marketing platform for companies of all sizes, which is excellent if you want to grow your small business and stick with the same marketing system. Changing systems is relatively difficult past a certain point, so that’s not a small consideration.
Email isn’t the only part of their platform, but it is a significant part, and it has several features that help it stand out as a viable choice for small businesses.
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Like other email marketing services for small businesses, GetResponse includes a selection of responsive templates that help improve conversion rates. Their landing pages are exceptionally robust thanks to their use of Shutterstock and Giphy. These services mean you don’t have to provide your own pictures, and that makes a huge difference.
They also support A/B testing to get more information on which services are effective and which aren’t. We always like seeing that, and the added flexibility of on-page options like countdown timers, forms, and popups lets you customize things even more.
GetResponse starts at $15/mo for up to 1000 subscribers on your list, which is a bigger list size than many competitors have before costs start going up. Their pricing scales up to $450/mo for 100,000 people on the regular plan. They also have premium plans for moderately higher prices.
MailChimp is one of the most well-known email marketing platforms for small businesses, and with good reason. However, in recent years, they’ve been expanding their offerings to become more of an all-in-one marketing platform. Their current services include website creation, marketing, and even help for physical advertising like postcards.
Physical ad services are scarce among email marketing companies. While that’s not a deciding factor for most businesses, it does show that MailChimp is willing to look outside of the box and create services that can help your small business from a single centralized area.
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As a comprehensive service, MailChimp works best when you use it for all of your marketing needs. Luckily, their focus on integration means you can still use most of your existing apps and software, and that’s a benefit most of its competitors can’t offer. If you’re still unsure which service to use, MailChimp is a pretty good choice for most small businesses.
Pricing starts at free for up to 2,000 contacts and one primary audience, which is useful for learning their system and getting used to it. This easy entry is another reason they’re a good default choice. Paid plans range from $9.99/mo (for up to 50,000 contacts) to $299/mo (for their premium services and over 200,000 contacts).
As their name implies, MailerLite is an email-focused marketing platform, although they offer to land pages to help complete the experience. They’re fundamentally a lighter marketing platform than many of their competitors, but that’s not always a bad thing.
When you’re dealing with everything else your business needs, a system that’s too involved can be just as bad as one that doesn’t have enough features. Balancing your time commitments is essential to success, and MailerLite’s inherently smaller service is sometimes the best choice.
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MailerLite’s focus on simplicity is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. It’s not a good choice if you want to keep growing your business because you’ll hit a point where it simply doesn’t have the features to keep up with other services.
That said, we need to point out the difference between the number of subscribers and the complexity of your business. You can market to a huge list of people while still having a simple business. MailerLite is suitable for simple businesses, regardless of size, but not for complex companies.
Pricing starts at free (with 12,000 emails/month and up to 1000 subscribers) and scales upward from there. Costs go to about $1,915/mo for up to 600,000 subscribers, and anything beyond that is going to be custom pricing.
SendGrid is an email-focused platform, which means they don’t do much with landing pages, websites, eCommerce stores, or social media. That means they’re not as good of a choice if you want to centralize your marketing while your company grows, but it also means that they’re extremely good at their focus.
SendGrid is particularly suitable for high volume senders. They claim to send out more than 80 billion emails per month, giving them incredibly precise insights about user behaviors in different industries.
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Overall, we don’t like SendGrid for small businesses as much as some other options on this list. The reason for that is their focus is entirely on email, and small businesses often do better with a comprehensive platform. For email-only needs, however, it’s a top choice.
Pricing here ranges from their free plan (limited to 100 emails/day, with no time limits) to $14.95/mo for their initial paid plan. This scales up to $29.95/mo for up to 100,000 emails, or more if you want their pro features.
Note that SendGrid prices things mainly by the number of emails you send, not your list’s size. This is different from most of their competitors and worth keeping in mind. They switch to customized pricing on the professional plans around the time you hit 1.5 million emails/month, but that’s beyond most small businesses.
SendinBlue is an all-in-one service that offers email, SMS, ads, landing pages, and other marketing opportunities. Like most of their competitors, they provide extensive automation to help minimize the time you need to spend tweaking things. Their platform is fully GDPR-compliant, too, which is useful if you want to market in the EU.
They claim to send about 100 million emails per day, which is a small fraction of what SendGrid does. That doesn’t mean SendinBlue is bad, but numbers like these help illustrate the scale of different systems.
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Overall, SendinBlue is a generalist service. Their email systems and analytics are more than viable, but they don’t have quite the same edge in specific areas as many of their competitors. That said, they’re not fundamentally bad at anything, either. Since they’re an all-in-one, they’re good at centralizing data and supporting your needs as your business grows and changes.
SendinBlue also uses click-through reports, which help simplify the critical information, rather than bombarding you with charts and graphs. This is a nice touch for small business owners who don’t have the time to spend poring over big data’s fine details.
Like most of the better services, SendinBlue offers a free plan, which in their case allows unlimited contacts but only 300 emails per day. Their other plans range from $25/mo (10,000 emails) to $99/mo (100,000 emails) on their base plan and somewhat more for their pro plan.
All of the services above are great options on their merits, but they have different focuses. AWeber and ConvertKit are especially visual (reminding us of Adobe's advertisement maker). SendGrid, on the other hand, is amazing for high volume delivery. If you’re still unsure which service is right for you, start by narrowing it down to your top three choices and figuring out which service will be the best choice in the future.
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]]>The post Constant Contact vs. ConvertKit appeared first on WebMonkey.
]]>Whether you're new to mailing lists or you're looking to upgrade, there are some great companies to help you with your email marketing. Two of the best are Constant Contact and ConvertKit. Both companies offer a variety of features so that you can both organize and take your email marketing game to the next level.
But which one is better? As with many of these, each of these companies can best fit the needs of different use cases. We've done the hard work and found out the best features – and the negatives – for each of these email marketing services. Read on to figure out which is best for you.
Constant Contact has actually been around since 1995. The business started in an attic and was designed to help small enterprises run email marketing campaigns that could compete with much larger businesses.
The company has since expanded to offer help for several of your business needs. In addition to email marketing, Constant Contact also offers a website builder, online store setup, and help with social media marketing. With the addition of these new features, it seems that Constant Contact is dedicated to helping small business owners and website owners get their message in front of a broader audience.
Constant Contact is also centered around customer service. They offer plenty of options if you need help, including marketing advisors and technical support. They even provide services if you want a more hands-off experience, including personal advisors who'll do your marketing for you.
Constant Contact is a good option for website owners who are ready to get serious about their email list. It offers some powerful features to take your email game to the next level and help you make conversions. Its additional features are also helpful for increasing your web presence.
Constant Contact has recently added several new options for its users, including a web builder, eCommerce, and social media marketing. These features may work well for you if you like to have everything all on one platform. You can log in to one site and take care of your website, email, online store, and social media, all in one place.
While this feature may be just what you've been looking for, if you're more technically inclined, you may prefer to use separate platforms for each of these elements, as you'll get more customization. Even if you only need an email marketing platform, Constant Contact is one of the best in the business and is a viable option.
One of the most important aspects of email marketing is creating professional-looking emails that are consistent with your other branding. Constant Contact makes it easy to create beautiful emails, even if you have no technical know-how. Their drag and drop templates let you design your emails just the way you want.
You can also customize everything so that your emails are always on-brand. It's easy to change colors, fonts, and logos so that you can stay consistent for your readers. If you're the type who likes to customize everything and doesn't like to work from templates, Constant Contact offers that option as well.
For the busy business owner, email automation is a must. Constant Contact lets you set up email automation to help save you valuable time. You can easily set up an email to welcome new subscribers – no need to keep an eye on your email to see who signs up.
You can create triggered email series so that once someone joins your list, they'll regularly receive an email series. This feature is perfect for creating a sales funnel. If you want to customize even more, Constant Contact has you covered. You can create email segmentation to target different groups on your list. You can also set up resends to people who don't open.
Keeping track of your email list can be a pain, but Constant Contact helps you manage it in one easy place. You can upload your list from just about anywhere, including Excel, Outlook, and Salesforce. If you gather email addresses in several different places, such as on your website and various social media, Constant Contact captures them all and stores them in one place.
Your email marketing campaign won't do you much good if you don't have any tracking tools to measure your success. Constant Contact has powerful tracking tools to help you throughout the entire email marketing process.
Tools like click segmentation can help you to segment your lists and increase chances of conversions. Email open rates let you see just how many people are actually opening your emails. A heat map tool even enables you to track which of your links get the most clicks.
Constant Contact makes it easy for you to keep up with your email marketing metrics and make adjustments accordingly. They even have an app that lets you check your data from your mobile phone.
Convincing potential customers to give you their email is tough, but Constant Contact allows you to create dynamic sign-up forms to place on your site. Their form editor lets you customize forms that are both attractive and on-brand.
ConvertKit is an email marketing software company aimed at creators like artists, bloggers, and musicians. Their motto is “the future belongs to creators,” and their goal is to help creators earn money online so that they can keep doing the things they love.
Unlike many email marketing software companies, ConvertKit seems to be aimed at the individual instead of small businesses and larger organizations. They offer features like customized emails, automations, landing pages, and eCommerce to help users get their word out. The company has even more features coming down the pipeline, such as recurring payment options, color palettes, and split paths in automations.
ConvertKit has some great features to help you create emails that stand out from the crowd and make money from those emails. They also have automation capabilities and offer features to help you grow your list.
ConvertKit eliminates the need for a full website if you prefer something more straightforward. They offer a template editor that lets you create professional-looking landing pages. You can use these pages to help grow your email list.
One of the best ways to grow your email list is by offering free downloads. ConvertKit allows you to add a PDF download to landing pages and sign-up forms so that your new list members will have easy access once they sign up.
You can increase your chances of getting your email opened and read by customizing your subject lines and the body with personal information about your list members, such as their names or job titles. With ConvertKit, it's easy to set up and automate these personalizations, instead of spending time changing the information in each email you send.
ConvertKit has an intuitive drag-and-drop template editor to let you quickly create emails and spend more time focusing on content creation. You can also make your templates mobile responsive and save images for easy access.
You don't have to use HTML, but ConvertKit lets you use it if you want more customization options. You can also create several templates to use for different funnels.
If you create digital products for sale, ConvertKit lets you sell those products directly from your email or landing page. You can also create sales pages. You don't have to use other plugins or integrations, and your customers can make a purchase and get an instant download.
ConvertKit allows you to make an automated sales funnel so that you can convert your list members into customers. The whole process is automated, so you can create your sales funnel, and when new members sign up for your mailing list, they will receive messages in the funnel at customized times.
Constant Contact and ConvertKit offer similar pricing structures, but ConvertKit does offer a dedicated free option, while Constant Contact doesn't. Both increase in price as you get more subscribers.
Much of your choice will come down to your personal needs, as opposed to whether one of the platforms is better per se. Constant Contact is aimed at small business owners who may have several revenue streams, while ConvertKit is made for creators. Their platform is designed for the individual and works well for those who don't want a website.
Constant Contact is better for those who do want a full website and want lots of customization options. Their platform may be a better option for businesses that are growing.
Both Constant Contact and ConvertKit offer two payment plans to suit your needs.
Constant Contact offers two payment plans: Email, which currently starts at $20 per month, and Email Plus, which starts at $45 per month. These prices are based on 500 contacts or less, and the costs increase as you add more contacts.
With the Email plan, you get unlimited sends, branded and customizable templates, access to tracking, automatic resend to non-openers, subject line A/B testing, and eCommerce marketing. You'll also get access to marketing tools like a logo maker, contact list import and management, landing pages, social media tools, and event management.
With this plan, you get a website with hosting, analytics, blog, SSL, and more. You can set up an eCommerce store with unlimited products and transactions. You'll be required to pay a 1.5% transaction fee. If you need help, you can call or chat with their support team.
The email Plus plan offers the same features as the Email plan and then some. You'll get features like customizable pop-up forms, automated welcome email series, and automated behavioral series. The Plus plan also allows for more interaction with your list members, such as surveys, polls, and RSVP forms. You can even personalize your emails for each member.
ConvertKit offers two payment plans: Creator and Creator Pro. Creator currently starts at $29 for up to 1,000 subscribers, with the price increasing as you gain more subscribers. Creator Pro currently starts at $59 per month, and the cost increases as you gain subscribers. Both plans offer two months free if you pay annually.
With the Creator plan, you'll get unlimited landing pages and unlimited traffic. You'll have the option to customize your domain name. You can send email broadcasts, automate your funnels and email sequences. You'll also get access to premium support and two different courses to help you get started.
With Creator Pro, you'll get everything in the Creator plan and custom Facebook audiences, and more analytics features. You'll also receive access to priority support in case you need help.
Both services do offer free trials so that you can get a feel for their paid services. ConvertKit is the only service with an actual free option.
Constant Contact doesn't currently offer any free options other than a free trial membership.
ConvertKit offers a free version of its service that lets you manage up to 1,000 subscribers. You'll get unlimited landing pages, forms, and traffic, with a customizable domain. You can send email blasts and tag subscribers, but you can't create automated funnels and email sequences. You will be able to complete the two courses under the free plan.
If you still are torn between which service may better suit your needs, let's take a look at some frequently asked questions that may further help you decide.
If your business has an online presence, you should have an email list. You should also regularly email your list. Managing an email list is so much easier with an email marketing platform instead of using a regular email service.
Even free or cheap platforms will give you options to help you manage your list and create professional-looking emails. Platforms also offer some level of automation so that you can send emails on a schedule without having to manually send an email each time someone joins your list.
Paid email marketing services can be helpful at almost any stage of your business's growth but become particularly useful once your list expands beyond 1,000 or so members. Paid platforms allow for advanced options like sales funnels, list segmentation, and analytics, all features that can help you increase conversions.
While you may be reluctant to spend the money each month, most business owners find that once their list is big enough, the added features make more conversions, and the paid service more than pays for itself.
Almost every online entrepreneur and digital marketing expert will tell you that email is still one of the best ways to get new customers. You can get visitors to your website, but what are the chances they'll come back? However, people check their email daily. If you're in their inbox, you're maintaining a connection.
Both Constant Contact and ConvertKit offer email marketing software that will help you to grow your list and stay connected with your current list members. These platforms make it easy to create great-looking emails, although Constant Contact does offer more options for customization. Both services also allow for automation and sales funnels, but ConvertKit is your best bet if you want to segment and target your list to increase conversions.
Overall, both platforms offer powerful solutions, and your ultimate decision will likely be based on your specific use case. It's essential to consider your needs as you think over these options and make your choice. By creating automated email sequences, you can get more conversions while reducing the amount of time you spend on email.
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]]>The post ActiveCampaign vs. MailChimp appeared first on WebMonkey.
]]>Both of these platforms use data and automation to create more personalized email campaigns to convert more subscribers into customers. The question is – which one is right for you?
When trying to decide between ActiveCampaign and MailChimp, the first step is to better understand what they each offer.
The ActiveCampaign platform learns from users' data. This helps to deliver more effective and personalized messages. It also includes a customer relationship management component that helps organize all customer data while consolidating communication channels and automatically handling prospect tracking.
The easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface makes it simple to build and execute even complex email campaigns, consolidate data, and create custom goals. You can also view and use detailed reports, providing even more insight into your campaigns and email marketing efforts.
ActiveCampaign can also integrate with an array of popular applications, including Zoom and Shopify.
MailChimp is the world's largest marketing automation platform and can be used to create compelling and effective email campaigns geared toward a customer's custom needs. It offers users an easy-to-understand dashboard to help users better understand all the data that is collected.
Like ActiveCampaign, MailChimp will integrate with popular e-commerce platforms, such as Google, Instagram, and Facebook.
ActiveCampaign offers an array of features. Keep reading to learn what features and capabilities are offered.
With ActiveCampaign, you have an array of email templates to use along with a drag-and-drop interface to make customization of your emails simple. Some of the other features include:
The design and setup of ActiveCampaign make it possible for you to set specific campaign goals, like a specific number of webinar sign-ups or page views, and then respond based on goal completions. With these goals, you can better track aggregated data from your users.
For example, a goal is only met when someone visits your pricing page, signs up for your email list, and clicks your call to action link. All three must be done before the goal is met and completed.
With ActiveCampaign, you have a tool that will automatically track your conversion rates. This lets you know precisely how many contacts have completed your goals versus the number that have made it through the automation sequence.
When you can assess your campaign's automation performance, especially when combined with A/B testing, it will result in a much more successful email campaign. This platform has also integrated behavioral and social data along with lead and contact scoring to help your CRM and sales efforts.
When looking at the editor and ease of use of ActiveCampaign, it is important to remember that this platform was designed to be a more feature-rich and powerful campaign with more advanced (i.e., complicated) features than MailChimp.
You may expect that the interface will be complicated and confusing; however, a nice surprise is that it is not. In fact, it is easy and fast to navigate and provides a polished and seamless user experience.
The drag-and-drop editor offered by this platform makes it easy to build emails, and you have the option to revert to a previous version of an email, which is especially helpful.
While all the above is true, ActiveCampaign is not as beginner-friendly as MailChimp's features – the main reason for this is the high-level features that are available. For example, setting up email automation requires a bit of practice. This is fine if you are technically inclined and willing to learn the system; however, it may be a bit overwhelming if you are a total beginner.
With ActiveCampaign, you have access to 30 well-designed and mobile-friendly templates. You also have access to flexible content blocks and the ability to import custom templates of your own.
The approach to list management on ActiveCampaign is unique to the platform. With this site, the lists are not as rigid. This means the same campaigns can be sent to contacts that are on different lists.
It is possible to segment your contacts using custom fields or tags. You can also add or remove custom fields and tags through automation.
Another appealing feature of ActiveCampaign is lead scoring. This lets you assign scores based on the actions your subscribers take. This is very powerful, which is why ActiveCampaign is a top option for many users.
The automation features offered by this platform are more sophisticated than what is offered by MailChimp. In fact, these automation capabilities are what you would expect to see with much more costly software.
With this platform, you can combine several actions, conditions, and triggers to create a complex and sophisticated workflow to send emails, segment and tag data, score leads, and so much more.
ActiveCampaign also offers seamless integration with the inbuilt CRM. This means you can automate all sales processes, too.
You have several options to create various forms: modal, floating box, floating bar, and inline. The form editor provided is easy to use and visual. If you want to add new fields, the process is easy and straightforward.
Forms provided are responsive and can be linked to Facebook or WordPress directly and embedded if you enable these integrations. You also have options to associate the forms you are using with deals, tags, or lists.
The pricing structure for ActiveCampaign is based on the total number of customer contacts in the plan you choose. As a subscriber, you can choose from a sliding scale between 500 and 10K contacts. For example, if you have 1,000 contacts, the lite plan would be approximately $17 per month if you pay annually. From that point, you can go up to the Plus, Professional, and Enterprise plan based on your needs.
Each of the plans offered by ActiveCampaign offers unlimited email sends, marketing automation, email marketing, and 24/7 access to email and chat support. If you choose the Lite plan, you can have up to three users on your account.
If you choose the Plus plan, you receive a CRM featuring sales automation, leads score, and contact score, as well as up to 25 users. The Professional plan provides several supplemental features, such as site messaging, and can be used by up to 50 users. Enterprise plans allow you to have unlimited users and 24/7 phone support.
MailChimp offers an array of appealing features. Please keep reading to learn about what it offers and why this may be the right platform for your needs.
MailChimp provides many of the same features that ActiveCampaign does. With this solution, you can take advantage of the following features:
Recently, a new feature was introduced by MailChimp called “Email Beamer.” With this feature, you can create emails using a mobile device or through the Gmail or Outlook server. Once complete, it can be funneled to MailChimp through a private email address. At this point, MailChimp will assemble your draft campaign automatically, and when you decide, distribute it.
The high level of flexibility offered by MailChimp lets you create emails based on your time zone (or the time zone of your audience), use location for segmenting your email list, personalize messages using predicted demographics, and use defined triggers to automate emails.
With MailChimp, users have access to an account dashboard that provides an entire campaign overview. This overview includes all contacts that opened emails, what links they clicked in the email, how much your audience has grown, e-commerce performance, and campaign engagement.
You can also take advantage of interactive graphs that help you visualize the statistics provided. MailChimp also provides data on subscriber habits and graphs of engagement by country.
The drill-down data feature offered by MailChimp helps you compare your campaigns to other users in your industry to see how effective your efforts are. As an online store owner, you can track your sales from the initial click to the purchase, pull statistics from the website traffic tools, predict future trends, and analyze your return on investment.
Thanks to the subscriber activity reports, you can track your subscribers' activities in real-time and let users send modified campaigns to those who do not open your emails.
When MailChimp was first introduced, one of its biggest “claims to fame” was how easy it was to use. It was released during a time when email marketing software was built and designed for large enterprises, which was extremely expensive and too complicated for the average business owner to manage on their own.
Today, the platform maintains much of that simplicity. It offers a drag-and-drop email editor and easy-to-use interface, making it something that even an “average Joe” can use and master.
Some even claim that MailChimp helped set the standard for what is known as an easy-to-use email editor. Put simply, it is familiar and does not come with big or confusing surprises.
While this is true, MailChimp does have a downside. For example, it can be difficult to find specific sections and features. Forms, landing pages, and automation, for example, are usually lumped together with emails in the Campaigns tab, which does not make much sense for some users. Also, creating forms and automation can be a bit confusing, which is important to note.
With MailChimp, you have instant access to approximately 100 email templates (or, as the site calls them, themes), which are all mobile-responsive and feature a modern style. You also have access to 14 different boilerplate layouts you can customize with your own images and colors.
You have a sufficient level of flexibility to adjust the available designs thanks to the various content blogs that you can drag and drop in (promo codes, products, social buttons, images, and text). You also have the option to upload coded templates if desired.
The lists through MailChimp are mutually exclusive. What this means is that you cannot include contacts on different lists within the same campaigns. Also, since MailChimp charges per subscriber (more below), it also means that you have one contact on more than one list, you are paying for them multiple times.
If you run various projects or businesses, this separation may make sense. However, if this is not the case, it is expensive and annoying.
The list management for MailChimp is also quite complicated. Besides lists, there are other ways to organize your contacts, including groups, segments, and tags, which are all a bit too much since the specific distinction between all these is not very clear at first look.
MailChimp offers an array of automated campaigns. This includes product purchase confirmations and abandoned cart campaigns, to name a few. However, the actual automation editor is somewhat confusing and awkward to use.
There is no visual workflow provided, nor are their options for automation to branch into various paths. It is not very flexible, and you want to have as much control as you can with automation.
You can create a pop-up or embedded form with MailChimp; however, it is not as easy as it should be. Also, not all forms will be mobile responsive.
The actual form builder, where you edit the design and form fields, is more intuitive to use; you can use a different editor when you create embedded forms and then another one if you create a pop-up form.
With MailChimp, if you have under 2,000 contacts and send less than 12K emails a month, you can use the platform for free. This is a huge bonus for smaller businesses. However, if you want unlimited emailing, you will have to pay a fee.
Like ActiveCampaign, MailChimp's pricing plans will scale up based on your total subscribers. For example, for zero to 500 subscribers, you pay $25 per month, and for 1,501 to 2,000 subscribers, the cost is $25 per month.
Along with unlimited emails, paid plans provide additional features, such as delivering emails based on the receiver's time zone, support, predictive demographics, and advanced testing tools. If you choose the Premium plan, you gain access to additional enterprise-level features, like multivariate testing and advanced segmentation, which is beneficial if you are a high-volume email sender.
As you can see from the information here, both MailChimp and ActiveCampaign offer a simple drag-and-drop interface and modern templates, which will help you create professional and effective mailers. You also get robust testing options and workflows with both platforms.
Keep in mind, MailChimp and ActiveCampaign are not the only options when it comes to marketing automation. There are other options to consider, too, so be sure to learn about all the available options.
Still have questions about ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp? Here are the answers.
Usually, MailChimp will be the more affordable option, but ActiveCampaign offers more features for any business that wants to increase sales and build their CRM.
Both MailChimp and ActiveCampaign offer various features and capabilities that will help you with your email goals. While this is true, the one you choose is dependent on your goals and preferences, along with your budget. Being informed and knowing what is offered by the platforms will help you choose the option that best suits your business's needs.
Remember, ultimately, this is a decision you have to make. However, with both tools, you will find you gain access to professional tools and capabilities that would not be available otherwise.
The difference between these two services is seen when you take a closer look at managing data. With ActiveCampaign, you are more focused on completing goals, sales, and CRM. MailChimp provides users with informative dashboards, comparisons, and interactive graphs.
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]]>The post AWeber vs. Mailchimp appeared first on WebMonkey.
]]>In this article, we'll be comparing AWeber vs. Mailchimp, which are two of the most powerful email marketing platforms on the market.
AWeber was founded in 1998. Their motto is to help you build an automated email system that will do 90% of the work for you. AWeber's remote-based team is continually creating innovative new features on its platform and offers 24/7 customer support.
Giving back to their community is a priority for AWeber. Each year, employees are given two paid volunteer days, and they also offer their team a donation matching program.
Mailchimp's story began in 2001 with the goal of offering budget-oriented businesses a less expensive email software system. They've stayed true to that mission today, offering clients the option to use their services for free for the first 2,000 email subscribers.
Mailchimp's headquarters are in Atlanta. They've spent over $7 million in their community in the past seven years, partnering with nonprofits such as Literary Action and Living Walls.
AWeber and Mailchimp are time-saving organizational tools that allow you to automate emails and keep track of your subscribers. They both offer statistics that are vital to assessing how your email marketing efforts are performing.
You might be wondering: is email marketing necessary to run a successful business?
In today's modern world, email marketing is vital to business owners looking to retain and increase consumer spending. A study performed by the Content Marketing Institute found that over 90% of marketers consider emails to be “important” or “extremely important.”
No two businesses are alike, so it's essential to consider what you need from your email marketing platform. Before we dive into their differences, let's look at the features that AWeber and Mailchimp share.
Similarities between AWeber and Mailchimp:
While Aweber and Mailchimp offer similar base features for email marketing, they differ in many areas. At the end of this review, we'll show you which option is best based on your individual needs and goals.
Below are the twelve areas we'll be covering:
Both Aweber and Mailchimp have different pricing tiers according to how many email contacts a business has. It looks as follows:
*The AWeber Pro Plan comes in five price tiers: 0 – 500 (should you wish to pay for premium features), 501 – 2,500, 2,501 – 5,000, 5,001 – 10,000, and 10,001 – 25,000. If you have over 25,000 subscribers, you'll need to call to get a special quote.
If you're just getting started, Mailchimp's Free Plan is an excellent choice. You can upgrade at any time as you build more contacts or if you want access to more features.
Mailchimp's Essentials Plan is also a solid option for those with under 20,000 email subscribers. Autoresponders and code email templates won't be available, but this plan is a cost-effective option for basic email marketing use.
If you have more than 20,000 email contacts, Aweber will be the least expensive option for you. Just remember that if you have over 25,000 subscribers, you'll need to contact Aweber to work out a custom quote.
We've already established that AWeber and Mailchimp offer free plans. However, aside from the number of contacts that can be utilized with this service, some other key differences exist between these free plans.
Most notably, although AWeber only offers its free plan for up to 500 contacts, it will allow you to use almost all its features as if you were a paying customer. Some exceptions to this are split testing and abandoned cart emails. It also offers free 24/7 support.
On the other hand, users with up to 2,000 contacts can take advantage of Mailchimp's free plan. However, it's e-newsletter functions are limited. You won't be able to automate your newsletters, custom-code templates, or use many templates. Customer support also isn't available to free Mailchimp users.
Mailchimp and AWeber's free plans are ad-supported in both cases, although AWeber's logo stands out less than Mailchimp's.
Reporting is one of the most significant advantages of signing up for marketing email services like AWeber and Mailchimp. As such, both offer reports so you can analyze the effectiveness of your email campaigns.
AWeber offers a user-friendly dashboard with graphs showing the number of opens and clicks. They offer insight on where people clicked in your emails as well as those who unsubscribed.
Mailchimp also offers graphs to show these metrics, but they do so in a more detailed way. The graphs are more interactive and include a click map overlay.
Another two areas where Mailchimp stands out with reporting compared to AWeber is with its member rating system and a comparison list.
The member rating system is designed to show you how often any given email subscriber engages with your emails. That's determined by the number of opens, clicks, and purchases. Mailchimp then assigns each user a number 1 – 5. Using this information, you can better target communication with those who interact with you the most.
Another unique reporting feature that Mailchimp offers is the ability to compare your performance against other businesses' email marketing campaigns in the same sector.
There's one area where AWeber shines in reporting, however. They offer a segment feature where you can zero in on a specific email or group of people to analyze statistics that apply only to them.
One of the most vital marketing components is making it easy for your potential customers to connect with you. Aweber and Mailchimp both offer sign-up forms you can install on your website. However, they differ in ease of use.
An AWeber subscription comes with countless pre-made sign-up form templates with the option to include up to 25 fields of information (such as name, date of birth, etc.). They also offer the option to split test with different sign-up forms so you can analyze which one brings in the most significant number of new subscribers.
When it comes to Mailchimp, you'll need to have basic HTML knowledge to embed the code on your website, but you'll be able to create many custom sign-up forms.
AWeber and Mailchimp both offer user-friendly email template designs. Both are responsive, meaning that they'll automatically resize to fit your customer's device.
Email template quantity is a key area where AWeber and Mailchimp differ. Mailchimp offers around 100 templates, where AWeber offers more than 700 templates.
Before you go running off to purchase an AWeber subscription, though, consider this: Mailchimp offers full flexibility to create your own templates from scratch. That way, you can ensure your email templates stay true to your brand.
Successful marketing involves trial and error to see how your potential customers react. The beauty of A/B testing, which is also referred to as split testing, is that you can monitor how users respond to different email campaigns.
Examples of A/B tests that marketers may run in their emails include changing the location or style of the call to action button, switching up images, and changing the font or paragraph layout, among many others.
When comparing AWeber vs. Mailchimp, both offer A/B tests. However, AWeber offers the option to run only three tests for any given set of emails.
With Mailchimp, you can compare up to eight different email styles, which will be sent to half of your contacts. The remaining half of your contacts will receive whichever test email performed the best when it comes to click-through rate, open rate, and total revenue.
But before you run off to purchase Mailchimp, consider this: the eight variant split testing is only available for Premium plan users, requiring an investment of hundreds of dollars each month.
Mailchimp's Essential and Standard plans come with only three split test options. Nevertheless, Mailchimp's A/B testing is the clear winner here since you'll have room to upgrade as your business grows.
AMP is a unique feature to AWeber. Typically, if a client receives an email and wants to take action, they click a link and are taken to a website away from that email. An example of this is scheduling an appointment or RSVP-ing to an event.
With AMP, that extra step isn't necessary—a client can book appointments and take all actions from within the email.
Your client is also likely to return to the email to check on their appointment. That way, it gives you more opportunity for them to see the content of your e-newsletter again.
AMP is only offered by AWeber, so they are the clear winner here if AMP is something you'd like to incorporate in your marketing tactics.
Depending on your business model, affiliate links may be a primary source of revenue. In this case, AWeber will be the best option for you since it doesn't have restrictions.
That's not to say you can't incorporate affiliate links with your Mailchimp emails. However, Mailchimp has strict policies when it comes to affiliate links.
Therefore, you'd need to check your links against their list to ensure you're legally able to include them. Otherwise, you could risk getting your account shut down.
Every business owner knows the dreaded feeling when their website crashes, or they have any kind of malfunction in the products they use. And so, there's peace of mind knowing you'll receive quick and professional customer service from your email host.
When comparing AWeber vs. Mailchimp, both services offer email support and online tutorials to help you work through common issues.
However, AWeber excels in customer service since they have a 24/7 toll-free number and an online chat.
AWeber offers a perk that Mailchimp doesn't: a free platform of stock images. That can both save you time and money when you want to include some generic photos in your e-newsletters.
For most business owners, this stock image feature doesn't make or break their decision; it's possible to use other free photography sites like Unsplash to download photos. However, AWeber's free stock photo library undoubtedly is a time-saver for those who often utilize stock photos.
RSS is a way for emails to stay up-to-date on linked information. RSS feeds are most commonly used for blogs, so that the newest blog post always shows up in your email.
Both Mailchimp and AWeber offer the option to incorporate RSS into your e-newsletters. However, AWeber's templates have an out-of-date feel to them, and they can't be easily edited.
On the other hand, Mailchimp offers users the ability to use any template for their RSS. That's important for branding since, with AWeber, you could spend lots of time customizing your email templates but wouldn't be able to use them if you want to include an RSS feed for your blog posts.
Integrations are an essential function of email marketing. Both AWeber and Mailchimp offer various integrations, some of the biggest names being PayPal and Facebook.
Unfortunately, Mailchimp and Shopify had a falling out. While there are ways to get around this, if Shopify is a big part of your business, it'll likely be easier for you to use AWeber.
Shopify aside, Mailchimp offers a more extensive selection of integrations, and in some cases, they're easier to incorporate in your emails than AWeber. Also, if you use Facebook ads, you'll be able to do so directly from your Mailchimp account.
The “winner” of AWeber vs. Mailchimp depends greatly on the kinds of services you need for your business. Both are excellent products, so the lists below will help you determine which company is the best fit for you.
Use AWeber if:
Use Mailchimp if:
Now, let’s take a look at some common FAQs about AWeber, Mailchimp, and email marketing platforms in general.
Some of the most important factors to consider when looking to purchase an email marketing platform include the number of email subscribers vs. price, how in-depth the email metrics are for what you need, and the ability to customize email templates, so they reflect your brand.
Mailchimp and AWeber offer email marketers excellent software for gaining and engaging subscribers. Mailchimp is perfect for people with under 2,000 subscribers looking for free email host software. AWeber offers more competitive prices for businesses with over 25,000 subscribers.
You have to pay for Mailchimp if you have over 2,000 email contacts. There are three paid plans with Mailchimp: Essentials, Standard, and Premium. These plans accommodate 2,000 to 200,000+ contacts.
AWeber offers a free landing page feature. Anyone who signs up via your landing page will automatically be subscribed to your AWeber email list. It isn't necessary to have a website to use this service.
AWeber and Mailchimp are both strong contenders in the email hosting marketplace. They share several qualities and diverge in areas that allow them to cater to businesses seeking specific email marketing resources.
Regardless of the email marketing platform you choose, you can be sure it'll help you save time and test different email features so that you can be on your way to increasing your email subscriber engagement.
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]]>The post MailChimp vs. ConvertKit appeared first on WebMonkey.
]]>Two platforms that keep coming up in the argument for the best email marketing company are MailChimp and ConvertKit. MailChimp has been around for nearly two decades, while ConvertKit is newer to the market. Yet ConvertKit has been able to convince a generous number of loyal MailChimp customers to switch providers.
Which one is better? There are multiple circumstances to consider, such as any budget constraints your business may have, as well as the volume of emails you would like to send each month. Let's dive in.
MailChimp was founded in 2001 by Ben Chestnut and Dan Kurzius as an alternative to their large, corporate-focused web design agency, the Rocket Science Group. They wanted to give small businesses the technology and high-end tools to empower and help the business grow. In 2007, they called it quits on the web design agency and focused entirely on MailChimp.
As the name suggests, MailChimp offers email marketing services, but they also have many all-in-one tools such as website builders and detailed campaign analytics. Their monthly marketing platform subscriptions range from free up to $299 per month, or you can go the transactional email route, which allows you to pay based on the volume of emails you send out.
In January of 2013, Nathan Barry founded ConvertKit as an email marketing platform designed specifically for creators. A creator can be anyone from a painter, poet, YouTuber, artist, blogger, photographer, or teacher; if they're creating or writing things and sharing them online, then they fit the bill.
They've recently caught up to MailChimp by offering an eCommerce design tool where creators can sell tutorials, music, presets, or set up subscriptions for premium newsletters and other digital content. Their monthly subscriptions start from free, while the other choices change in price depending on how many subscribers you have. They offer two months free if you pay annually.
Both agencies seem very similar from the outside-in, but there's a multitude of differences between them. Let's get into the details you need to know.
If you're on a monthly budget constraint or just trying to save some extra money, then the first thing you need to consider is the price differences between MailChimp vs. ConvertKit.
ConvertKit offers a free 14-day trial to try out the features offered on their paid plans, while MailChimp only allows you to test out the free subscription option until you decide to upgrade. ConvertKit also gives you a free migration from any platform you're using with their paid plans, which saves you the trouble of transferring your data manually.
Both MailChimp and Convertkit offer a free membership option. Both plans are similar, but the major difference is that MailChimp allows you to manage up to 2,000 contacts while ConvertKit limits you to 1,000. If you have a successful referral through ConvertKit, though, both you and your referral receive the allowance for 100 more subscribers, and so on.
With both free plans, you receive a sponsored domain and basic creative tools to communicate with potential clients and test new ideas.
MailChimp has three paid subscription options: Essentials, Standard, and Premium. Essentials start at $9.99 per month, Standard at $14.99, and Premium at $299. Each plan scales based on the number of subscribers you're managing. For example, if you're campaigning to 10,000 subscribers, then your monthly price would change to $78.99 for essentials and $105 for standard.
The MailChimp essentials plan is ideal for frequent email senders who would like access to upgraded features and around-the-clock support. The standard plan is the most popular out of the four choices. It has data-driven optimization tools to help business owners and marketing agents monitor their growth and target specific areas that need to be improved.
ConvertKit has two paid subscription options: Creator and Creator Pro. Creator starts at $29 per month and Creator Pro at $59. If you have 10,000 subscribers, then the monthly prices would scale to $119 and $167 per month, respectively. If you pay annually, then you receive two months free.
MailChimp's premium subscription seems steep at the starting price of $299 per month for 10,000 contacts, which is why it's targeted at a smaller audience. Their premium subscription is specifically engineered for marketing pros who would like more customization and access to incredibly detailed analytics, which many businesses don't need. Their premium subscription is also the only monthly account that receives phone service instead of chat and email support.
ConvertKit's competition to MailChimp's premium subscription is its creative pro account. For 10,000 subscribers, you can expect to pay $167 per month. The features are not as in-depth and customizable as MailChimp. However, you still gain access to impressive tools, including custom Facebook audiences, subscriber engagement scoring, and a newsletter referral system.
As opposed to the monthly subscription options, MailChimp offers a transactional email method designed for developers. You purchase blocks and only need to buy more once your original purchase runs out.
A block is a credit for 25,000 emails. Purchasing anywhere from 1 to 20 blocks (up to 500,000 emails per month) comes out to $20 per block while purchasing 41 to 80 blocks (1 million to 2 million emails each month) cuts it down to $18 per block, and so on—the price decreases with the more blocks you purchase.
With transactional emails, you receive access to scalable analytics, global infrastructure, developer guides, and API reference. ConvertKit does not offer a competing choice to transactional emails, but their free plan allows you to send unlimited emails (although you are still limited to 1,000 subscribers).
The trademark of a fluent email campaign is efficient list management, so you need the tools to help you do that.
MailChimp allows you to create lists where you can entirely separate groups of contacts from others, which is ideal for managing multiple clients or products. One downfall to MailChimp's list management system is that you will be charged for any duplicate emails that show up on multiple lists.
If you aren't juggling multiple content streams, then you can easily manage all your contacts on one single list with MailChimp. You have the option to assign them tags, organize them based on the sign-up method (website or referral, for example), or group them based on interests (determined when they signed up).
ConvertKit does not offer list management. Instead, whenever you upload contacts, they will go to the same place. However, you can assign contacts to a sequence, form, or tag as a way to organize them. You also have the option to create groups of contacts with similar aspects regardless of if they are in the same sequence.
ConvertKit will not charge you for repeat subscribers, and their auto deduplication tool assures that the same email will never be sent to the same subscriber twice, no matter how many segments they're a part of.
Nothing steers paying customers away from a platform faster than having a chaotic, difficult-to-use interface. Both companies pride themselves on having an easy-to-use system, so let's put those claims to the test.
MailChimp gives you two jumping-off points before sending an email. You can choose between selecting contacts first or jump into designing and writing the email. Their interface is intuitive and simple, which holds true even once you dive into the editor.
They use a drag-and-drop editor that allows you to duplicate, rearrange, and delete blocks without any trouble. If you prefer to insert your own custom code, you can use one of the blocks to do so, but most users do fine with the preset templates and features available already.
Speaking of preset templates, MailChimp has over 100 themed, customizable designs that you can choose from when designing your emails. This includes newsletters, event invites, holiday emails, and more.
ConvertKit's interface is similarly easy to navigate, but this is because the editor is slightly underwhelming. They do not offer a drag-and-drop display like MailChimp; they claim that templates like that can actually hurt your customer engagement, and you can read the article about it written by founder Nathan Barry here.
This means that ConvertKit instead places emphasis on text-based editing, so you're restrained to formatting text (bolding, italicizing, etc.) for your emails without any visual aspects. You can still add images and different colors to establish your brand, though. CovertKit offers three different styles of emails that you can choose from: text only, classic, and modern.
In terms of landing pages, though, ConvertKit offers 18 fully-customizable landing pages that your subscribers will interact with on your site as well as after engaging with your emails.
While both platforms offer slightly different features in their editors, both are easy to use and won't hinder your marketing plan due to complicated navigation or format. Both home interfaces are also simplistic and easy to navigate regardless of the task you're performing, and contacting support is a breeze. If you like a high degree of customization, then you may be leaning towards MailChimp.
Choosing a marketing platform when you're selling products online can also be a tricky task.
ConvertKit can only integrate digital sales into their websites, meaning that you cannot sell and ship physical products to customers. However, this is great for bloggers who like to sell premium newsletters or crafters who share their yarn and crochet patterns. If you're selling physical products, then your only choice out of the two would be MailChimp.
MailChimp also has other features that ConvertKit doesn't, such as letting you send abandoned cart reminders to customers and time-gated emails that send out a certain amount of time after purchase. You can also easily view your return-on-investment in one chart that compares the number of clicks versus the number of purchases you received.
Apps and other website integration are important, especially if you're going to be marketing across multiple platforms and using a variety of tools to grow your business. You don't want everything to be condensed to one website because that will just hinder your ability to reach new customers and subscribers.
Both platforms have integration capability with hundreds of different programs and platforms. These include Squarespace, Shopify, and Photoshop, just to name a few. One thing that ConvertKit offers is the ability to design your own integration to work with their platform, as long as you can work with coding.
If you send an email, the goal is that it reaches your subscriber's inbox, right? Sometimes, email marketing platforms can advertise a high deliverability rate and guarantee your newsletter won't end up in the spam folder, but it does anyway.
Both MailChimp and ConvertKit have been measured on their overall deliverability stats. From July 2019 to September 2023, these were the results:
As you can see, MailChimp wins in every category in terms of deliverability, but this isn't a deal-breaker for ConvertKit. Emails can be bounced for a variety of reasons, such as not making it easy to unsubscribe or sending from a sponsored domain.
Even after covering all the detailed ins-and-outs of both email marketing platforms, it's extremely difficult to pin a clear winner. The truth is that both platforms are meant for different users; ConvertKit is geared primarily towards bloggers, while MailChimp is the go-to for many ecommerce businesses.
Of course, price is important. We like that ConvertKit gives you two months free if you pay annually, but you'll be locked in with no chance of canceling your plan. It's hard to gauge the actual price difference between the two because they offer a multitude of different options, such as MailChimp's decision to offer a monthly subscription or transactional emails, which lets you purchase blocks of email allowances as you go.
If you're attracted to hundreds of themed templates to design your emails, then MailChimp may be the best choice for you. Another reason you may go with MailChimp is if you're an ecommerce business. While ConvertKit gives you the option to sell products, this is limited to digitized items like tutorials and templates. MailChimp focuses a lot on branding, while ConvertKit is dedicated to making the most out of your mailing list.
In fact, Nathan Barry, the founder of ConvertKit, even published a blog with a list of reasons you should not switch from MailChimp to ConvertKit (yes, you read that right). This speaks volumes about the level of customer service that ConvertKit offers to its users. They would rather have happy customers than a paying, unsatisfied customer who does not receive the right services for their business.
Here is a look into common concerns and questions customers have when considering MailChimp vs. ConvertKit.
As we mentioned above, it can be hard to gauge the actual price difference between the two platforms because everyone will be paying for a different range of services.
That being said, MailChimp's standard subscription starts at $79.99 per month with 5,000 subscribers, while ConvertKit's creator subscription (similar to the standard) is also $79 per month. MailChimp requires you to pay extra if you exceed the plan's limits on subscribers and monthly email sends, while ConvertKit offers unlimited email sending. ConvertKit also does not charge you extra for duplicate subscribers across multiple lists like MailChimp does.
Long story short, both platforms are competitively priced, but you may pay more depending on the volume of business and marketing you'll be conducting.
There are plenty of other email marketing platforms, but MailChimp and ConvertKit are definitely dominating the field compared to their alternatives. Other companies you can check out include GetResponse, MailerLite, or ActiveCampaign.
Neither ConvertKit nor MailChimp can guarantee that their platform will grow your business overnight and shower you in new subscribers. Both companies simply give you a set of tools that you can use as you see fit to engage with new customers and share your brand.
Sometimes you might have great luck and see a surge in new sales because of a recent email campaign, and other times you might fall flat because your strategy failed. Regardless, ConvertKit will not provide better results than MailChimp and vice versa. It all depends on how you engage with the tools provided for you.
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]]>The post MailChimp vs MailerLite appeared first on WebMonkey.
]]>Two popular ESPs are MailChimp and MailerLite. Both are affordable email automation platforms, but each has its advantages and disadvantages.
MailerLite targets small businesses, solo entrepreneurs, and freelancers. Novice users can easily navigate the platform to release their email campaigns quickly.
The feature-packed MailChimp works for every marketer at every skill level. No matter what you want to accomplish with your campaign, MailChimp probably has the software.
While neither service is perfect, they are some of the best ESPs available for good reason.
MailChimp is one of the premier names in the email marketing industry for many reasons. They have advanced reporting and analytics, automated email response templates, and plenty of tips and support. The interface loads quickly and is extremely intuitive.
The easy-to-use platform has a drag and drop editor, personalized tips, assistance, and a checklist user interface. To send hyper-targeted emails, you can use the list management function’s segments, tags, and groups.
To stay in contact with previous customers, you can use the premade eCommerce workflows to follow up, thus increasing business and sales. The automation workflows can be based on customers’ website activities. Also, you can monitor brand engagement on social media with your customers.
On the other hand, they limit support for low-paying customers, and the upper-tier can get pricey.
Primary features include A/B testing, newspaper templates, email campaigns, and automation. The support team offers live chat and email support for paid users and guides and tutorials for all.
MailerLite employs an easy-to-use interface with excellent navigation. The advanced features all come with explanations, and it has granular segmentation options. The interface employs a drag-and-drop editor and feature tips.
The landing page builder allows HTML and CSS coding, but you can also use pre-existing form templates to popup or get embedded on your webpage. The automation builder lets you edit workflow items quickly.
While simple to use, the user interface seems dated. It lacks email templates, and the approval process gets confusing.
The key features include landing pages, newsletter templates, and email automation.
The pricing plan depends on the number of subscribers, and they have other services that cost additional monthly fees. The support team works 24/7 with a knowledge base to answer questions. They also provide email support to all users and live chat for paid plans.
These email marketing platforms offer slightly different features to reach your customer base.
MailChimp offers analytics and automation. Their analytics directly tie revenue to campaign performance, with performance metrics like the number of orders, average revenue, and total revenue throughout each campaign. You can also compare campaign metrics to determine which strategies were most effective.
You can use your data to aid in segment building as well. If you don’t want to use your criteria, you can use MailChimp’s machine-learning algorithm to build segments. It predicts the return rate and the potential expenditure of customers.
A useful feature is the email templates available for autoresponders based on customer behavior. These templates can be sent to customers who respond to your emails automatically.
MailerLite excels in newsletters. You can create regular email newsletters, perform A/B testing, and send your RSS feed.
You can see if people opened your emails and automatically send the message again with a different subject line, additional content, or a personalized message to make them more likely to read it.
However, these templates all come with paid plans, unlike MailChimp. Nonetheless, you can design and layout your emails on your own for the freemium plan.
Segmentation options let you analyze sign-up dates and sources, campaigns, and inactive time of each subscriber.? The form builder lets you add a popup or embedded form after a user scrolls or at a specific period on the page and where they appear and for how long.
When looking to manage listings, you’ll need to send personalized messages to retain subscribers.
You can design your audience using Excel, Salesforce, Zendesk, Google Contacts, CSV, Eventbrite, and more to import email addresses and information. From there, you can let your audience select permissions to only receive emails they want.
Once you have your list of subscribers, you can segment them using tags and groups. First, segment the audience into groups before applying tags. You can completely customize your tagging structure to send hyper-targeted, personalized emails to each segment of subscribers.
However, you will need to make manual changes to your list. While you can use the Archive Inactive Contacts option, it isn’t easy to navigate.
First, you upload contacts with Excel or CSV or do it manually. Then, you separate the subscribers into segments and groups.
Subscribers enter segments if they meet a specific condition that you set. Groups are more similar to tags as you can choose who goes where, unless you want to automate the process.
The Clean Up Inactive function lets you automatically remove inactive subscribers to make room for new ones, which is a nice feature compared to MailChimp.
MailChimp allows for greater personalization and organization than MailerLite.
Automated processes lessen the workload you have to complete while allowing you to focus on other areas.
The free plan offers limited automation, but the Standard plan has plenty. You can automate onboarding series, send cart reminders, lead nurture campaigns, and notify subscribers about events and coupons. They have excellent ready-made automation workflows for eCommerce organizations.
However, the editing process is less intuitive than MailerLite, and it can get tedious.
MailerLite offers automation for free. You can create workflows and add or delete steps. The automation can send messages when subscribers join, click on a link, make updates, or reach their anniversary.
However, you cannot activate triggers by webpage visits. Nonetheless, the process is intuitive and easy-to-use.
MailerLite provides a simpler automation process.
Using a template for your email campaigns can save tons of time while creating an effective message.
MailChimp has about 100 email templates that work on both desktop and mobile computers. They are sleek and attractive, and you can choose a specific theme for your campaign. All you have to do is add your content.
For further customization, you can edit the HTML. They have a drag-and-drop editor, and you can save your templates for later. Using the WYSIWYG builder means that what you see on your screen will appear in the final email. You can embed all sorts of features, from videos to pictures to links.
One of the best parts is that the freemium plan features templates, unlike MailerLite. You can quickly send out emails and newsletters using their templates.
MailerLite’s paid plans have access to about 60 mobile- and desktop-friendly newsletter templates. You can customize them with HTML and save them for later.
Like with MailChimp, you can edit your sleek templates with a drag-and-drop option. There are around 20 inbuilt modules that you can assemble onto your canvas, including GIFs, social media posts, countdowns, surveys, products, and YouTube embeds.
MailChimp and MailerLite have comparable features, but MailChimp has more templates for free and paid users.
For those who operate online stores, an eCommerce-friendly ESP can boost their sales drastically.
Since MailChimp is one of the first ESPs to exist, they have integrations for most programs. They offer tons of native integrations, and through Zapier, you can find many more.
For online entrepreneurs, MailChimp has an in-depth eCommerce automation workflow. You can track order notifications, purchases, cancellations, abandoned carts, and shipping information. You’ll get data about what pages the shopper has been on to send them personalized emails about those products.
However, you cannot directly integrate with Shopify. If you use BigCommerce, WooCommerce, or PayPal, you’ll be fine, but for Shopify, you will need to go through ShopSync.
Since it’s a newer service, MailerLite has fewer integrations. However, they have some of the most used ones: Facebook Leads, WordPress, ClickFunnels, Shopify, WooCommerce, Paypal, Zapier, and Stripe.
The eCommerce features are subpar, besides the integrations. The only benefit is that they integrate with Shopify directly, but other than that, they have little to offer.
For more integrations and better eCommerce workflows, MailChimp has your back.
You can’t tell if your emails are convincing if you don’t test them, and even more so if you can’t deliver them.
You can test the subject line, email content, and sender details to compare two email campaigns' performance. You run campaigns in equal ratios on portions of your audience, and the winner is sent to the rest of your subscribers.
With the premium plan, you can test up to eight campaigns at once. However, you cannot test landing pages or automation series.
As far as deliverability goes, MailChimp has a greater success rate than MailerLite.
MailerLite lets you test all the same things as MailChimp. You can also select the best campaign manually if you’d prefer. Unlike MailChimp, you can only test two campaigns at once.
While the deliverability rate is lower than MailChimp, it is still high and has improved over the years.
MailChimp has better deliverability and testing options.
To measure the success of your campaign, you will need to look into the analytics.
MailChimp has an incredibly detailed reporting page that lets you determine the return on investment of your campaign. You get conversion data, recommendations, and optimization. They also offer information about the unsubscriptions, open rate, and CTR, as well as the results of your email sequence.
If you want to see exactly how successful your campaign was, MailChimp can do just that. They offer readable reports and analytics, so you understand what to change for your next campaign.
MailerLite has little focus on reporting. You can view the individual campaign statistics on different lists. If you want in-depth analytics, you will need to integrate with Google Analytics.
For eCommerce, you can analyze Shopify and WooCommerce tracking, but no other service. Overall, their analytics area needs a lot of work.
If you want to understand your email campaign, then MailChimp is the best option.
MailChimp has a modern interface, whereas MailerLite looks dated. However, they both have their strengths in terms of usability.
MailChimp offers graphics and personalized support for the best user experience. Upon starting the software, you answer some questions to determine the goals of its use. You then get customized advice for your company.
Any in-app messages appear as you use the feature to direct you to the various options and learn how to use them.
Since MailChimp has so many features, it has a learning curve to understand the platform. It has several tabs with many options for each. As the platform grows, they add more options, like for social media and website creation. While these functionalities are helpful, you’ll have to learn more.
After working through their anti-spam rule and receiving approval, you will find an easy-to-use interface. The options are displayed so that you can readily switch between each. While it’s not the prettiest interface, it is user-friendly.
There is a straightforward organization with short guides that appear as you use each feature, helping you learn as you go.
For an aesthetically-pleasing, easy-to-navigate user interface, look towards MailChimp.
If any questions come up while using the software, you’ll want to know what options you have.
Before contacting support, you need to search through all guides and tutorials. However, they have great self-service support options with graphic-filled articles to solve the problem alone.
However, if that isn’t enough, it's difficult to contact the support team. You need to scroll to the bottom of a guide for contact information.
For all paid plans, you can use 24/7 email and live chat. For the most expensive one, you can get weekday phone support. The free option does not have support.
MailerLite has a Help Center with articles and tutorials for issues you come across. As with MailChimp, you have to search through all material before contacting support.
You get access to email support with the free plan. The paid plans provide 24/7 live chat support as well. For an extra $100 monthly, you can get a dedicated account manager and the option to move to the top of the live chat queue.
All users have access to support on MailerLite.
Both offer free plans, but how do their paid options stack up?
The Free plan works for 2,000 subscribers to send up to 10,000 emails a month. It has fewer templates, a logo, no A/B testing, limited analytics, and fewer scheduling options. However, you get a creative assistant, marketing CRM, a website builder, the MailChimp domain, forms, and landing pages.
The Essentials plan costs $9.99/month, and you get 50,000 contacts and three audiences with multi-step journeys, all email templates, A/B testing, custom branding, and 24/7 live chat and email support.
The $14.99/month Standard plan gets you 100,000 contacts and five audiences, with the branching points, send-time optimization, customer journey builder, custom templates, behavioral targeting, and dynamic content.
The Premium option costs $299/month, but you can have over 200,000 contacts and unlimited audiences. You get multivariate testing, advanced segmentation, unlimited seats, comparative reporting, role-based access, and phone support.
Keep in mind that these are starting costs for 500 contacts, so you may have to pay even more. The more contacts you have, the more expensive things get, even for the low-cost options.
MailerLite pricing depends on audience size. The free plan lets you have up to 1,000 subscribers and send 12,000 emails a month. The paid plans all allow for unlimited emails.
The free plan has the MailerLite logo, lacks a custom HTML editor, and has no templates. It limits scheduling, domains, and analytics. You also cannot perform A/B testing.
$10/month works with 1,000 subscribers, $15 for 2,500, $30 for 5,000, and $50 for 10,000. The paid plans offer live chat support. They offer the missing options from the free plan, and you can pay for other add-ons.
For an extra $10/month, you can get SitesPro to publish more websites and landing pages. $100/month gets you MailerPro for priority support and a dedicated account manager. For $50/month, you can get a Dedicated IP to improve deliverability.
For small business owners, MailChimp can get too expensive as subscribers increase. MailerLite is far more affordable as you get more subscribers.
Both services offer excellent features, and they each could work for your business. If you are a smaller business, MailerLite is an ideal platform to get started with email campaigns. For bigger companies and campaigning budgets, MailChimp has far better functionality.
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