When it comes to email marketing (opens in a new tab), Mailchimp (opens in a new tab) is the first name that many people think of. This platform is one of the most well-known digital marketing service distributors and it deserves it because Mailchimp is an accessible distributor. It has plans and options that adapt to any business, regardless of the requirements.
In this review of Mailchimp's email marketing services, we flesh out the platform's strengths and weaknesses, while comparing it to contenders at both ends of the spectrum: freemium and premium. By the time we're done, you'll find out if Mailchimp is the best email marketing service for you and your business.
MailChimp: plans and prices
Mailchimp has one more free tier with limited features. This free plan lets you send a maximum of 3 emails per month to XNUMX contacts. You will need a premium plan to take full advantage of the platform and Mailchimp offers XNUMX such plans; Essential, Standard and Premium.
The Essentials plan starts at €XNUMX / €XNUMX / AUD €XNUMX per month for XNUMX contacts, and the cost increases with the number of contacts. For example, five thousand contacts on this plan will cost €XNUMX / €XNUMX / AUD €XNUMX per month and fifty zero contacts will cost €XNUMX / €XNUMX / AUD €XNUMX per month. month.
The standard plan starts at €XNUMX / €XNUMX / AUD €XNUMX per month for XNUMX contacts and increases with the number of contacts. For example, ten zero contacts in this plan will cost €XNUMX / €XNUMX / AUD €XNUMX per month and one hundred zero contacts will cost €XNUMX / €XNUMX / AUD €XNUMX per month.
The Premium plan starts at €XNUMX / €XNUMX / AUD €XNUMX per month for XNUMX contacts and increases with the number of contacts like the other plans. For example, fifty zero contacts in this plan will cost €XNUMX / €XNUMX / AUD €XNUMX per month and one hundred zero contacts will cost €XNUMX / €XNUMX / AUD €XNUMX per month. Mailchimp offers a XNUMX% discount on your first month if you add two-factor authentication to your account, and a XNUMX% discount for verified charities and nonprofits.
Mailchimp also offers an alternative option to a recurring monthly plan called pay as you go, which involves purchasing email credits. Each email sent costs one credit, and the credits you buy expire after twelve months. You can always top up your account if you run out of credits or switch to a recurring monthly plan at any time.
MailChimp: Features
Mailchimp's premium plans are packed with features to enable a winning email marketing strategy for any business.
When you're just getting started, Mailchimp's audience building features will help you grow your database (opens in a new tab) and increase the number of potential customers you can reach. Features worth mentioning include tailored signup forms and landing pages (opens in a new tab), digital advertising options, and a affinity audience search tool. We also like the integrations with the launch of a virtual store (opens in a new tab), active content to personalize according to the audience, and a topic line assistant.
With your audience engaged, Mailchimp offers features to engage customers for the service and drive engagement with your business. Designing emails that engage your audience is a snap with Mailchimp's range of templates and drag-and-drop content studio.
Unlike the competition, Mailchimp also offers a site author (opens in a new tab) with built-in marketing tools and a custom domain service (opens in a new tab). These are unique additions to justify Mailchimp's claim as an all-in-one email and digital marketing solution.
Finally, Mailchimp has a suite of features that tailor your marketing to target audience down to a strategy for each contact. Tools for this include list segmentation, tailored tags, and predicted demographics to make every contact in your database unique.
MailChimp: interface and use
Like most other email marketing services, Mailchimp is a web platform or Software as a Service. Once you've created your account, the next step is to sign in on any device for immediate access to your Mailchimp campaigns, analytics, and other tools.
Role-based access settings are reserved for the highest cost plan. For those unfamiliar, this means that different members of your team will sign in with their Mailchimp credentials, but then they'll only be able to access features and data relevant to their role. Consider role-based access a powerful feature, making Mailchimp ideal for a medium to large company, or a company with a dire need for user privacy.
MailChimp: support
Mailchimp offers direct customer support via email, live chat, and phone, but which ones are available depends on the plan you pay for. Free plan users have access to email support throughout the first thirty days of use. Essentials and Standard plan users have access to XNUMX/XNUMX live chat and email support, while only Premium plan users can access phone support.
In addition to direct support, Mailchimp offers many other support resources that each and every customer of the service can access. There is the official Help Center where you can locate articles and tutorials on any and all features of the platform. If you're having an issue with a feature, there's probably a point-by-point article or video tutorial to help you fix it.
Mailchimp offers a separate marketing library, containing articles, podcasts, and videos that teach users how to market effectively. If you need help with your marketing efforts, you can also hire a company board-approved specialist.
MailChimp: The Competition
Sendinblue (Opens in a new tab) and MailerLite (Opens in a new tab) are two popular alternatives to Mailchimp. Sendinblue is a much more accessible email marketing platform and offers more list management and automation features, but Mailchimp is much simpler to use.
MailerLite is also a more accessible tool than Mailchimp. However, Mailchimp offers more complex reporting and analytics features and a larger selection of email templates.
MailChimp: final resolution
In our review, we thought that Mailchimp is simply one of the best free email marketing services out there.
The choice of 4 tiered plans means there is a digital marketing solution for businesses of all shapes and sizes. With Mailchimp's extensive range of features, it's virtually a guarantee that your business will thrive with Mailchimp's email marketing tools.
Plus, taking into account the comprehensive support options and robust data security framework gives us even more confidence in our Mailchimp recommendation for businesses of any and all sizes.
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MailChimp: Price Comparison
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