There’s no doubt that MailChimp has established itself as a major player in the email marketing industry.
With its reputation for providing top-notch email marketing services, automation capabilities, and efficient list management, it’s no surprise that it’s highly recommended for beginners and new businesses.
I spent a good chunk of my time testing MailChimp to see where it excels and falls flat.
And in this MailChimp review, I will share my experience using the tool and how it stacks up against the competition.
Let’s get right into it.
Introducing MailChimp
MailChimp is an email marketing software known for its user-friendly interface and affordable pricing. Founded in 2001 by Ben Chesnut and Dan Kurzius, the tool has grown to be one of the top email marketing service providers growing to over 14 million users worldwide.
Incredibly enough, by 2022, MailChimp had secured a whopping 66.67% market share in the email marketing industry. This level of dominance is imposing and speaks volumes about its widespread popularity.
However, the company was later acquired in 2021 by Intuit, a software company that also owns popular tools like QuickBooks and Mint.
So, what exactly makes MailChimp such a go-to platform?
Well, one of its initial selling points was its affordability. The free plan provided users with all the necessary tools to kickstart their email marketing efforts, including templates and the ability to add up to 2000 contacts.
However, since the acquisition, things have taken a different turn; you see, the free plan is not what it used to be. It has become a shadow of its former self, stripped down and practically useless.
You’re limited to only 500 contacts and 1000 emails a month. I’ll explain this later in the article.
But let’s not dwell on the negatives.
MailChimp has made it ridiculously easy for even the smallest of businesses to build and monetize their email audience, and it hasn’t stopped yet.
The user-friendly interface is easy to navigate, allowing you to create automation with just a few clicks. And if that’s not enough, they have a wide selection of templates that make crafting drip campaigns and workflows a piece of cake.
And well, do I have to explain about their iconic winking monkey wearing a mailman hat as their logo? It’s instantly recognizable.
Alright, it’s time to dive deep into the nitty-gritty of MailChimp’s features and functionality.
MailChimp Review: Features and Functionality
When it comes to email marketing, MailChimp doesn’t disappoint. From an intuitive email builder and detailed analytics to behavioral targeting capabilities, MailChimp allows you to make the most of email marketing campaigns.
Now let’s look at some popular MailChimp features and how they stack up.
1. Email Marketing Automation
Automation can feel intimidating to set up, especially if you’re new. Although your workflows can get complicated depending on the complexity of your campaigns, MailChimps makes creating automation easier.
MailChimp allows you to create automation workflows based on triggers like when a subscriber opens an email, clicks a link, or even abandons the cart.
I was impressed by how easy it is to create an automation workflow using MailChimp. The email marketing tool features an intuitive customer journey builder that allows you to quickly automate workflows.
You’ll also get a wide selection of highly customizable automation templates (MailChimp calls them customer journey maps).
However, you’ll notice that MailChimp customer journey map builder only allows you to create simple and basic workflows.
This includes a welcome sequence, abandon cart automation and personalized product recommendations. This automation can be useful when running a small online business and e-commerce sites.
But if you want to build advanced automation, MailChimp falls behind the likes of ActiveCampaign and, surprisingly also ConvertKit.
For example, say you want to loop subscribers back into various sequences. With a tool like ConvertKit, you can easily handle that, but you can’t do this with MailChimp.
Whichever the case, MailChimp has a long way to go when it comes to creating sophisticated automation.
2. List Management
MailChimp allows you to add email subscribers to your list using various methods. You manually add them or import your list in a CSV or tab-delimited TXT file format. You can also add a single subscriber from the audience dashboard to your account.
When it comes to organizing your list, MailChimp uses tags, groups, and segments. Let’s explore what each of the tools entails.
Tags: Consider them labels you use to categorize your contacts based on your information about them. For example, you can tag subscribers who sign up to your list via a particular form or from a specific landing page.
Groups: Groups allow you to categorize your audience based on their interests and preferences. For example, let’s say you own an AI writing tool. When new users signup for your tool, you may want them to choose what best describes them, such as a copywriter, marketer, or business owner.
Segments: This allows you to filter contacts with similar audience field data, group preferences, activity, and other information. For example, let’s say you had hosted a webinar a few weeks ago. So a few people signed up for your webinar. But only a particular percentage attended.
In that case, you can create a segment to filter down users who registered for your webinar and attended from those who did not attend.
This will help you create an automation sequence that best resonates with them.
3. Email Builder and Templates
Mailchimp has two email builders to help you create and design your emails: the Classic Builder and the New Builder. Both share core functionality, though they differ slightly in look, use, and capability.
You can create an email template from scratch or select from one of its prebuilt templates to customize them to match your campaign goals.
Regarding email templates, MailChimp has quite a huge collection across different categories than most tools. Although they’re not the prettiest, they get the job done at least.
I found MailChimp email builder easy to use. Using their drag-and-drop functionality, you can quickly add essential blocks such as images, CTA buttons, a survey, or even a product from your online shop into your email.
And the fact that you use its Creative Assistant tool in the New Builder to create email templates that best reflect your brand was a thrilling experience for me.
After that, you can see how your emails are displayed across devices like desktops and mobile. This ensures that your email is intuitive for all your audiences.
Nevertheless, if you have your custom email template, you can quickly import it to MailChimp and customize it further.
I found the MailChimp email builder easy to use and very functional. However, what I didn’t like was their subpar prebuilt email templates. I bet they could do a better job than that.
4. MailChimp Website Builder
MailChip offers a website builder functionality to help you launch a website and landing pages faster that you can use to collect email subscribers.
You can host your website or landing page on your custom domain or the MailChimp subdomain.
If you’ve used WordPress Block Editor before, you’ll see quite a lot of resemblance with MailChimp’s website builder. And in that case, you won’t find any challenges using the builder.
You can use the builder to add sections, headers, a video, a CTA, and an image.
Although the website builder functionality looks promising, it’s very limited. You have limited customization options, and designing something unique and compelling is hard.
If you’re used to specialized page builders like Leadpages, Unbounce, or Thrive Architect, you’ll quickly realize how far MailChimp is when it comes to building landing pages.
5. Reporting and Analytics
If there’s anywhere that MailChimp excels is when it comes to reporting. Compared to a tool like ConvertKit or Moosend, MailChimp offers detailed tracking and reporting capabilities.
Let’s break down each MailChimp tracking capability and how it works.
- Campaign Reports: This is MailChimp’s bread and butter. The tool provides detailed reports for each email campaign you send. These reports include open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, unsubscribe rates, and more. You can view these reports within your MailChimp account or export them for further analysis.
- Click Maps: MailChimp’s click maps allow you to visualize and analyze the click activity within your email campaigns. You can see which links or buttons received the most clicks, enabling you to understand your subscribers’ engagement levels and interests.
- E-commerce Reports: If you integrate MailChimp with your e-commerce platform (such as Shopify or WooCommerce), you can access e-commerce reports. These reports provide insights into revenue generated, conversion rates, top-performing products, and other valuable e-commerce metrics.
- Comparative Reports: With MailChimp, you can compare the performance of different email campaigns side by side. This feature helps you identify trends, understand what works best for your audience, and make data-driven decisions for future campaigns.
- A/B Testing: MailChimp enables you to run A/B tests to optimize your email campaigns. You can test different subject lines, content variations, or sender names to see which options perform better. MailChimp provides statistical significance data to help you determine the winning variation.
- Audience Insights: MailChimp’s audience insights provide demographic and engagement data about your subscribers. You can learn about your audience’s location, age, interests, and purchase history, allowing you to understand them better and make targeted email campaigns.
MailChimp Customer Support Review
MailChimp doesn’t fall short when it comes to customer support.
They offer support via live chat, phone, and email. However, the support is only limited to paid plans.
They also have an extensive knowledge base with many tutorials to help you navigate any issue.
MailChimp Pricing Review: Is it Worth Your Money
Now, let’s address the elephant in the room — money.
On the surface, MailChimp looks like a cheap email marketing company. With paid email marketing plans starting as low as $3.25, finding an email marketing service provider at such a rock-bottom price is hard.
But is MailChimp worth your money? To figure out this, let’s first understand MailChimp’s pricing structure.
MailChimp offers three paid plans and a free version. The plans are priced mainly based on the features you get access to plus the number of subscribers you have. Here’s a breakdown of MailChimp’s price structure.
- Free: limited to 500 contacts
- Essentials: starts at $3.25 per month for 500 contacts
- Standard: Starts at $5 per month for 500 contacts
- Premium: Starts at $87.50 per month for 500 contacts
Some years before its acquisition by Intuit, MailChimp offered a generous free plan that allowed you to send 10000 emails per month and create a list of up to 2,000 subscribers.
But since then, its pricing has drastically changed. The same free plan has more limitations than ever. You can only send 1000 emails monthly and create a list of only 500 subscribers.
MailChimp had a reputation as an affordable email marketing service software for small businesses, but it’s quickly losing the title to the likes of Brevo, MailerLite, and the rest.
In comparison, the lower tier of Brevo’s paid plan starts at $25 per month for up to 20,000 emails per month and doesn’t limit the number of email subscribers you can have.
The plan allows you to launch WhatsApp campaigns, create advanced automation and even send transactional emails.
These are some features that you’ll not find in MailChimp.
MailChimp Pros and Cons
Every company has its strengths and weaknesses, and MailChimp is no different. This section will list some of the benefits and limitations you will experience as a MailChimp user.
Pros
- Extensive integration
- Detailed analytics and reporting
- Good workflow automation builder
- User-friendly interface
- Create surveys to learn more about your customers
- Decent form builder
Cons
- The free plan is very limited
- Confusing pricing structure
- Not the best for affiliate niche websites
Best MailChimp Alternatives
MailChimp is a great email marketing software, but it’s not for everyone. For example, if you’re looking to create advanced automation workflows, MailChimp falls short in this case. Here are the best MailChimp alternatives you can use.
- ActiveCampaign – robust marketing automation
- Brevo – best for value for money
- ConvertKit – best for creators
- Drip – best for eCommerce
- HubSpot – best CRM
- AWeber – best for simplicity
Conclusion
MailChimp is a versatile and user-friendly email marketing platform for small to mid-sized businesses.
With its intuitive email editor, good automation builder, and comprehensive analytics, the email marketing tool makes creating campaigns and tracking their performance easy.
Additionally, MailChimp integrates seamlessly with various third-party platforms, making it a versatile tool for businesses that rely on other software for customer relationship management, e-commerce, or content management.
MailChimp may not be the best tool if you’re an affiliate niche site. The email marketing tool has a strict policy about affiliate sites. MailChimp will limit an email containing an affiliate link. And in a worst-case scenario, your account may be forever suspended.
However, MailChimp is a great tool, and we recommend them, especially if you’re selling products online.
MailChimp Review: FAQs
Is MailChimp suitable for small businesses?
Absolutely! MailChimp offers a range of plans, including a free option, making it accessible for small businesses with limited budgets. The platform’s user-friendly interface and comprehensive features make it an ideal choice for businesses of all sizes.
Can I use MailChimp for e-commerce?
Yes, MailChimp integrates seamlessly with popular e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento. This allows businesses to automate their email marketing efforts and target customers based on purchase behavior, increasing the chances of repeat sales and customer retention.
Does MailChimp provide automation features?
Yes, MailChimp offers robust automation tools that enable businesses to streamline their email marketing workflows. From welcome emails and abandoned cart reminders to personalized product recommendations, you can automate various aspects of your email campaigns to engage with your audience at the right time and with relevant content.
