One of the most important facets of boosting your online business is through some element of marketing automation. There is a huge range of companies which aim to make this easier and more successful for you. With a marketing service, you can build email campaigns and social media ads, helping you both attract new and maintain established customers.
Since the innovation of this style of email marketing, many companies have sprung up in the hopes of attracting your attention. Choosing the right one can seem incredibly difficult – though getting these decisions right can be key to successful future marketing campaigns. But how do you decide?
One of the biggest and most famous marketing software options is Mailchimp. Because of its sheer size and success, for many, it’s sort of the gold standard in terms of finding an email marketing solution. But Mailchimp is one of a huge number of different marketing services. So how can you be sure you’re getting the best option for you?
Our review is here to help. We’re running through the biggest of the Mailchimp competitors and comparing them across a range of unique features. If you’re thinking of implementing services like Mailchimp, look no further. Our guide to the biggest Mailchimp competitors and alternatives will help you find the best marketing platform for you!
Mail Chimp: What You Need To Know
Mailchimp is known for having a particularly user-friendly interface, which makes it a popular first time choice for beginners. For those wanting to build fun and fancy-looking email campaigns with a super easy learning curve, it’s certainly an excellent choice. Mailchimp offers a free plan for those who want to implement this type of plan with no commitment. It’s also known for having some of the most affordable pricing on the market after you move past the free trial.
Mailchimp also works well as a beginner campaign monitor. It allows some easy to understand analysis of things like click-through rates. This can help you visually see what sort of automation features are working – and which aren’t as successful as you’d hoped. This can help you create more successful and cost-effective marketing over time.
Nonetheless, for many, Mailchimp isn’t the best option. It tends to be a great place to start, in terms of ease of use and pricing plans but can be something small businesses and e-commerce platforms can outgrow over time. Our guide to some of the best competitors and alternatives can help you decide what might be the best next step for you.
Drip Email
Drip is a great option for those who want more of a heavy focus on automation. This platform helps build effective workflows, using sign-up forms and a huge selection of triggers to move customers through your campaigns. It’s also highly effective at tracking engagement, which can be a hugely useful tool in terms of multi-channel marketing.
Drip Email Pros
Drip utilises a drag and drop method of building campaigns, which can make the process far easier. It can help quickly and effectively build professional levels of marketing content. Drip is also well known for high levels of customer support.
People love the levels of automation made easy through tagging. You can even set up specific landing pages as triggers to send your potential customers an email. It allows you to totally customize every email campaign, which, in turn, allows you to make to most specific and effective options for your business.
Drip Email Cons
Drip has some documented issues with integration, which can be a problem if you rely on other platforms as well. The other main drawback customers point out is that there’s a far steeper learning curve. Getting to grips with this service can take a lot more time and effort.
Some find the dashboard to be problematic, particularly in terms of accessing important analytical information. Some also think the analytics may not be specialized enough. Although it’s easy to find out specific click-through rates, you can’t track a single customers interactions as they move through a campaign, which can mean losing valuable information.
While the analytics are way better than other platforms, getting to them isn’t really as intuitive. For example, when you enter a broadcast you’ve already sent, you can see the open and click-through rates, conversion rate and unsubscribe rate, but you can’t click into those metrics to see who clicked what. You have to go to the analytics section to see that information.
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Klaviyo
For those who favor a service which offers excellent integrations, Klaviyo may be the way to go. It offers a good range of templates, meaning there’s no coding required to build attractive emails and campaigns. It’s particularly popular amongst marketers focused on e-commerce features.
Klaviyo Pros
People tend to find Klaviyo fairly simple to use. It offers advanced segmentation between different customers, allowing a more personalized and targeted email marketing strategy. It’s also a service which interacts well with any other software you may be using.
Most of the fans of this platform are working in e-commerce. It seems Klaviyo does a particularly good job of this genre of email marketing. Based on things like purchases, browsing, and adding things to a shopping basket, Klaviyo can create specific lists of users, send out emails based on specific behavior, plus create visually appealing content.
Klaviyo Cons
The main problem people have with Klaviyo is that the customer service is lacking. Many report having big problems trying to get in touch with the company. In terms of Mailchimp vs Klaviyo, those who wish for more customer support will likely do better with the former. The other big issue with Klaviyo is its restrictions of plans. This can make the service more expensive than it needs to be.
If you’re a total beginner, it’s likely you’ll find the lack of customer support to be hugely problematic. Even skilled users will likely need some level of help when building email marketing campaigns. The fact it charged based on number of email addresses rather than the emails which are actually received and opened is also an issue. Many emails end up being inactive, which can lead to you feeling as though you’re throwing money away.
Lack of readily available customer service is a big negative as is the inability to do segmentation on the fly when setting up a campaign. Also, they charge by the number of email addresses, not the number of emails sent, which is a more expensive model in the long run since a large percentage of most databases are inactive.
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Mad Mimi
Mad Mimi is one of the most affordable email marketing options. It offers both a free plan and a super affordable $10 per month option for the true beginners. This is lower than even the Mailchimp cost. If cost is your biggest concern, it may well be worth considering Mad Mimi,
Mad Mimi Pros
Alongside the low price, one of the most popular aspects of Mad Mimi is its simplicity. The fact it’s so user-friendly is another reason this service is an ideal option for beginners. It’s super customizable and doesn’t require any coding knowledge to create high quality, professional looking campaigns.
People love the aesthetically appealing and professional looking templates offered by Mad Mimi. They work alone, but can also serve as great jumping off points. This means its easy for you to create the exact appearance and content of emails that you want to.
Mad Mimi Cons
The main problem with Mad Mimi is that it’s built primarily for beginners, and if your business grows, it can start to feel too limited. It’s difficult to upgrade Mad Mimi’s services to fit larger needs, so it may be that you have to transfer to a different service after an initial period, which can be irritating.
Building list segmentation with Mad Mimi is notoriously problematic. You can’t do this sort of automation on your own, and will constantly have to contact support to set this up, which can be hugely frustrating. To create multiple lists containing the same users (as you’d likely need to when building an email marketing strategy) you need more than one account, which can be hugely irritating to keep under control.
It does not escalate well. There is no way to have a decent or automatic user segmentation without having to contact support. You can’t have two or more list with different user without setting information for the whole account. You’d need more than one account to keep them entirely separate.
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Robly
Robly offers a robust campaign building option. It also increases deliverability rate by resending unopened messages with a new subject line. They’re far more intensive in terms of testing strategies to help you achieve the best possible results.
Robly Pros
Alongside their excellent split testing options, Robly is renowned for having top of the range customer support. They offer near constant contact to paying customers. On top of this, the product is very visual, making it feel more intuitive when you’re trying to get the hang of it.
The interface of Robly is often pointed out as visually appealing plus easy to use and understand. Managing your different lists and campaigns is easy and intuitive. On top of this, users are a huge fan of the different customer support options Robly have on offer. Not only are they easy to contact, but the answers the team offer are always innovative, intelligent and helpful. This means you’ll never feel as though contacting the team was a waste of time, as they’ll work with you to effectively solve any problem.
Robly Cons
Some claim that the focus Robly places on testing and analysis sometimes comes at the detriment of different design elements. It can make the process of building attractive, fancy and professional-looking emails more difficult. Particular issues seem to be faced with their landing page builder, which is clunky and time-consuming to use.
The lack of templates can make building attractive emails more difficult than with other platforms. Some users also point out that the time it takes for emails to be sent and received seems surprisingly slow, and that it’s not good in comparison to other platforms. Users also claim this service does not work well on Android mobiles, which can pose a big problem by cutting out a section of your potential market.
It has few templates, when it is used in Android mobile devices it is very slow, its functions are very basic and simple, they must improve their features, the reception of emails is very slow, they must improve automatic responses.
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AWeber
AWeber is known as a great all-rounder, offering a fantastic range of automation options and campaigns, opt-in forms, email templates, and landing pages. It’s also known for integrating well with any other software you’re using to run your online business.
AWeber Pros
Most users find AWeber to be efficient and convenient. For the price, many find it to offer a particularly high level of service, particularly in terms of maintaining close contact with your customers.
In terms of staying on top of your customers and maintaining high levels of contact, AWeber makes it easy. It’s hugely convenient in terms of creating lists, building campaigns, and creating appealing and professional looking emails. It massively cuts down on time, which can be hugely important for small business owners.
AWeber is a great email autoresponder program. For my individual website, it has allowed me to send automatic emails to everyone who decided to opt into receiving my emails. AWeber is easy to use, and it allows me to maintain contact with my audience. I would probably say the best part of this program is the price for what it does, and how convenient it is to use.
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AWeber Cons
The main drawback customers point out about AWeber’s service is its simplicity. While this can make building campaigns and analyzing results far easier, it can also mean particular emails and other aspects of marketing content can end up looking over-simplistic and dull.
The lack of visual appeal can be a problem with AWeber, particularly for those who don’t have any particular knowledge of HTML and coding to create their own emails. This lack of fancier options can make your emails seem a little dry and cause customers to feel like they’re not being taken care of as much.
Mailchimp Competitors & Alternatives: Our Verdict
There’s no denying there’s a reason Mailchimp is still often seen as the industry standard in terms of email marketing services. This is because it does really well across the board – from single and double opt-in options, email templates, easy campaign building and visual access to valuable analytical information.
The issue is that by catering to the needs of everyone, Mailchimp can end up not being focused enough on any one thing. This can mean if you want something more specialized out of your email marketing campaign, it may be best to look elsewhere. Nonetheless, particularly in terms of competitive pricing and customer support, Mailchimp still remains pretty hard to beat.
If you’re interested in signing up for Mailchimp, check out their website (including their free plan option) here. If Drip sounds more fitting to your needs, sign up here. Perhaps Klaviyo sounds like the best fit? In that case, sign up here.
If Mad Mimi sounds more up your street, you can sign up here. For those more interested in Robly, check out their site here. Finally, if AWeber seems like it’s likely to suit your needs, check them out here.
At Create Your Start, we’re dedicated to helping you find the best service for your online business needs. We have a huge range of other reviews that could help you make a more informed decision. We’ve compared two other options, Ontraport and Infusionsoft, right here.
If you’re interested in Mailchimp comparisons, we have those, too! Check out our Activecampaign Vs Mailchimp review here, plus our Convertkit vs Mailchimp review here.
For those who simply want to learn more about email marketing, though, we also have a beginners guide to email marketing services, right here.
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