It's important to have a clear understanding of the best email marketing service. You can easily lose hours or even days researching the best email marketing tool that is right for your business. And it's not always easy to decide which one will be right for you and your needs. This article, based on extensive research on ActiveCampaign and MailChimp, will help you make an informed decision.
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ActiveCampaign & MailChimp are Two Top Email Marketing Services that can help you take advantage of an email marketing platform effectively. Both services have their advantages and disadvantages, which means you need to know what you're looking for in order to choose the right one.
Email marketing can be defined as a process of sending email messages with the intention of making emails opened or forwarded by recipients.
The main purpose behind this action is for other people to take an interest in your product/service and eventually convert into paying customers through link clicks, coupon downloads or any other form of online purchasing method (like buying from Amazon).
This strategy also helps improve brand recognition among potential customers and establishes a strong relationship between the brand and the customer.
The main advantage of email marketing is that it allows you to reach your targeted audience in an efficient way while maintaining very little cost per acquisition (CPA). It will also help improve conversion rates by increasing open rates, click-throughs, clicks-to-conversion, etc.
ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation platform that allows users to create automation through the use of triggers and workflow rules. It's a relatively simple and easy tool to use, with the main aim of automating email campaigns.
This platform allows users to create emails without having any coding experience since it has an automated system in place which will take care of all the mailing tasks for you.
In addition, this automation service can also be used as a powerful lead management software that is able to send notifications about actions such as when leads have unsubscribed from your list or if they've booked their first appointment through your website (in case of product sales).
MailChimp has been around for over 20 years now and is arguably one of the most widely used email marketing services in the world. It offers a variety of features that can be tailored to your specific needs and company's business model, including automated campaigns, email templates and creative design options.
Automatic emails are great for those who have less time on their hands; they allow you to automate recurring emails with little effort from yours (provided your workflow is set up properly).
Automatic email campaigns running overnight or during specified hours, it helps increase response rates and boost conversion rates, as well as send relevant messages at times when customers might be more receptive.
There is dynamic automation that allows you to create new workflows, automate messages and triggers through the use of calendar events.
These types of automation campaigns can be set up by using a combination of existing rules (such as sending email when your customer downloads an app from your website or purchases a product in-store), scheduling complex workflow tasks such as recurring meetings with clients and other contact information changes.
MailChimp allows for more extensive feature integration compared to ActiveCampaign; however, it does not have any application programming interface (API) at this time.
ActiveCampaign has a more robust feature set, including workflow and automation options that can be used to integrate with third-party applications such as Salesforce or Zoho CRM. It also allows for custom domain hosting through its own platform, which means you don't need your website developer to include this functionality in the site's design (if you choose).
While MailChimp does have an API available, it is not as comprehensive compared to ActiveCampaign - meaning there are some limitations when integrating with other software systems.
The biggest advantages of using ActiveCampaign over MailChimp are its flexible feature set and its ability to be integrated with other third-party applications.
ActiveCampaign has a larger feature set when it comes to integration and automation. The platform allows you to integrate with third-party applications such as Salesforce, Zoho CRM or Google Apps for Business. This means that your customer data can be uploaded directly into these systems without the need for an additional software application (such as MailChimp).
MailChimp is more limited in this area - however, they do have some integrations available through their API, which allow users to connect other services like Intercom, Zapier or Mixpanel.
These types of integrations are not yet supported by ActiveCampaign. MailChimp is more limited when it comes to integrations and features - however, they do offer a number of tools for advanced users that can be used to create automated emails (for example, based on certain triggers or rules).
ActiveCampaign offers many additional features which are not yet supported by Mailchimp's API – these include things like automation through third-party applications such as Slack or Intercom etc.
ActiveCampaign also offers a number of integrations with third-party applications such as Slack, Zendesk and Hubspot. These ActiveCampaign integrations are not yet supported by MailChimp.
ActiveCampaign is more advanced when it comes to automation - meaning you can set up automated emails based on certain triggers or rules that can be applied across multiple campaigns (such as sending an email to customers who have bought your product).
This means you don't need the same Campaign for every customer – instead, only one template will be used across all customers in order for them to receive notifications about new products or deals etc.
MailChimp offers a free plan which allows you to send up to 2000 emails per month. The plan is then upgraded into one of the other paid plans, each with its own features and limits.
Free plan - Allows for up to 2000 emails per month.
Premium plan - Allows for unlimited email sending and includes some advanced features like automation via third-party applications such as Slack or Intercom etc.
Pro plan – Costs $9/month (or more depending on the number of users) and offers additional features including an API, a mobile app, integration with Zapier and other integrations which make it easier to automate your campaigns across multiple platforms. The Pro Plan also supports custom domains where you can host your website separate from MailChimp's domain name servers.
The pricing structure for ActiveCampaign is more complex - it comes in different 'Starter' or 'Professional' packages depending on your needs (more details below). There are also additional add-ons available that can be purchased if needed – these include things like advanced segmentation options and email templates. These types of add-ons are not offered by MailChimp.
The biggest difference between ActiveCampaign and MailChimp is that while Mailchimps' interface looks similar to Gmail, it comes with additional features such as email templates which make managing campaigns much easier.
For example, you can create specific emails for different types of customers (such as those who have bought your product before etc.), or you can set up automated emails based on certain triggers or rules – this means only one template will be used across all customers in order for them to receive notifications about new products or deals etc.
The other big difference is that MailChimp allows you to create multiple lists and campaigns – this means you can segment your contacts based on certain criteria such as customer type, location, industry etc.
This way, it's possible to send different messages depending on the contact's needs - so if a particular client has already bought from you before, they will only get emails with offers related to their previous purchase while others might also be prompted with special discounts or promotions that are not available elsewhere (such as unique sales).
ActiveCampaign does not allow you to segment your contacts in this way – so if a particular client has bought from you before, they will receive all the messages that are sent out by default.
The first thing you should be aware of when comparing ActiveCampaign with MailChimp is that while both services offer a free version, the features offered by each are different.
In order to compare these two tools, we will look at some key features and their differences:
- Email templates (MailChimp has more options for email templates than ActiveCampaign)
– In addition to pre-built emails such as sales letters or welcome messages, many other types of customisable emails can also be created in MailChimp, including ones that notify users about new products or deals, reminders etc. The possibilities are endless!
- Segmenting (ActiveCampaign does not allow you to segment your contacts based on certain criteria such as customer type, location etc. So if a particular client has bought from you before, they will receive all the messages that are sent out by default)
- Active Campaign allows for more customisation options than MailChimp, including adding images and links into emails which can be used to draw the attention of users towards specific content
– In addition to pre-built emails like welcome letters or product update notifications, many other types of customisable email templates can also be created in ActiveCampaign, including ones that notify users about new products or deals, reminders etc. The possibilities are endless!
- Active Campaign allows for more customisation options than MailChimp, including adding images and links into emails which can be used to draw the attention of users towards specific content
- In addition to pre-built welcome letters, many other types of customisable email templates can also be created in ActiveCampaign, including ones that notify users about new products or deals, reminders etc. The possibilities are endless!
So who wins? The answer is that both of these email marketing platforms are great, but if you're looking for one over the other, then it's hard to say which would be best. Both have their pros and cons, so here are some points we can look at:
- MailChimp has been around longer than ActiveCampaign (since 2001), so they've got a lot more experience under their belt in terms of how things work, what features they offer etc. So there may be certain aspects where Active Campaign might not quite match up with Mail Chimp yet!
- With regards to pricing, Mail Chimp offers a free plan of sending up to 100 emails per month and then you can upgrade to Pro, which gives you unlimited emailing.
Active Campaign also has a free plan, but it's only for 1000 emails per month (and 1,000 contacts). If your business is small or if you don't need the extra features that come with the paid plans, then I'd recommend going with MailChimp!
So there you have it, the MailChimp vs ActiveCampaign battle of email marketing platforms. I hope this comparison has given you some insight into what each offers and how they compare to one another! If you're looking for more information on either of these email marketing tools, then be sure to visit their websites.
If you're looking for advanced features – automation, CRM, list management, and so on – and have the budget for it, then I'd recommend ActiveCampaign without hesitation.
If you're looking for a free email marketing tool that offers unlimited sending of emails to up to 1,000 contacts per month – and does so with the same level of features as its paid-for competitors – then I'd recommend MailChimp.
If you're looking to connect with contacts across your entire revenue operations (Leads, Prospects, Existing, and Churned Clients), Cliently would be a great way to engage at scale. Sometimes multiple tools can leave blind spots in who's engaging, how they're engaging, and when to engage. This is where Cliently could benefit you the most.