Mailchimp vs. ActiveCampaign

It’s no secret that I am not a fan of Mailchimp, though I understand why people who are looking to break into the online business jump on their bandwagon so quickly and easily. Below I map out some of the pro’s and cons of each platform as I see it.

The Pro’s

MailChimp

• Mailchimp is totally free for beginners, and includes almost all of their features like automations and landing pages. It only costs money once you hit 2,000 subscribers
• Mailchimp is easy to use, seriously easy. Their templates are drag and drop, their automations take very little time to setup
• Mailchimp has the ability to create drip sequences. You can create automation sequences with various triggers, and then segment people out of sequences when it makes sense.
• Mailchimp just recently introduced the ability to create and use tags which allow you to further segment your list.

ActveCampaign

• ActiveCampaign is inexpensive for beginners with plans starting at $9/mo. (The price does increase with the number of subscribers)
• ActiveCampaign has extremely powerful automations which allow you to take your customers on specific journeys effortlessly. They are also super easy to set up! 
• ActiveCampaign is a system you can grow with. It’s easy to use for the beginner who needs to deliver weekly emails, as well as create simple automations. But it also has robust features you can grow into to create complex customer journeys.
• ActiveCampaign makes segmentation SUPER SIMPLE through customer tagging and lists. Regardless of the number of lists a customer is included in, you are only paying for them once. (Unlike Mailchimp.)
• ActiveCampaign’s email builder is gorgeous and drag & drop which allows you more flexibility to insert your own brand into your emails.

The Con’s

MailChimp

• Mailchimp has its own language, using words like lists, segments, automations, merge tags, etc. It can be a bit confusing at first
• Mailchimp hides its advanced features, and groups together too many features at once, like campaigns being grouped with automations and landing pages.
• Mailchimp’s defaults are ugly, using far too much cold greys and boring fonts. So you have to do a tiny bit of customization for signup forms and newsletter templates, so they match your awesome brand.
• Mailchimp no longer integrates with Shopify! 🥴
• Mailchimp isn’t super-straightforward, and can easily be setup incorrectly for things like paying double or more for the same subscriber on multiple lists. (Not cool)

ActveCampaign

• ActiveCampaign has a TON of features. Which can be overwhelming. But their friendly support staff will happily jump on a call with you to show you how to use these features.
• ActiveCampaign can get a little pricy depending on your list size. (If your list is beyond 2000, you should be monetizing them anyway, so this may be a moot point)
• ActiveCampaign reserves a handful of it’s best features for the pro plans, so if there is something you absolutely want it to do, you may have to pay extra for it.

Top 5 Benefits of ActiveCampaign

1

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A complete email marketing automation and CRM platform

Well-designed and intuitive, ActiveCampaign’s user interface is highly user-friendly that requires minimal training to begin. You’ll be able to start quickly creating attractive email campaigns that convert and enhances your customers experience using the email designer. If you find yourself getting stuck or if something doesn’t seem to flow just right, you’ll notice helpful pointers guiding you towards the right step.

2

Simple ​segmentation of subscribers

ActiveCampaign uses “tags”, which is the concept used to segment your email list.  Email segmentation is an extremely effective strategy in greatly increasing subscriber engagement, click-through rates and sales conversions. By tagging your subscribers, you can not only match your message to where your user is on their journey, but you can also track the source of your subscriber.

3

Excellent user interface

Well-designed and intuitive, ActiveCampaign’s user interface is highly user-friendly that requires minimal training to begin. You’ll be able to start quickly creating attractive email campaigns that convert and enhances your customers experience using the email designer. If you find yourself getting stuck or if something doesn’t seem to flow just right, you’ll notice helpful pointers guiding you towards the right step. I’ve also experienced excellent customer service when a representative jumped on a zoom call with me to show me how to accomplish a specific task.

4

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Zapier integration for customization

With a paid Zapier subscription, you can connect your favorite web apps with ActiveCampaign to automate normal business tasks while saving you time. ActiveCampaign integrates with over 150 different tools using Zapier. You can do so much more with ActiveCampaign by connecting it to the other apps you use like Google Sheets, PayPal, and Unbounce to automate the tedious tasks in your workflow.

5

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Very cost-efficient

The un-intimidating monthly subscription starting as low as $9/month makes ActiveCampaign extremely valuable to fitting any budget while maximizing on your email marketing efforts. At this pricing you’ll get the Basic Plan which includes your email marketing and marketing automation. The Plus plan, which includes automated sales CRM features, starts at $49 a month.

14 Day Free Trial

Discover the difference of ActiveCampaign today!

You can experience ActiveCampaign and discover which plan best fits your goal in a free, 14-day trial period with no credit card required for signup.

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