In the digital landscape, where getting and keeping your customers’ attention grows more challenging every day, email marketing provides you with a direct line of communication to your customers. In recent years, many email marketing management options have cropped up to provide business owners with the necessary tools to reach customers in their inboxes with well-designed, effective content.
How do you decide which platform is right for your business? Consider two of the major platforms, Campaign Monitor and MailChimp, to help you make a decision.
The Similarities
Campaign Monitor and MailChimp offer many of the same services and functionalities and even have similar ratings and reviews from users. Here are features that the two platforms have in common:
- Affordable pricing that scales up as your database grows.
- Automated campaigns.
- Integration with eCommerce platforms Shopify, Magenta, and WooCommerce.
- Basic A/B testing.
- Signup forms that you can embed in your website.
- Integration with Facebook Campaign result reports.
- List limit of 50,000.
- 15% non-profit discount.
- Hundreds of app integrations.
Since both platforms offer the same basic services, understanding how they differ will help you decide if one of them can meet your email marketing needs.
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor emphasizes the importance of creating visually appealing emails that your customers will love. The platform allows you to use rich customer data like name, age, and location, to send hyper-targeted messages that feel like they were custom-written for each recipient. They currently offer list segmentation and are developing a tool to capture customer behavioral data for even more highly targeted email options in the near future.
Pricing: The basic package starts at $9 a month for a 500-address list, with the option to increase up to a 2,500-address list with basic features for $29 a month. Options are available for larger lists at increased prices, allowing the platform to grow along with your email database. Unlimited and Premier tier options are available at every level for an increased price.
Payment options: Users may pay monthly or annually.
Support: Email support is provided for all paid plans; phone support is provided at the Premier level only.
Flexibility: Change your plan at any time without penalty. If you surpass your monthly email limit, you can choose to upgrade your subscription or pay for the additional emails.
List management: Addresses can be on more than one list, and you can send a campaign to multiple lists. Campaign Monitor automatically sends the email to each address only once, even if it appears on multiple lists This can help you avoid getting caught in the spam filter.
MailChimp
MailChimp is a simple platform designed to help you get your message out and grow your business. If you’ve never managed an email list before, or if you don’t have a large list, MailChimp might be a good place to start. They also offer integrated Facebook and Instagram advertising for an added fee to help you grow your reach.
Pricing: If you have fewer than 2,000 addresses on your list, MailChimp lets you send up to 12,000 emails a month for free with their basic “Forever Free” package. Costs, which vary depending on the size of your list and the features you want, range from $10 to $199 a month.
Payment options: Monthly or pay-as-you-go options are available.
Support: Self-service Knowledge Base and 24/7 email support are available for all customers, support chat is available to paid customers weekdays only. No phone support is offered.
Flexibility: Customers have the option to pay as they go, pause their services, or downgrade to a Forever Free account if their list is within the 2,000-address limit.
List management: You cannot send campaigns to more than one list, but you can use segments to achieve the same effect. This approach works but does require more time to learn and implement.
Campaign Monitor and MailChimp are both popular and highly recommended platforms for email marketing. Thinking carefully about your company’s marketing goals and strategies, while considering the unique strengths of each platform, will help you decide if one of the two is right for your business!
