MailChimp: An industry leader, falling behind on system stability, value for money, and customer service.
MailChimp Review: Rating
| MailChimp Rating | 3.2/5.0 |
| 💸 Pricing | ★★✩✩✩ |
| ⚡ Features | ★★★✩✩ |
| 📧 Email Deliverability | ★★★★✩ |
| 🖱 Ease of Use | ★★★★✩ |
| 👩❤️👩 Client Satisfaction | ★★✩✩✩ |
| ☎ Customer Support | ★★★✩✩ |
MailChimp Review Summary
MailChimp is one of the older email marketing services, and since its launch in 2001, it has made great strides in gaining small business customers across the digital marketing industry.
It became one of the email newsletter behemoths. As you can see from our article on choosing the best email software, many entrepreneurs still use MailChimp. But during the thousands of hours of researching and testing email marketing services, we have found MailChimp’s service to be lacking.
MailChimp Review: Features
| ⚡ Features | CRM, Email Automation |
| 🏆 Unique Features | Customer Journeys |
| 🎯 Best for | Small Business |
| ♲ Subscription | Monthly |
| 💰 Price | $17-$299/mo |
| ✂ Discount | None Available |
| 🌎 Region | Global |
Pros
★ Facebook & Instagram Adverts Integrated
★ RSS to Email
★ Email Updated to Facebook
★ Abandoned Shopping Cart Followup
★ Customer Specific Delivery Times
★ Time Zone Delivery Times
Cons
✘ Customer Satisfaction
✘ High Pricing
✘ Trustpilot Ratings
✘ Limited Features
MailChimp Review Summary
MailChimp offers a free service to host 2,000 contacts, which is unique and good for startups with a $0 budget. But MailChimp is also suffering a host of problems, with unhappy customers, a high price to features ratio, and system availability technical issues. With crushing Trustpilot ratings, can MailChimp pull through?
MailChimp Pricing
There are two types of pricing models in the email marketing industry.
- Per Contact Pricing means you are charged for storing a number of contacts; this model usually includes unlimited email sends.
- Per Email Pricing – this model usually means that you can have an unlimited number of contacts, but you pay per thousand emails sent.
Most email marketing vendors also offer multiple tiers of service, a basic tier providing email messaging, autoresponders, and segmentation. More advanced tiers usually provide more in-depth services such as email marketing automation, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Sales Funnels, Payment Gateways, and landing pages.
In MailChimp’s case, we had to select their second most expensive tier, “Standard,” for a good feature comparison with over email marketing services. Their pricing means for up to 10,000 contacts; you will pay 1ct per month. This is three times the price of SendX and 50% more than GetResponse.
To their credit, they do have a free tier of service, which will store up to 2,000 contacts, and although the email templates and forms will have MailChimp branding, you will have access to the Facebook and Instagram lead generation tools.
The table below shows their position relative to other service providers.
Competitor Pricing Table – All Email Marketing Services
| Value Ratings |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | ☆☆☆☆☆ | ☆☆☆☆☆ | ☆☆☆☆☆ | ☆☆☆☆ | ☆☆☆☆ | ☆☆☆☆ | ☆☆ | ☆☆☆☆ | ☆☆☆☆ | ☆☆☆ | ☆☆☆☆ | ☆☆☆☆ |
| Model | Contact | Contact | Contact | Contact | Contact | Contact | Contact | Contact | Contact | Contact | ||
| Free-Tier | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | 6K/m - $0 | 9K/m - $0 |
| #Contacts | ||||||||||||
| 500 | $7.49 | $15 | $19 | $13 | $17 | $25 | $15 | $9 | $30 | $79 | 30K/m - $9.65 | 40K/m - $25 |
| 2,500 | $15 | $25 | $29 | $30 | $38 | $49 | $50 | $39 | $50 | $147 | 60K/m - $18.95 | 60K/m - $39 |
| 10,000 | $39 | $65 | $69 | $76 | $81 | $119 | $99 | $111 | $110 | $297 | 150K/m - $69 | 120K/m - $67 |
| 25,000 | $112 | $145 | $149 | $144 | $191 | $166 | $219 | $179 | $199 | $497 | 450K/m - $230 | 350K/m - $173 |
| 50,0000 | $172 | $250 | $392 | $237 | $295 | $316 | $299 | $239 | $379 | $599=< 125K | ||
| Unlimited | $2,999 | $99 per extra 100K | ||||||||||
| Cost per Contact (cents) | 0.39 | 0.65 | 0.69 | 0.74 | 0.81 | 1 | 1 | 1.11 | 0.67 | 2.97 | NA | NA |
| Visit SendX Services | Visit GetResponse | Visit AWeber Services | Visit Benchmark | Visit ConstantContact | Visit ConvertKit | Visit Mailchimp | Visit ActiveCampaign | Visit iContact Services | Visit Ontraport | Visit MailJet Services | Visit SendinBlue |
MailChimp does offer four service levels, but the Standard service will be the one to opt for if you want any kind of meaningful automation. It includes:
- Email Marketing Automation
- Unlimited Email Sends
- Segmentation, Tagging, Autoresponders
- Signup Forms, Email Templates & Stock Photos
- Email to RSS, Facebook & Twitter
- 200+ integrations to other platforms
Things to Know About Mailchimps Pricing
Surprisingly, MailChimp is far from being a price leader, and despite the fact it can seem expensive as the Standard service does not even include phone support. For that, you have to go to the Premium service, which is significantly more expensive.
MailChimp Email Marketing & Automation Features
Like all of the services reviewed, MailChimp offers a selection of predesigned email templates and a good selection of high-quality images for use in your email campaigns. The email design process is also fully drag-and-drop, making crafting your message a breeze and will ensure your emails will look professional and unique. They will also host your uploaded images.
MailChimp also has predesigned email capture forms, which are also fully customizable. The types of forms on offer are Inline, Pop-Over, Lightbox, and Pop-Up. The only thing missing is an Exit Intent form.
Most software providers offer Autoresponders, Email Sequencing, Customer Tagging, and Segmentation. Mailchimp’s implementation of automation is quite basic, similar in fact to AWeber, and when compared to GetResponse or ActiveCampaigns slick automation visualizations, it is way behind.
Top of Inbox Delivery Timing?
We see a powerful trend in the industry towards machine learning to improve email services. For example, the Top of Inbox Delivery enables you to target each contact with an email delivered at the usual time they open emails. If your contact reads their emails at 6:30 am on weekdays, the email will be delivered then. Hence, it is at the top of the inbox. You can also deliver the email at, for example, 9 am in every timezone.
MailChimp Timewarp Delivery – Nicely Implemented
Other vendors also offer this functionality; it is called “Time Travel” by GetResponse. ActiveCampaign and SendX also have similar functionality.
Facebook & Instagram Lead Generation
I do like that even on the Free tier of service, you get access to premium features, the Facebook & Instagram Lead Capture. This allows you to schedule campaigns directly from MailChimp to target potential customers interested in your products.
MailChimp Reporting & Analytics
MailChimp has a solid set of basic reporting and analytics. You will have the ability to analyze and improve your campaigns with reporting that allows you to compare open rates, undeliverable, unsubscribe clicks over time, and more. You can also seamlessly segment your list based on the responses or actions against your email.
It is also a breeze to list unsubscribes or undeliverables a swiftly remove the contact from your database using Bulk Delete.
However, to suggest Mailchimp has any kind of advanced reporting or analytics would be incorrect. The reporting is very static and lacks the ability to configure even basic dates; for example, if you want to view performance over more than one year, it is impossible.
MailChimp Campaign Reporting – Screenshot
Mailchimp is clearly aimed at small businesses, but I am not sure this level of reporting will grow with you as you grow. It may be something you are willing to accept in exchange for their low pricing and simplicity of use.
[Related Post – Compare All Email Marketing Services Side By Side]
Of course, you can also see list growth, unsubscribes, and even social shares. Finally and importantly, A/B Testing, the ability to test the email performance with different subject lines and content, is included in the service.
Advanced Email Features
MailChimp RSS to Email
Email to RSS is a simple yet effective way to streamline the communication process with your audience. You can set it up so that when you publish a new article on your website in a specific category, the email service will be notified and can build a customized email and send it to your audience without you having to do anything. This is a huge timesaver.
Surprisingly, not all email newsletter providers offer this service. To view the other vendors offering this service, check out our Email Service Master Comparison Table.
Email to Facebook
As with the RSS function, you can quickly and effectively integrate the Mailchimp mailing engine into Facebook. Any broadcast email you setup can, with a single click, also send an update to a Facebook page.
Email to Twitter
A nice addition is the ability to send an automatic update to your Twitter profile from a broadcast message. It is these little process improvement that saves time and effort.
Mailchimp’s Lack of Advanced Features for Enterprise & Ecommerce
MailChimp is clearly not aiming at enterprise customers. There is some limited possibility to host multiple accounts to enable better workflow and collaboration in the marketing department.
There is also no mechanism for customer relationship management (CRM). So if you are part of a larger team, you will want to consider ActiveCampaign or Ontraport. GetResponse has a great price point and a complete set of features.
Out of all tests, only three software vendors offer a fully integrated site chat function; Mailchimp is not one of them.
Mailchimp Has Serious Integrations
Mailchimp does not have payment processors or eCommerce functionality like our review-winning GetResponse, but it does have a set of integrations that enable this functionality.
Mailchimp’s strategy is not to build a completely integrated solution themselves but to build integrations to a huge network of 3rd parties. This is the saving grace of Mailchimp because, with over 240 integrations, you should have the ability to integrate with practically every serious service out there.
Security & Certifications
At this stage in the development of the internet, cybersecurity is of utmost importance. High-profile data leaks and hacks result in large fines to businesses that do not adequately protect their customer’s data.
Email Service Provider Security Compliance Table
| GDPR Compliant | ✔ |
| SSL TLS Encryption | ✔ |
| EU-US Privacy Shield | ✔ |
Ease of Use & Customer Ratings
Using as many independent sources as possible, we have rated the services provided.
| Our rating on ease of use and design | ☆☆☆ |
| Using the independent ratings from Trustpilot Users – we also filtered out obviously biased ratings. | ☆ |
| Customer Twitter Sentiment Index | ☆☆ |
| Support (Chat, Email, Phone) | Chat, Email |
| Support Times | 24/7 |
| Response Time | Delayed |
| Average Ratings of Support Times, Response Times & Accessibility | ☆ |
MailChimp has recently raised its prices, which does not impress its customers, but the biggest issues are customer service levels and the technical issues with the service availability.
Take a look and the Twitter Sentiment (type MailChimp into the query box), and you can see the negativity and tweets categorized. You can also look at the Trustpilot scores for MailChimp, with 55% of its own customers rating it Bad.
Summary
MailChimp offers a free service to host 2,000 contacts, which is unique and good for startups with a $0 budget. But MailChimp is also suffering a host of problems, with unhappy customers, a high price to features ratio, and system availability technical issues. With crushing Trustpilot ratings, can MailChimp pull through?
[Related Post – Compare All Email Marketing Services Side By Side]
MailChimp Email Marketing – Full Features Data Sheet
| Features | |
|---|---|
| Value for Money | ☆☆☆ |
| Features | ☆☆☆ |
| Deliverability | ☆☆☆☆ |
| Ease of Use | ☆☆☆ |
| Client Satisfaction | ☆☆ |
| Support | ☆☆☆ |
| Total Stars | 19 |
| Price Model | Contact |
| Free Option | Yes |
| 500 Contacts | $15 |
| 2,500 Contacts | $50 |
| 10,000 Contacts | $99 |
| 25,000 Contacts | $219 |
| 50,0000 Contacts | §299 |
| Unlimited Contacts | |
| Cost per Contact (cents) | 0.99 |
| Primary Features eMail | |
| eMail Templates | ✔ |
| eMail Images | ✔ |
| Email Form Templates | ✔ |
| Drag & Drop Email Design | ✔ |
| Autoresponders | ✔ |
| Marketing Automation | ✔ |
| Individual Customer Automation | ✔ |
| Customer Tagging & Segmentation | ✔ |
| Intelligent Timing Delivery | ✔ |
| Time Travel (Global 9am Delivery) | ✔ |
| Basic Email Analytics | ✔ |
| Powerful Email Analytics | |
| A/B Testing | ✔ |
| SPAM Scoring | ✔ |
| Advanced Features | |
| Webinar Integration | ✔ |
| Hosting Webinar & Recording | |
| Email from RSS Feeds | ✔ |
| SMS Marketing | |
| Postcard Mailing | ✔ |
| Automatic Product Recommendations | ✔ |
| Site Chat CRM Integration | |
| Membership Site Service | |
| Team / Enterprise Functions | |
| Multiple User Accounts | ✔ |
| Sales Team Lead Distribution | |
| Salesforce Service Integration | |
| Primary Features Funnels | |
| Surveys/Polls | |
| Sales/Lead Funnels | |
| Landing Pages | |
| Exit Popups | |
| Primary Features Sales & Payments | |
| eCommerce Integrations | |
| Full Payment Gateways | |
| Abandoned Cart Integration | ✔ |
| Win Back / Bounce Back | |
| Payment Mgt | |
| Discount Coupons | |
| Referral Program Mgt | |
| CRM & Remarketing | |
| CRM & Deal Management | |
| Facebook Integration | |
| Cross Platform Journey Tracking | |
| Activity Scoring | ✔ |
| Integrations | |
| 3rd Party Integrations | 216 |
| Zapier App Integration | ✔ |
| Deliverability | ☆☆☆ |
| Security & Certifications | |
| GDPR Compliant | ✔ |
| SSL TLS Encryption | ✔ |
| EU-US Privacy Shield | ✔ |
| Ease of Use | ☆☆☆ |
| Customer Satisfaction | ☆ |
| Customer Twitter Sentiment | ☆☆ |
| Support (Chat, Email, Phone) | Chat, Email |
| Support Times | 24/7 |
| Response Time | Delyed |
| Customer Support | ☆ |
| Visit the Vendor | Visit Mailchimp |
