chimp Review 2023: Pros, Cons & Pricing [Analysis] //

Mailchimp, with over 12,000,000 users, is today one of the most popular tools for email marketing.

This email marketing software offers a wide range of features including lead generation, email creation, and marketing automation.

It is popular, but you should examine both its strengths and weaknesses before making a decision. We used our expertise in email software to provide you with an in-depth Mailchimp Review.

Let’s get started.

Disclaimer This information is accurate as at May 2023.

Mailchimp Overview and Ratings

Mailchimp is rated on its overall features and functionality.

Mailchimp will be part of Intuit as of November 2021. Intuit is a financial software company. The email marketing platform has undergone some changes, including the new pricing and further restrictions on the free plan.

Intuit Mailchimp has been upgraded with new features that make it more competitive for users such as marketers, advertisers and eCommerce store owners. It is also used by Non-Profit Organizations, IT and SaaS.

Mailchimp is still a platform that has a steep price model, and an odd email contact pricing structure.

Mailchimp Pros & Cons: Summary

You can find below a table that highlights Mailchimp’s strengths and weakness.

Let’s look at what brought us to this classification.

Mailchimp pros: an analysis

This section will show you the features of the tool that are most effective, starting with its overall usability.

Ease of Use

Mailchimp’s simplicity of use is our first point. We noticed at first sight the user interface, which allows users to easily find what they’re looking for.

On the left-hand menu, you can see a summary of your campaigns. The creation process is also very simple. Click the “Create button” and choose the campaign that you wish to create.

Mailchimp is a simple and clean interface that makes it easy to find the information you are looking for. Some features, such as the Double Opt-in or reCAPTCHA, are hidden.

If you want to locate them, look in the Help articles. Otherwise, you will have to manually search, and this can take a lot of time.

Email Editor

Mailchimp has two editors: the Classic Builder and the New Build. Select your version under “Details” in your profile.

We will examine the new Builder in this Mailchimp Review, as it has better functionality and includes a undo/redo option.

The drag-and-drop editor has been improved over the previous version. There are many different content blocks, styles, and layouts to choose from when creating your email campaign. These include images, videos and surveys.

We found that the builder was easy to use and fast, allowing for a seamless experience. Click on a block to add text and then edit it using the ribbon at the top.

Mailchimp’s email builder also has an integrated error-checking feature that helps you to fix any problems immediately. In beta, you can also use a copy optimization tool to improve your headings and sentence structures.

This email marketing tool also allowed us to create text for headings, paragraphs and subject lines using the Generate option on the left side menu. Mailchimp’s email editor offers suggestions based on the content type you select.

Marketing Automation Tool

This section will show you how to automate sequences and follow ups for your audience using Customer journeys.

We can choose to create a new journey or select one of the pre-built sequences to save some time. Here, we chose the pre-built sequence to recover abandoned carts.

The workflow editor is easy to use. By clicking on the Add button, you can modify the existing journeys and add new steps.

Mailchimp provides a range of rules and actions for creating simple or complex sequences. You can start from scratch by selecting the goal of your new journey, and then building it from the bottom up.

The Customer Journey Map creation was a smooth process.

If you’re a beginner, it is best to use the pre-built automations as a reference, since they can be difficult to work with if you don’t have any prior experience.

Segmentation

Mailchimp allows you to segment your audience by different criteria such as location, demographics and more.

We need to first add our subscribers before we can create a segment. This can be done manually or by importing your email list. If you have CSVs and spreadsheets, you can upload them by copying-pasting.

In this Mailchimp Review, we have added contacts using the last option. The tool made the process quick and easy. It also showed us which columns to check to make sure the data was correct.

We used the segment creator after we had created our new list to see how we could group the contacts. Mailchimp’s segment builder was very easy to use, and it gave us many conditions from which to choose in order to make our segments the most specific.

Mailchimp allows you to segment your audience by tags, personal information, activity and how the audience was acquired.

It’s important to note that, while segmentation is good, the email list management has some shortcomings. You can’t manage across multiple lists because they are siloed.

To get the best result (and to minimize frustrations), it is important to only create one.

Personalization

Use Mailchimp’s Personalization feature to create more targeted emails marketing campaigns.

You can do this by using merge tags. This tool allows you to insert dynamic content in your campaigns.

Under the “Merge Tags”, you can select tags such as first name, lastname, address, telephone, etc.

You can also create new merge tags and modify the existing ones to set default values. This option can be found in the Audience Tab where you’ll find all your contacts and segments.

It’s relatively easy to create your tags. However, you should familiarize yourself with terminology prior to starting and make sure you double-check all of them, as they are style-sensitive.

It means that even a small formatting change (extra bolding or italics etc.) will make them unusable. They will become unusable.

Analytics and Reporting

The first thing we noticed when moving on to Mailchimp real time analytics and reporting was the Audience analytics (beta version) where you can track contact status and net subscribers growth.

You can view the performance of your campaigns in the Reports area. This includes important metrics like your opens, clicks and bounces.

In this Mailchimp review we found that the campaign report was simple and informative. They are great for small business owners who want to track performance. The feature tracks the following:

• Link performance
• Predicted demographics
• 24 Hour Performance
• Subscribers who have the most views
• Social Performance
• Opens in the top locations

Custom Reports allows you to get a detailed analysis of email performance in addition to the standard reports.

Note We were told that Mailchimp would remove the reports page after returning to our reports. After returning to our reports, we were informed that Mailchimp will remove the reports page.

Email Delivery

We have compiled a list of reviews written by Mailchimp customers. Mailchimp is a popular email marketing tool.

Several users have reported that their email marketing campaigns are redirected to the spam folder.

Email deliverability is generally good. However, it can be improved. This is a summary of Mailchimp’s deliverability score , based on annual tests:

The platform will require you to verify the domain name before you configure SPF and DKIM.

The authentication option is located under the Website tab. It is a quick process, and once you have completed the verification you can proceed with your setup.

Mailchimp’s Reporting tab includes a A buse complaints metric that will help you track how many people flagged your email as spam.

This metric does not indicate how many emails are automatically redirected to the spam folder. To minimize this, follow best practices for email deliverability.

Integrations

We also learned that Mailchimp has 300+ Integrations, which can help us streamline marketing from eCommerce platforms such as Shopify to CRM software like Salesforce.

To make it easier to find them, the integrations have been categorized (eCommerce analytics social media). We found some of the most popular tools:

• Analytics:Google Analytics Email Heatmaps Firebase Cyfe
• Contact management: Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zerobounce, Zoho CRM
• Payments: SamCart, MoonClerk, Humanitix
• eCommerce: Shopify, Big Cartel, BigCommerce
• Content: WordPress, Drupal, LearnWorlds

After analyzing Mailchimp’s strengths, let’s look at its weaknesses.

Mailchimp Cons – Analyzed

You will find below the features we liked the least, and those that could be improved.

Pricing Structure & Affordability

The biggest flaw we discovered in this Mailchip review is its price model. This option is not attractive to small businesses because the plans are expensive.

For example, Essentials and Standard Plans start at $18 and $20.00 for 500 contacts. However, they can go up to $100 and $135 if you have 10K subscribers.

Mailchimp also has a limit on the number of emails it can send per month, which is reasonable. However, its charges for contacts may discourage some users.

Mailchimp charges you for duplicates, inactive subscribers and unsubscribed ones. You will end up paying for the same email contact more than once if you do not pay attention to it.

‘s biggest weaknesses are likely to be its affordability and Mailchimp’s unique way of counting subscribers. It is not a viable platform for small businesses.

Standard is a good option if your needs are not complex and you do not need the advanced segmentation tools that are essential for eCommerce.

It’s important to note that Mailchimp automatically bills you for any overages. However, if you require transactional email (SMTP Server), you will need to purchase additional credits in order to send these emails.

Email Template Library

Mailchimp provides 100 templates for your next email campaign. You’ll have different options depending on which builder you select.

When you choose the New Builder, for example, there are only 30 designs in the library. Users claim that classic templates are not responsive.

The pre-made templates, while fully customizable and responsive are repetitive and old. If you do not want to spend money on Mailchimp’s marketplace to get more, you’ll need to make your own, which takes time.

We liked that you could create your own template either by pasting code or importing a ZIP. Mailchimp’s template library is a great way to quickly design a message for your audience.

Sign up Forms

The Form Builder was by far the most confusing feature. The form builder is available when you click the signup forms button.

At first, we thought that Mailchimp’s pop-up creator was all there was to it. We only discovered the real builder after clicking on other options.

The options under the option Signup form URL are stacked and feel cluttered. The most annoying thing about this is that there’s no color selector. You have to manually add color backgrounds.

It is easy to use the embedded form builder. The logic follows a drag-and drop approach and allows you to create a popup in just a few moments.

It’s still too simple and options aren’t clearly presented, so you may think that you have less options than you actually do.

Landing pages

This Mailchimp review focuses on how quickly you can navigate the platform.

We expected to find the landing pages in the Website or Audience sections (alongside the forms).

To our surprise, Mailchimp’s Landing Pages is in the Campaign section. This can be missed if you are in a rush.

The platform provides ten pre-made designs for landing pages. does not offer the option to start from scratch.

The builder is not perfect, as it does not allow for custom HTML and only supports elements. It is not possible to perform A/B tests, unlike some competitors.

The difficulty of finding them and their simplicity combined with the lack modern elements and templates led us to add them as pros.

Split Testing & Design

Mailchimp provides you with an Inbox preview tool from litmus for testing your campaign in different email clients.

This is a paid-for add-on, and you have to pay a token each time you create or update a test. Mailchimp recommends that you create a Litmus account in this situation.

Mailchimp only offers this service to paid subscribers. It’s a big drawback that Mailchimp doesn’t have an Inbox Preview feature. This tool will become quite expensive as your business grows.

Mailchimp’s A/B testing features allow you to test different variations in your email campaigns. You will also need to upgrade to the Premium plan if you want the Multivariate Testing tool.

Lastly, it was noted that we were only able to run split tests for emails, but not landing pages. This is another negative point against the popular ESP.

Customer Service

Mailchimp has a number of articles that can help you solve common problems.

You will need to make use of the tutorials and knowledge base a lot if you are a Free user because the email support is available only for the first thirty days. Upgrade to Premium and you will have access to 24/7 email, chat, and phone support.

Customer support can be subjectively assessed. We analyzed the experiences of Mailchimp users and found that the slow reaction time was the main issue.

We also found that the chat wait times were longer than average.

While our issue wasn’t urgent, someone who has an urgent problem and doesn’t have phone access will have to wait until a Mailchimp rep gets back to them.

Mailchimp Pricing Plans

You will find five different plans in Mailchimp pricing that offer the digital marketing tools discussed above.

This ESP’s pricing model is contact-based. Due to the unique charging policy you must be cautious with duplicate contacts and email lists.

There’s a free software version included in the plans. Let’s get started.

Free Plan

Mailchimp has made changes to its free plan, particularly after Intuit acquired the company.

This version is designed for those who are new to marketing and want to start building their audience.

The Mailchimp free plan, at the time of writing, was limited to 500 contacts and included, among other things, the following features:

• Emails of 1,000 per month
• Email support for 30 days
• 1 audience & marketing CRM
• Landing Pages
• 1-step automations

Note that the free plan does not includemarketing automation or A/B testing.

Essentials – $13/month

The Essentials plan will give you more tools and higher limits. It is still designed for marketers who are looking to grow their audience, but do not have complex requirements.

Users will pay $13 per month for 500 contacts, and 5,000 emails. The Essentials includes:

• Remove Mailchimp branding
• Unlock email scheduling and A/B testing
• Offer automated customer journeys
• Give you behavioral targeting

Essentials is a very restrictive plan. It’s recommended that users upgrade to the Standard plan for more features.

Note : You can try out this plan for 1 month for free.

Standard – $20/month

Standard users have access to some of Mailchimp’s best features including dynamic content and send-time optimization. They can also create pre-built journeys.

We didn’t think it was ideal that you would have to pay $20 per month for 500 subscribers, 6,000 emails and so on.

Upgrade to this plan to get access to the following features:

• Templates with custom-coded codes
• Predictive segmentation
• Campaign Manager
• Content optimizer

Mailchimp Standard is a great plan for SMBs. If you need the full toolbox of features for marketing, you’ll have to upgrade.

Note You can try out this plan for 1 month for free.

Premium – $350/month

This plan, according to the description is ideal for teams. It includes Mailchimp’s most advanced tools and unlimited contacts. You also get priority phone support and access to Mailchimp’s most advanced tools. This plan is different from the contact-based ones. It’s based on how many emails you send each month.

You will also have access to:

• Multivariate testing
• Comparative reporting
• Advanced segmentation
• Autoresponders

If you want to experience the full power of email marketing, then you should get the Premium plan. As we have already mentioned, the steep price structure is not ideal for small businesses.

Custom Plans – Pay As You Go

Mailchimp offers a variety of plans, but you can also use its personalized quiz to find a plan that is tailored specifically to your business. Pay-as you go is an option if you’re not a regular email sender. You can buy enough credits for your email marketing requirements.

The Pay as You Go plan offers the same features as the Essentials Plan. This includes access to email layouts and themes, pre-made segments and basic reports.

Credit options are available in your profile, under Billing. They range from 5,00 to 25,0000.

Alternatives to Mailchimp

Every tool has its disadvantages. You need to be ready for a change, particularly when your platform does not work as advertised or makes your task more difficult.

Our team has tested the most popular Mailchimp alternatives to help you make an informed choice.

You will find below our three top choices, which favor affordability, scalability and ease-of-use:

• Moosend offers a complete email marketing solution and marketing automation with affordable pricing and advanced features. The automations can be implemented without any technical knowledge. The email builder has a user-friendly interface. The competitive pricing, starting at just $9/month, and the inclusion of all features are its main selling points.
• Constant contact can be a good option if you are looking for a simpler tool. According to our review of Constant Contact, the platform offers a user-friendly email editor, great deliverability and other features such as their new website builder.
• MailerLite will allow you to automate and create your campaigns. This platform is flexible with its fast email editor, ready-made templates, simple automation and more. It can help you get your email strategy back on track. This option, compared to Mailchimp has higher deliverability rates.

Conclusion

We can now share our final thoughts after taking a closer look at Mailchimp features. The platform is not going to disappoint you in terms of user-experience, but they could improve the UI a bit by “unhiding” certain core features such as landing pages.

Mailchimp can also be used to boost different aspects of digital marketing. Customer Journeys offers a number of options and is easy to use. This is a big upgrade for the ESP, since it didn’t previously have a visual editing tool.

Mailchimp is a great tool, but it can do a lot more. For example, you could improve the email templates and increase email delivery. You could also make it easier to use and find signup forms, landing pages, and other features.

It is an excellent option for large businesses that have the budget to take advantage of its advanced features. But that doesn’t stop SMBs from benefiting equally. Choose the plan that best suits your needs by carefully reading the pricing.

Try out Mailchimp

Frequently Answered Questions (FAQs)

You will find answers to some of the most common questions about Mailchimp here.

1. What are the disadvantages of Mailchimp?

Mailchimp’s biggest flaw is its high pricing and peculiar contact charges that make you pay for inactive and unsubscribed users.

2. What are the best Mailchimp Alternatives?

You can choose between Moosend Constant Contact and MailerLite. They all offer great features and a great price.

3. Is Mailchimp free to use?

Mailchimp offers a free plan that includes 500 contacts and 1,000 email messages per month. The free version has many limitations and eventually you’ll need to upgrade to the paid version.

4. Can Mailchimp help with affiliate marketing?

Mailchimp’s Terms and Conditions prohibit affiliate marketing. affiliates links can be used after an assessment.

5. What features are available in addition to email marketing on Mailchimp?

Mailchimp offers a custom domain and a website building tool in addition to its marketing automation and email marketing tools.

The post Email Marketing Automation Platform For Thriving Business : Pros, Cons and Pricing [Analysis] first appeared on Email Marketing Platform for Thriving Companies .

Author: Marilia Dimitriou