ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp: Ease of use & editor
Let’s begin by taking a glance at however easy/difficult ActiveCampaign and MailChimp area unit to use.
Back within the day, MailChimp’s claim to fame was its simple use. It came out at a time once email marketing computer code was engineered for enterprises, expensive, and means too sophisticated for the common user to manage.
Nowadays, they still retain a lot of-of that simplicity with a principally easy-to-navigate interface, and a drag-and-drop email editor that’s intuitive to use.
In a way, I believe MailChimp helped to line the quality for what we tend to currently recognize because the easy-to-use email editor – it’s terribly acquainted, with no massive surprises.
My main criticism of MailChimp with relevance simple use, however, is that it is onerous to search out sure options and sections. Email Automation, landing pages, and forms, for instance, all get lumped in conjunction with emails among the ‘Campaigns’ section, that to American state isn’t notably logical.
That, and also the undeniable fact that making each automation and forms will get a touch mussy – however additional on it later.
Now, let’s take a glance at ActiveCampaign, bearing in mind that it’s designed to be an additional powerful platform with an additional advanced vary of options.
You’d expect the interface to be sophisticated, however astonishingly, it’s not. It’s quick and simple to navigate through, with refined user expertise.
navigation system active campaign one
Building email auto responder is additionally simple with their drag-and-drop editor. they provide the choice to conjointly revert back to previous versions of the e-mail, that is super helpful.
That being same, ActiveCampaign overall is maybe not as beginner-friendly as MailChimp (due to the depth of options available). Automation, for instance, needs a good little bit of practice to urge your head around.
This may be okay if you’re technically-inclined and not afraid to roll your sleeves up. However, it is overwhelming for an entire beginner.
So, if having a tool that’s simple to use is at the terribly prime of your list, there’s one winner here.
Winner: ActiveCampaign is okay if you’re willing to place within the time and energy to get familiar with it, however, MailChimp is certainly easier to master. 1st spherical go to MailChimp!
ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp: Email Auto-responder Design and flexibility
How do ActiveCampaign and MailChimp fare once it involves design?
MailChimp has around one hundred email auto-responder templates (or ‘themes’, as they decision them), that for the foremost half look trendy and are mobile-responsive.
There are many totally different themes to decide on from, as well as newsletters, e-commerce emails, events, and notifications. They even have fourteen boilerplate layouts that you simply will customize along with your own colors and pictures.
In general, you get a good quantity of flexibility to regulate styles, due to the various content blogs you’ll drag and drop by (text, images, social buttons, and even products and promo codes). And there’s a choice to transfer your own coded templates if you’d like email auto-responder.
ActiveCampaign offers similar choices – thirty nicely designed and mobile-friendly templates, versatile content blocks, and therefore the ability to import your own templates.
But, the key distinction here is actually the variety of templates obtainable. And during this case, I’d choose additional, instead of less.
Winner: ActiveCampaign’s vary of templates is really pretty sensible, however, MailChimp’s is even higher. The second purpose of MailChimp!
ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp: List management
One bugbear that users typically have with MailChimp is its list management. Why?
Well, in contrast to ActiveCampaign, MailChimp’s lists are reciprocally exclusive. meaning that you simply can’t embrace contacts on totally different lists within the same campaigns.
And as MailChimp charge per subscriber, it conjointly implies that if you’ve got an equivalent contact on totally different lists, you’re paying for the double.
This separation is smart if you’re running multiple businesses or comes – however it’s annoying and expensive otherwise.
I’d go to date on say that MailChimp’s list management is unnecessarily sophisticated. apart from lists, they even have alternative ways in which of organizing contacts as well as tags, segments, and teams – that I feel could be a bit overkill because the distinction between these isn’t terribly clear initially.
ActiveCampaign’s approach is incredibly totally different. Lists are less rigid, which means that equivalent campaigns may be sent to contacts on totally different email auto-responder lists.
You can phase contacts via tags or custom fields (which are contact fields that embrace extra information concerning the contact, e.g. location or interests, etc). Tags and custom fields will even be supplemental or removed via automation.
What’s additional, ActiveCampaign also offers email auto-responder lead evaluation, permitting you to assign scores supported actions taken by subscribers. It’s extraordinarily powerful stuff – and that’s why they are available out on prime here.
Winner: ActiveCampaign’s list management options are really spectacular. MailChimp does associate okay job however might in all probability build this a bit additional easy.
ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp: Marketing automation
Although MailChimp describes themselves as ‘a powerful marketing automation platform’, their automation capabilities pale compared to what ActiveCampaign provide.
MailChimp does have a decent vary of automatic campaigns accessible (including abandoned cart campaigns and products purchase confirmations).
However, the email auto-responder editor itself could be very little awkward. There’s no visual progress, or choices for automation to branch off into multiple methods. It’s not terribly versatile, and with automation, you’d ideally need the maximum amount of management as attainable.
ActiveCampaign, on the opposite hand, provides the type of automation you’d expect to envision in way more high-priced software package. you’ll mix any range of triggers, actions, and conditions to create subtle workflows for causation emails, marking leads, segmenting and tagging information, and more.
Plus, there’s seamless integration with their intrinsical CRM, which means that sales processes (such as follow-ups) may be automatic too.
Winner: It’s terribly arduous to beat ActiveCampaign at the automation game, taking America to a 2:2 tie.
ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp: Registration forms
It’s a typical feature in email selling software package these days. however, let’s take a glance at however simple it’s to line up a type in ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp.
ActiveCampaign gives many choices for making completely different forms, as well as the inline, floating bar, floating box, and modal (pop-up). the shape editor is visual and straightforward to use, and adding new fields is additionally easy.
The forms (which are responsive) may be embedded, linked to, or maybe supplemental on to WordPress or Facebook if you’ve got these integrations created. you furthermore may get choices to associate forms with lists, tags and even deals.
MailChimp additionally enables you to produce embedded or pop-up forms, however with one or two of variations – it’s obscurity close to as simple to try and do, and not all forms seem to be mobile-responsive, either.
Sure, the shape builder (where you edit the shape fields and design) is intuitive to use, however you truly use a distinct editor once making an embedded type email auto-responder, and so a distinct one once more once employing a pop-up.
I’m undecided why they create it therefore difficult, however, ActiveCampaign’s easier approach could be a heap easier to urge your head around.
Winner: ActiveCampaign confiscate this spherical (and the lead!), 3:2.
ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp: CRM
MailChimp doesn’t have a CRM as such, though they are doing claim that you just will use MailChimp as a CRM.
Technically I assume this can be true – MailChimp offers you access to comprehensive contact information, revenue reports, and e-commerce integrations.
But this doesn’t very compare to ActiveCampaign’s purposeful CRM, that will a way higher job of managing deals and opportunities, and linking marketing activities with sales processes.
That’s as a result of ActiveCampaign CRM permits you to create pipelines, produce deal records, assign deal homeowners, and even automate your sales communications and processes.
You can scan a lot of regarding it in our ActiveCampaign CRM outline here, however, I even have to mention that as a CRM hooked up to an email marketing tool, it’s pretty spectacular.
Winner: MailChimp has a small amount of catching up to try and do, as ActiveCampaign place themselves firmly ahead during this spherical.
ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp: Spam testing
MailChimp offers an honest quantity within the means of style testing. other than your customary desktop and mobile previews, there’s additionally their Inbox Preview feature that helps you to preview emails in numerous email purchasers. If you’ve got a monthly set up, you’ll have twenty-five Inbox Preview tokens to use monthly (and you’ll be able to perpetually purchase additional if needed).
You also get a link checker that picks up on any missing links, and an app wherever you can preview your email on your phone. However, there’s no spam testing offered.
It’s the alternative with ActiveCampaign – whereas they need a spam check (using Spam-assassin) that mechanically checks each email before you send. style previews area unit restricted to desktop and email previews. Email shopper previews aren’t enclosed, a minimum of not for free of charge – you wish to shop for further credits to be ready to access these.
Winner: MailChimp give style testing for free of charge, whereas ActiveCampaign gives spam testing – thus let’s decision it even. That takes us to 4:3, with ActiveCampaign within the lead.
ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp: Reporting
Both ActiveCampaign and MailChimp do a superb job of reports. every tool provides the following:
Email performance (opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscripted, etc)
Links clicked
Geo-location
Social performance
Automation reports
E-commerce reports
ActiveCampaign additionally gives deal reports, that area unit summaries of the deals within the CRM – here, you’ll be able to check reports like deals over time, funnel overviews, and deal owner by reports.
MailChimp, however, provides slightly additional within the means of e-commerce reports, as ActiveCampaign solely permits ‘deep data’ news with Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce.
Winner: Honestly, they’re pretty on par here. ActiveCampaign would be the higher alternative if you would like access to deal reports, but MailChimp provides e-commerce news for additional tools. Again, some extent to both!
ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp: Deliverability
We’ve taken a glance at ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp’s options, however what concerning however they perform in terms of deliverability?
While it’s an element that always gets unnoticed, we’re lucky to possess had the prospect to be ready to take a look at out their deliverability on many occasions.
Our tests found that ActiveCampaign had higher deliverability rates overall. They were less possible to finish up in spam, and additionally had far better probabilities of reaching Gmail’s primary inbox (rather than ending up within the Promotions tab).
Winner: Can’t argue with the numbers – ActiveCampaign cleanly put off this round. If you’ve lost count, they’re well leading the means 7:4. Let’s see if MailChimp will catch up within the previous few rounds…
ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp: Integrations & extras
Both ActiveCampaign and MailChimp area unit standard tools, thus it stands to reason that they’d ever give an honest quantity of integrations with alternative tools.
MailChimp provides on the brink of two hundred, with integrations to all or any your biggest CRM, e-commerce platforms (minus Shopify), CMS and net builders, and social networks. Plus, they connect with Zapier, gap up the mixing potentialities even any.
ActiveCampaign gives integrations with over 250 apps and additionally connect with Zapier.
Winner: positive, it’d be simple to grant this spherical to the tool with the very best variety of integrations, however as this is able to perpetually be ever-changing I’m progressing to award some extent to every – each gives the most integrations that the bulk of users would wish.
ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp: Email Support
ActiveCampaign and MailChimp provide similar avenues of support, with email, live chat, information bases and tutorials all obtainable. but as ActiveCampaign may be a very little additional complicated to master, they additionally give one-on-one coaching as a possibility, and a community forum wherever you’ll be able to get connected with alternative users.
We found ActiveCampaign’s support to be a touch additional accessible than MailChimp’s. whereas you’ll access ActiveCampaign support from any screen within the tool (thanks to the assistance icon within the bottom right corner), MailChimp’s email and chat support were solely obtainable once you’d suffered their cognitive content.
Winner: With additional support choices and {a much|a means|a far} easier way of aiming to them, ActiveCampaign put off this spherical, taking them to a powerful 9:5 lead.
ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp: Pricing
As we’ve seen thus far, the scales area unit undoubtedly tipping in ActiveCampaign’s favor, particularly once it involves the vary and depth of options on provide.
So however do ActiveCampaign and MailChimp compare once it involves price?
For the number of extras you get, ActiveCampaign would for sure charge an arm and a leg, right?
As it seems, not essentially. Compared to alternative similarly-featured enterprise-level automation code (e.g. HubSpot), ActiveCampaign is really rather more budget-friendly.
And curiously enough, once you get to an exact quantity of subscribers, ActiveCampaign will really be cheaper than MailChimp.
Let’s take a glance at their lowest-level plans to visualize what I mean.
So, once you have over fifty,000 subscribers, ActiveCampaign and MailChimp’s costs begin to even out.
It is price re-emphasizing, though, that this is often on ActiveCampaign’s lowest setup, Lite. This doesn’t associate with all the options enclosed (e.g. CRM, lead rating, deep information integrations, over three users). For those options (and more), you’d upgrade to either their and, skilled or Enterprise plans.
With MailChimp, most options (or most of the helpful ones, anyway) area unit enclosed in their monthly set up. the sole one’s missing area unit advanced segmentation, comparative reports, variable testing and premium support, that area unit solely obtainable on the professional set up.
This set up adds $199 to the price of a daily monthly set up, that is why I don’t suppose it’s even price mentioning – it’s meaning too costly for what you get reciprocally.
However, some alternative professionals in MailChimp’s favor area unit that they provide a Forever Free set up moreover as postpaid plans. ActiveCampaign doesn’t give either; simply a free 14-day trial.
Winner: This one’s a small amount robust. On paper, MailChimp area unit cheaper (when addressing smaller subscribers volumes), however in terms important for cash, ActiveCampaign is miles ahead.
It’s arduous to match the 2 once they play in such completely different leagues, however, I believe it comes all the way down to that of the 2 I feel is expensive for what it offers. and that I genuinely feel that it’s MailChimp. So, this spherical goes to ActiveCampaign.
Which means that we’ve got a winner for the best email auto-responder… ActiveCampaign!
ActiveCampaign vs MailChimp: Final thoughts
There’s an honest reason why ActiveCampaign is our site’s #1 tool. As we’ve shown you, it’s a solid email promoting platform that’s arduous to beat once it involves options, deliverability, and price for cash.
Is it the correct tool for you? If you’re searching for advanced options – automation, CRM, list management, then on – and have the allow it, then I’d advocate ActiveCampaign while not hesitation.
But what if you’re operating with a tighter budget? What if things like simple use, email styles, or perhaps landing pages (something that ActiveCampaign don’t offer) area unit additional necessary to you?
In this case, MailChimp would be the higher possibility – however simply remember that their area unit currently tools that area unit even cheaper, easier to use, and provide similar options (MailerLite, for example).
So if you’re during this cluster, I’d undoubtedly advocate searching around. MailChimp is also the champ of email promoting in terms of recognition, however there area unit many alternative tools out there that provides it a significant last its cash.
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