ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp: Find out Which we Stopped Recommending and Why

Summary

Discover the nuanced differences between Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign in this comparison video. While Mailchimp boasts user-friendly features and a free plan, ActiveCampaign offers advanced automation and CRM capabilities, albeit at a higher price. Dive into detailed insights on interface, automation, CRM, reporting, and pricing to make an informed decision. ActiveCampaign shines for comprehensive email marketing needs, while Mailchimp suits those starting out, with potential limitations. For more insights, explore the full comparison on their website.

Takeaways

• 👥 Mailchimp is celebrated for its user-friendly design and ease of use, featuring a straightforward drag-and-drop email editor suitable for novices.
• 🛠️ ActiveCampaign, although initially more complex, offers advanced email marketing tools and a drag-and-drop builder once users are acquainted with its interface.
• 📝 Both platforms provide versatile form editors and website builders, but ActiveCampaign's integration capabilities and Mailchimp's free landing page builder each have unique strengths.
• 🔄 ActiveCampaign excels in automation, suitable for complex marketing needs with its customizable workflows for emails, lead scoring, and more.
• 🤖 Mailchimp provides basic automation options, making it ideal for simpler marketing tasks like automated email campaigns based on user behavior.
• 💼 ActiveCampaign includes a purpose-built CRM for detailed customer relationship and sales management, outperforming Mailchimp's limited CRM features.
• 📊 Both services offer comprehensive reporting and analytics tools, but ActiveCampaign's CRM and workflow insights provide more depth.
• 💲 While ActiveCampaign is pricier, it offers substantial value through advanced features, contrasting with Mailchimp's charges for inactive contacts.
• 🆓 Mailchimp's free plan includes essential features, but lacks the advanced capabilities available in higher-tier paid plans, whereas ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial.
• 🏆 For extensive marketing needs, ActiveCampaign is recommended due to its robust features. However, Mailchimp is a viable option for those starting with a free plan and simple requirements.

Q & A

Which email marketing platform is considered the world's most popular?

Mailchimp holds the status of being the world's most popular email marketing platform.

What is Mailchimp known for in terms of its user interface?

Mailchimp is known for its user-friendly interface and easy-to-use features, making it simple and intuitive even for those with little to no technical experience.

How does ActiveCampaign's form editor compare to Mailchimp's in terms of ease of use?

ActiveCampaign's form editor is very easy to use, offering a variety of form types and the ability to add new fields straightforwardly. It also allows forms to be linked, embedded, or added directly to Facebook or WordPress.

What is a unique feature of Mailchimp's website builder?

Mailchimp's website builder allows you to sell items directly from your landing page at no cost, although there is a 2% transaction fee plus processing with Stripe.

Which platform is more suitable for businesses with complex email marketing needs?

ActiveCampaign is more suitable for businesses with complex email marketing needs due to its powerful automation capabilities.

How does Mailchimp's automation capabilities compare to ActiveCampaign's?

Mailchimp offers more basic automation capabilities, suitable for businesses with basic marketing automation needs, while ActiveCampaign provides more advanced and customizable automation options.

Does ActiveCampaign offer a CRM tool?

Yes, ActiveCampaign offers a purpose-built CRM tool that allows you to manage customer relationships, automate sales communications, manage deals, and more.

What kind of reports does ActiveCampaign provide?

ActiveCampaign provides a multitude of reports that give detailed insights into every aspect of your marketing efforts, including campaign statistics, conversion rates, and valuable CRM data reports.

What is Mailchimp's approach to charging for contacts?

Mailchimp charges for unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts, which is considered a less favorable approach compared to some other platforms.

What are the limitations of Mailchimp's freemium plan?

Mailchimp's freemium plan is limited to 500 contacts and does not provide access to modern email templates or multi-step automations.

Which platform offers a free trial instead of a free plan?

ActiveCampaign does not offer a free plan but provides a 14-day free trial for users to test their services.

Based on the comparison, which platform would be recommended for an all-in-one email marketing service?

ActiveCampaign is recommended for those looking for an all-in-one email marketing service due to its advanced features and capabilities.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Comprehensive Comparison of Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign

Lissette from Tooltester introduces a detailed comparison between Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign, two leading email marketing platforms. The segment starts by questioning Mailchimp's popular status and ponders if ActiveCampaign could be a better choice for some users. The video details the user-friendly features of Mailchimp, including its simple drag-and-drop email editor, and contrasts these with ActiveCampaign's more advanced and slightly complex interface. Both platforms are recognized for their drag-and-drop newsletter builders, modern template designs, and website and landing page builders. However, ActiveCampaign offers more customization and integration capabilities, especially in forms and dynamic content, which may require setting up integrations first. The discussion highlights ActiveCampaign's superior automation and CRM capabilities, suggesting it might be more suitable for businesses with complex needs, whereas Mailchimp is better for basic automation tasks.

05:00

💸 Pricing and Value Comparison Between Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign

This paragraph delves into the cost-effectiveness of ActiveCampaign compared to Mailchimp, emphasizing that despite its higher price, ActiveCampaign offers better value through its advanced automation and CRM features. It points out that Mailchimp charges for unsubscribed contacts, which could be seen as a disadvantage. The discussion notes that Mailchimp offers a free plan but it's limited in features and contact capacity, whereas ActiveCampaign provides a 14-day free trial with no free plan. The segment concludes by suggesting that ActiveCampaign is preferable for those needing extensive email marketing services and CRM tools, while Mailchimp might be suitable for beginners or those with simpler needs. A final call to action encourages viewers to visit their website for more detailed comparisons and subscribe to their channel for further updates.

Keywords

💡Email Marketing

Email marketing refers to the strategy of sending marketing messages via email to a group of prospects or customers. In the video, email marketing is central to the comparison between Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign, both of which are tools designed to facilitate email marketing efforts by businesses. The script discusses various features of both platforms that enhance email marketing, such as automation, template designs, and form editors.

💡User Interface (UI)

User interface refers to the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The effectiveness of a UI is significant in determining how easily users can make use of a tool's features. In the video, Mailchimp is highlighted for its user-friendly interface, making it accessible even for those with little to no technical experience, emphasizing its appeal to a broader audience.

💡Automation

In the context of email marketing, automation refers to the capability to send out emails automatically, based on triggers and predetermined schedules. The script contrasts the basic automation capabilities of Mailchimp with the more advanced and customizable options provided by ActiveCampaign, which include sophisticated workflows for email sending, lead scoring, and data segmenting.

💡CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

CRM systems help businesses manage, automate, and synchronize every facet of customer interaction. The video points out that ActiveCampaign includes a purpose-built CRM that offers robust tools for managing customer relationships and automating sales communications, whereas Mailchimp’s CRM functionalities are somewhat limited.

💡Drag-and-Drop Editor

A drag-and-drop editor is a user interface that allows users to build layouts or modify content without writing code, by simply moving elements around on the screen. Both Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign feature drag-and-drop editors for designing emails and forms, highlighted in the video to emphasize their ease of use, which is crucial for users who lack coding skills.

💡Templates

Templates in email marketing are pre-designed layouts that users can customize to create their own content. The video mentions that both Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign offer modern email and website templates, facilitating quick and aesthetically appealing campaign designs which can be crucial for maintaining brand consistency and engagement.

💡Integration

Integration refers to the ability of one software to function seamlessly with other software. In the video, ActiveCampaign's ability to integrate with external apps like Square or Stripe for payment processing is discussed. This feature enhances the platform’s utility by enabling users to perform more functions within the same ecosystem.

💡Personalization

Personalization in email marketing is the practice of tailoring content to meet the individual needs of recipients. It’s mentioned in the video that ActiveCampaign allows for web personalization, which can hide or show elements based on user data, providing a tailored experience that can potentially increase engagement and conversions.

💡Analytics

Analytics in the context of email marketing involves the measurement, management, and analysis of marketing performance to maximize its effectiveness and optimize return on investment. The video discusses how both Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign provide extensive analytics and reporting features that help users track the performance of their campaigns.

💡Pricing

Pricing is a critical consideration for users choosing between email marketing platforms. The video discusses the pricing structures of Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign, noting that while ActiveCampaign may be pricier, it offers more advanced features. Mailchimp, however, charges even for unsubscribed contacts, which might affect a user's decision.

Highlights

Mailchimp is the world's most popular email marketing platform, but this comparison will determine if it's deserving or just marketing hype.

ActiveCampaign is a more advanced email marketing tool with a slightly more complex interface compared to Mailchimp.

Both platforms include a drag-and-drop newsletter builder, modern template designs, and a website/landing page builder.

ActiveCampaign's form editor is easy to use with various form types and the ability to link/embed forms directly to Facebook or WordPress after setting up integrations.

Mailchimp offers pre-designed email form templates that can be customized, but requires different editors for different form types.

ActiveCampaign's website builder has a variety of templates, design options, and the ability to integrate with external apps/services like Square or Stripe for payment collection.

ActiveCampaign's web personalization feature allows for dynamic content and a more personalized web experience, but is only available on higher-tier plans.

Mailchimp's landing page builder is free to use and allows selling items directly from the page with a 2% transaction fee plus processing.

ActiveCampaign is better suited for businesses with complex email marketing needs due to its powerful automation capabilities.

Mailchimp offers basic automation capabilities, ideal for businesses with more straightforward marketing automation needs.

ActiveCampaign provides a purpose-built CRM for managing customer relationships and automating sales communications.

Both platforms offer excellent reporting and analytics capabilities, with ActiveCampaign providing more detailed insights through its CRM reporting and visual workflow editor.

ActiveCampaign is priced higher but offers more advanced features, making it good value for money compared to other enterprise-level automation software.

Mailchimp charges for unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts, while ActiveCampaign does not offer a free plan but provides a 14-day free trial.

Mailchimp's freemium plan is limited to 500 contacts and lacks access to modern email templates and multi-step automations.

ActiveCampaign consistently performs well in email deliverability tests, even ranking first on some occasions.

Mailchimp offers useful features in its free plan, but upgrading to higher tier plans is necessary for more advanced marketing features, which can become expensive.

ActiveCampaign is recommended for an all-in-one email marketing service, while Mailchimp may be suitable for those starting on a free plan but with awareness of its limitations.

Transcripts

Hi, Lissette here from Tooltester. Welcome to  our Mailchimp vs ActiveCampaign comparison,  

a deep dive into 2 of the most powerful  email marketing solutions on the market.  

Stay with us to find out if Mailchimp’s  status as the world’s most popular email  

marketing platform, is actually deserving  or if it’s just all marketing hype.  

Does ActiveCampaign have a shot at ever winning  

the popularity contest? Maybe it’s the  right one for you. Let’s find out.  

MailChimp is well known for its user-friendly  interface and easy-to-use features.  

The platform is both simple and intuitive,  

even for those with little to  no technical experience.  

Mailchimp’s drag-and-drop email editor is  extremely straightforward, allowing users  

to quickly create visually appealing and  professional-looking email campaigns.  

By comparison, ActiveCampaign is a more  advanced email marketing tool, with a  

slightly more complex interface. However, once  you’ve familiarized yourself with the product,  

you should find it fairly easy to use. Both Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign include a fast  

drag-and-drop newsletter builder, modern template  designs, and a website and landing page builder.  

ActiveCampaign’s form editor is really easy  to use; it provides a variety of different  

form types, such as floating bar, box, and  popup. Adding new fields to the forms is  

also straightforward and these forms can be  linked, embedded, or even added to Facebook  

or WordPress directly. This is a pretty  useful feature, but bear in mind you’ll  

need to set up these integrations first. On the other hand, Mailchimp offers a variety  

of pre-designed email form templates that can  be customized and embedded in your emails.  

The strange part is that you are required to use  different editors depending on the form type.  

ActiveCampaign’s “less is more” approach  is definitely the winner here.  

ActiveCampaign's website builder comes with  a variety of templates and design options,  

as well as the ability to integrate with  external apps and services. For example,  

you can integrate with Square or Stripe  and collect payments through your pages.  

With ActiveCampaign, you can add dynamic content  by using the web personalization feature, which  

allows you to hide and remove certain elements for  different users, providing a more personalized web  

experience for your visitors. However, this  advanced feature is only available on the  

higher-tier plans, which are pretty expensive. Mailchimp's website builder  

offers a total of 10 easy-to-use templates, and  let's just say, we were pretty impressed by the  

fact that you can sell your items directly from  your landing page at no cost! (though bear in mind  

you will need to pay a 2% transaction fee plus  processing with Stripe.) Considering Mailchimp's  

landing page builder is completely free to  use, it definitely steals the limelight here.  

ActiveCampaign is known for its  powerful automation capabilities,  

making it more suitable for businesses  with more complex email marketing needs.  

With ActiveCampaign, you can combine triggers,  actions, and conditions to build sophisticated  

workflows for sending emails, lead scoring,  segmenting and tagging data, and more.  

Mailchimp offers more basic automation  capabilities. Although you do have the  

ability to create automated email campaigns based  on subscriber behavior, such as abandoned carts  

and post-purchase emails. It's safe to say that  Mailchimp is better suited to businesses with  

more basic marketing automation needs. So, if you're looking for more advanced  

and customizable automation options,  ActiveCampaign is the better choice.  

Though Mailchimp claims that you can use  their platform as a CRM, it’s lacking the  

functionality to really do so. ActiveCampaign, on the other hand,  

offers a purpose-built CRM, which allows  you to manage your customer relationships,  

automate your sales communications, manage deals,  and much more. It’s obvious which one wins here.  

Both ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp offer excellent  reporting and analytics capabilities to help you  

track the performance of your email campaigns. ActiveCampaign provides a multitude of reports  

that give you detailed insights into every aspect  of your marketing efforts. Aside from the usual  

campaign statistics and conversion rates, it  also offers valuable reports on your CRM data.  

Mailchimp’s advanced reports  provide data on revenue,  

e-commerce, and social performance.  All in all, they’re very complete.  

So, as you can see, both platforms provide  a range of standard and advanced reports,  

as well as the ability to export data -  which will definitely come in handy.  

However, ActiveCampaign's CRM reporting  and visual workflow editor can provide more  

detailed and advanced insights, which you’d  expect from its price. This one is a tie.  

Speaking of pricing… Yes, ActiveCampaign is on the  pricier end of the spectrum, but considering all  

the advanced features it includes, we think it’s  a fair price. Especially in comparison to other  

enterprise-level automation software. Therefore,  when compared to Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign  

is much better value for your money. What’s more, Mailchimp charges you for  

unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts  - cheeky move there from the chimps!  

It is worth mentioning that Mailchimp does offer a  freemium plan, although you’ll be limited to only  

500 contacts, and you won’t be able to access the  modern email templates or multi-step automations.  

ActiveCampaign does not offer a free  plan, only a 14-day free trial.  

Quick note: Make sure to check out our website for  

the most up-to-date pricing  information and analysis.  

So let’s recap: - ActiveCampaign is more  

expensive than Mailchimp for those with  smaller contact lists, but it offers more  

advanced automation and CRM capabilities. - Activecampaign performs consistently well in  

our bi-annual email deliverability tests, even  coming in first place on a few occasions.  

- Mailchimp offers a selection of useful features  in their forever free plan. However, you’ll need  

to upgrade to their higher tier plans to gain  access to more advanced marketing features,  

so it can get expensive quickly. - Both offer excellent reporting features  

and are easy to use, though the learning curve  may be slightly steeper with ActiveCampaign.  

So with all this in mind, we’d recommend  ActiveCampaign to those looking for an  

all-in-one email marketing service. Mailchimp, however, might be right for you  

if you’d like to start on a free plan, though you  will quickly discover its limitations. If you need  

more help to decide which is best for you, drop  us a question in the comments section below.  

Thanks for watching! Be sure to check  out our full ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp  

comparison on our website, which we’ve  linked to in the description below.  

Hit Like or Subscribe if you’d like  to see more, and see you next time!