Category: Email Marketing

MailChimp vs Drip: Which is the best email marketing tools?
MailChimp vs Drip — These are two of the best email marketing solutions but which is the better option?

I love writing about email marketing solutions. Email marketing is a powerful digital marketing strategy that provides super high return of investment (ROI) for many companies and industries.

Even if you are a blogger, you should start building an email list because it will come in handy when you are promoting a product, services or even keeping your subscribers engaged with the latest posts.

In this article, I will give you some quick insights on what MailChimp and Drip does and how they compare to each other.

Ultimately, I’ll also share my reviews on both the email marketing solutions with the hopes that it will help you in your decision making.

MailChimp
- checkFree for life (up to 2,000 email subscribers)
- checkSend up to 12,000 emails a month for free
- checkMost intuitive drag and drop visual builder (when creating emails)
- checkHeavily based on HTML and images
- checkLow learning curve
- checkFree account comes with automation and workflow
- Automation and workflow are limited
- Advantaged tagging is not user friendly
- Coding skill is needed to maximize MailChimp features
- closeIs the worst email marketing solutions for affiliate marketers
- closeVery basic landing pages
- closeUgly form to collect emails
- closeBasic reporting dashboard
Try MailChimp today!

Drip
- checkBeautiful analytic dashboard and reporting
- checkFree for first 100 email subscribers
- checkAdvantaged tagging and workflow
- checkAbility to segment subscribers based on their activities (clicks, open etc.)
- checkLess dependent on HTML
- checkLow to medium learning curve
- checkOne of the best automation and workflow in the industry
- checkMultiple widgets and plugins to help you collect emails
- checkAdvanced ‘smart’ forms to collect leads at the right time
- checkBest for eCommerce and website owners who are serious in email marketing
- The lowest pricing is $49 per month and is often considered heavy for many beginners
- Some users find the Drip’s feature overwhelming (because there are a lot of things you can do with Drip)
Get started with Drip for free!

MailChimp vs Drip — Detailed Comparison

As a disclaimer, I use both MailChimp and Drip, alongside with ConvertKit for that matter.

MailChimp is my favorite email marketing solution for my personal blog while Drip is used for my creative agency.

Without further adieu, let’s dive into the MailChimp vs Drip comparison.

MailChimp

For me, MailChimp is an affordable email marketing solution for bloggers. It is easy to use and doesn’t cost a dime (for the first 2,000 email subscribers).

Low learning curve and good delivery rates make MailChimp a no-brainer choice for many (including myself).

What I love most about MailChimp is the newsletter template builder. MailChimp is heavily based on HTML and the visual builder is one of the best you can find in the market.

BONUS: The Beginner’s Guide Using MailChimp

MailChimp’s free account also comes with the ability to use the marketing automation which is pretty awesome.

This is what it looks like.

Everything on MailChimp is very much into drag and drop — therefore, you can easily start email marketing almost to instantly.

MailChimp also comes with a ever growing list of ready-made templates to help you get started on the right foot.

As you can see, MailChimp is very much into beautiful designs and low learning curve.

If you are a beginner, you are going to love MailChimp. Try MailChimp now!

MailChimp is not for you if …

There is no love from MailChimp if you are an affiliate marketer.

MailChimp doesn’t allows you to use it for affiliate marketing purposes.

The only way to solve this is through sharing a link to your blog post (and having great call-to-actions to drive website visitors to your affiliate products — which is of course the biggest hassle.

Drip

I first came across Drip because I wanted to better manage my email subscribers and sending emails to a highly targeted audience.

On the surface, Drip beats MailChimp in every aspect except for the price.

Drip comes with free account but only for 100 email subscribers.

Using Drip, you can easily monitor the progress of your email marketing campaign in a beautiful dashboard.

Plus, Drip comes with super detailed reports even for the free account as you can see below.

Drip’s automated workflow does wonders and it is one of the best I have seen and experience in the market.

When I first use Drip workflow, I was blown away … big time!

This is what I mean.

Drip email marketing solution is the best option if you are selling a product/service or serious in understanding how your subscribers react to your email.

Drip allows you to tag your email subscribers based on the actions they take and therefore, you are able to send super targeted emails to them for a higher conversion.

Last not least, Drip comes with form widget which is really awesome. If you are not using lead generation plugins such as Thrive Leads or OptinMonster,

Drip form widget is easy to configure and can easily integrate to major CMS including WordPress.

Drip is not right for you if …

You are concern about money. Drip comes with a forever free account which is applicable up to 100 email subscribers. After that, the pricing starts at $49 per month which can be pretty hefty for beginners.

MailChimp vs Drip — Summary

There is no denial that both MailChimp and Drip are two awesome email marketing tools.

On one hand, MailChimp is a super cost efficient email marketing tool but offers limited features compared to Drip with a slightly higher cost.

If you are just starting out, I recommend you to go with MailChimp and once you are ready to make email marketing work harder for you, Drip is the best email marketing tool!
May 4, 2024
ConvertKit vs ActiveCampaign: Does ActiveCampaign Free Trial Makes The Cut?
ConvertKit vs ActiveCampaign — why I switched from Active Campaign to ConvertKit?

Months back, I was using ActiveCampaign and it was pretty decent. I mean, for $9 a month for 500 email subscribers is pretty much a damn good deal.

As a matter of fact, I was happy — Email was sending out on time, and I was able to manage my email list faster and more efficient.

But something changed. I decided that I need to reduce cost (for 2018) and every bit of technology we use is rechecked to make sure we are getting the best deal.

I came across a cold and scary fact. I was spending too much on my ActiveCampaign subscription. While I was happy, I know that I’ll be happy if I’m able to save the agency some extra money.

That’s when my hunt for ActiveCampaign alternatives came into play and ultimately, I came across ConvertKit (for business and not as a blogger).

Before that, let’s get the fact right.

Both ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign are great email marketing software and I hope that this simple comparison between both of these tools will help you make your decision much easier.

Disclaimer

I used ActiveCampaign for my business for over 3 months before moving to ConvertKit. Carry on reading to find the advantages and disadvantages for both ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign.

ConvertKit

ConvertKit is a simple and powerful email marketing solution for serious marketers.

If I would sum what ConvertKit is all about, here’s what I think:

ConvertKit is a powerful new email service provider that provides InfusionSoft like automation capabilities without the InfusionSoft price.

Don’t get me wrong — ConvertKit is far from being a full suite email marketing solution. However, it comes with some freaking awesome features helps you manage your email subscribers easily and more effectively.

Creating an account on ConvertKit is simple (here’s the link). Right after that, I move forward to create my first email list and prepare to collect emails.

This is what it looks like.

ConvertKit is pretty sleek and creating forms is really easy. The entire process is well-thought through and seriously, it made my day!

I was thinking that it will be something really tough to start with, and I was wrong. Thankfully!

I decided to use ConvertKit because it has a drag and drop visual automation builder just like ActiveCampaign.

here’s where you can build “if this, then that” email marketing campaign.

Advantages using ConvertKit (vs ActiveCampaign)
- checkConvertKit is the best for online creators
- checkInbuilt with landing page and lead in forms
- checkConvertKit easy-to-embed, customizable opt-in forms help you turn casual readers into repeat customers
- checkConvertKit homepage dashboard allows you to keep track of your growth that displays subscriber data and opt-in conversions
- checkConvertKit simple workflows with “if this, then that” style automation rules make it easy to create your own custom rules
- checkInbuilt drag-and-drop sequence builder (visual automation) helps you create personalized automated emails to grow your list while scaling your business
- checkEasily organize email subscribers from one list with tags and segments (minus the massive costs)
- checkFriendly and knowledgeable support team
Disadvantages using ConvertKit (vs ActiveCampaign)
- Entry level pricing is a little steep
- No free trial available
ConvertKit is the best if …

As said earlier, ConvertKit is not for everyone. However, if you are serious in tagging and segmenting your audience, ConvertKit is a better option compared to ActiveCampaign.

Besides that, the single biggest advantage that ConvertKit has over ActiveCampaign is simply because the pricing structure. While ConvertKit is more expensive in the entry level, ActiveCampaign costs more when you have a large email list (or require additional features). ConvertKit doesn’t charge additional for features which extremely favorable when it comes to dollar and cents.

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is an unique email marketing solution. Highly affordable, free trial and good entry level pricing makes ActiveCampaign highly sought after tool.

My first reason for choosing ActiveCampaign is because I used MailChimp for a long time. And I seriously miss their HTML template builder.

With ActiveCampaign, I have pretty similar feature and I can start creating email templates based on my needs.

The visual builder is intuitive and fun to use. As a matter of fact, I did not experience a single glitch when using ActiveCampaign!

So, what did I switched from ActiveCampaign to ConvertKit? More on this below.

Carry on reading the below to find both the advantages and disadvantages using ActiveCampaign.

Advantages using ActiveCampaign (vs ConvertKit)
- checkDrag and drop builder is slightly more intuitive compared to ConvertKit
- checkActiveCampaign can easily be converted into a CRM to understand your customer behavior
- checkIntegration between email marketing, site messaging and SMS under one roof
- checkComes with Chrome extension
- checkIntegrated form builder
- checkActiveCampaign can track page visits and custom events you define, providing real-time behavioral analysis
- checkActiveCampaign comes with 14 days free trial
- checkA support team who is available 24/7/365 to help out
Disadvantages using ActiveCampaign (vs ConvertKit)
- Higher pricing structure for larger list
- Entry level pricing provides limited features
- Higher learning curve compared to ConvertKit
ActiveCampaign is best if …

You love creating email marketing funnels and you have a small list. This is what I mean.

ActiveCampaign is best for new bloggers or marketers who aim to make the best out of email marketing. The full email marketing suite is great for business owners if you don’t mind about the price.

Which Email Marketing Solution Is Better Than MailChimp?ConvertKit vs ActiveCampaign: Which is better?

ConvertKit offers a more all-rounder feature and pricing structure, which for me is the best choice available. Plus, it is extremely easy to scale with ConvertKit and there is migration services available (for free) when you are moving from other email providers.

ActiveCampaign works marvelously well in many parts but the downside for me is the pricing structure. To have a full suite of features, it costs way more than ConvertKit and is definitely eating up my profit margin. This is also the reason why I switched from ActiveCampaign to ConvertKit months ago.
April 19, 2024
MailChimp Competitors: 4 Free and Paid Email Marketing Tools For Your Business
Looking for the top MailChimp competitors?

In this post, you will discover the top 4 MailChimp competitors in today’s market.

But before that, what is MailChimp and why only the top 4?

Yes, there are many email marketing softwares today but not many of them are able to compete head on with MailChimp especially with the generous forever free MailChimp account.

The 2,000 email subscriber limit is one of the biggest and most important factor that helped MailChimp grew to what they are today.

MailChimp is one of the leading email marketing platforms that offers easy-to-use interface which is perfect for beginners who want to send newsletters and automated emails with little to no learning curve.

While MailChimp is often consider the go-to choice for email marketing, MailChimp has several downsides and may not be the best choice for you.

For starters, you can only truly leverage MailChimp if you have design and coding skills to create beautiful email templates.

Apart from that, MailChimp isn’t the best option if you are an affiliate marketer or planning to use emails to sell affiliate products. If you do so, your account may be terminated or closed without any notice.

Make no mistake. MailChimp is a good email marketing software but it certainly has some major disadvantages especially with affiliate marketers. You may want to take a look at this article where I highlight some of the biggest disadvantages using MailChimp.

Without further a due, let’s dive into the top MailChimp competitors for 2018.

Top MailChimp Competitors Worth Checking Out
- AWeber
- GetResponse
- ConvertKit
- Drip
1. AWeber—Email marketing software for affiliate marketers

If you are an affiliate marketer, you are going to to love what AWeber can do. AWeber is a great MailChimp alternative because provides a lot more email marketing features compared to what MailChimp can offer.

Advantages using AWeber
- Split testing ability
- checkDrag and drop visual editor
- Supports HTML and plain text emails
- Automation based on RSS to Email
- checkEasy to use (low learning curve)
- checkMobile application available
- checkFast support (respond under 10 minutes)
- checkHigh delivery ratio
- checkConstant features upgrade
- checkIntuitive dashboard and reporting tools
- checkMobile responsive templates
- checkIntegrated popup and lead generation forms
- checkUsed by top influencers such as Neil Patel (CrazyEgg) and Brian Dean (Backlinko)
- checkHighly affordable (starts at $19 per month)
Disadvantages using AWeber
- Doesn’t come with a forever free plan
AWeber vs MailChimp

I am a huge fan for both AWeber and MailChimp. Personally, I hate the fact that AWeber doesn’t come with a forever free plan. In terms of email marketing features, AWeber offers more detailed reporting and more importantly, zero coding skill is required for using AWeber.

Try AWeber for 30 days free (no credit card required)

2. GetResponse—Affordable and yet powerful

GetResponse is not only one of the top MailChimp competitors, it is also a competitor to many other email marketing solutions including AWeber.

In terms of features, GetResponse offers more than most of the market leaders when comparing side by side with pricing in mind.

Advantages using GetResponse
- checkInbuilt landing pages
- checkDrag and drop visual builder for email automation and funnel building
- checkIntegrated with stock photos from iStock at no extra cost
- checkDetailed reporting tools
- checkTagging and segmenting subscribers with ease
- checkUnlimited mobile preview to ensure that your newsletter looks good all the time
- checkDynamic content allows you to deliver only the most relevant, highly-personalized emails to your audience
- checkAutomate your email marketing with autoresponders
- checkOptimize message delivery using GetResponse ‘Perfect Timing’ feature
- checkSuper high delivery (99% delivery rate)
- checkAbility to track and optimize your email marketing campaigns in just a few clicks
- checkGetResponse is super affordable ($15 per month for 1,000 email subscribers)
Disadvantages using GetResponse
- Pricing is slightly step after the entry level plan
GetResponse vs MailChimp

For me, GetResponse knocks MailChimp out of the park instantly with the drag and drop visual builder.

Do you get what I mean now?

Try GetResponse for 30 days free (no credit card required)

3. ConvertKit—Plaintext email, anyone?

If you love plaintext email marketing, you are going to love what ConvertKit can offer. Period.

ConvertKit understands what it takes to grow a successful online business and therefore, ConvertKit comes with features tailored to your needs to help you achieve success faster.

ConvertKit?

ConvertKit is as powerful as Infusionsoft but as simple as MailChimp. Plus, ConvertKit is way much cheaper compared to Infusionsoft (and doesn’t cost you a dime to get onboarding too)!

Advantages using ConvertKit
- checkEasy-to-embed, customized opt-in forms
- checkDetailed homepage dashboard
- checkSimple workflows with “if this, then that” style automation rules
- checkPowerful drag-and-drop sequence builder helps you create personalized automated emails to grow your list
- checkConvertKit is subscriber-centric (that means you can easily organize your subscribers from one list with tags and segments)
- checkConvertKit’s plain text emails not only give your marketing efforts a personal feel, they also help you avoid spam filters (that means you’ll start seeing higher open rates that turn into more conversions to help you grow you business)
- checkExtreme high delivery rates making sure that your emails get delivered to inboxes without fail
- checkExcellent and reliable support around the clock
Disadvantages using ConvertKit
- Not suitable for those who require HTML or image-rich emails
- closeSlightly more expensive than other MailChimp competitors
- Doesn’t come with a forever free plan
ConvertKit vs MailChimp

ConvertKit is a great email marketing software if you are serious in building an email list and staying engaged with your email subscribers.

ConvertKit pricing starts at $29 per month and while it is slightly higher than most of the MailChimp competitors in the market, it is still considered very affordable with the features which ConvertKit offers.

See what ConvertKit has to offer!

4. Drip—Powerful eCommerce email marketing software

Drip is another top MailChimp competitor. Unlike ConvertKit which focuses heavily on bloggers, Drip put its focus on businesses (brick and mortar, and eCommerce).

Drip used to be covered with ‘blue’ and now, it had redesigned, making it more interesting and effective for eCommerce.

Advantages using Drip
- checkEasily integrate your most used marketing tools with Drip
- checkDrip’s tracking code delivers insights into who your customers are and what they want
- checkLearn about your subscribers and website visitors, with Drip, and track the data any way you like
- checkDrip allows you to apply custom tags, fields, or events to your customers in just a few clicks
- checkIncrease customer engagement with workflows that adapt to your customers’ interests and behavior
- checkDrip’s email builder makes it easy to customize every detail of your messaging for individual people
- checkAvailability of custom conversion tracking
- checkOffers forever free account (up to 100 email subscribers)
Disadvantages using Drip
- Steep pricing structure
- Rather steep pricing structure for beginners
Drip vs MailChimp

To be honest, Drip is a great MailChimp alternative. It is easy to use and setup, Drip offers very professional display and interactive features so that you can spend less time on email.

Drip stands as one of the top MailChimp competitors because it offers forever free marketing plan (up to 100 subscribers) and $49 per month for the next tier pricing.

Another huge advantage using Drip is that you do not need to spend thousands of dollars on web design or coders. Everything can be done easily through their visual builder and their pre-made templates are best to none.

Create a free account on Drip now!

Which is the best MailChimp competitor/alternative?

This is a tough question. Seriously.

Here’s what I think.

Go for AWeber if you are looking for an all-in-one email marketing solution that is affordable and easy to use.

Go for GetResponse if you need landing pages to be included in your email marketing. You can also take a look at this article for the best landing page builder for 2018 (that is way better than GetResponse).

Go for ConvertKit if you are a blogger and love sending plaintext emails. This is by far the best choice for performance and money.

Go for Drip if you are running an eCommerce business or require an email marketing software to make your email list work harder for you (and generates you more money).
April 19, 2024
Sumome Alternative: Top 3 Plugins To Help You Start An Email List
Sumome tools have long been great assets to bloggers, marketers and website owners because they allow you to build an email list. While Sumome is a free tool to use, many people are looking for other Sumome alternative because as they progress down the email marketing business, Sumome is no longer a liable option — especially with the free plan.

Sure, Sumome has a paid plan but it is priced at higher end which makes it extremely un-affordable for many.

This is how their pricing plans look like.

Here are some reasons why bloggers and marketers (including me) decided to look for alter Sumome alternatives.
- Sumome free plan comes with only 200 subscribers
- Entry level Sumome plan is $24 per month and caters for 750 subscribers only
- Unlimited email subscribers starts at $59 per month
While I appreciate the fact that Sumome offers discount of 20% for yearly subscription, this is probably the most expensive list building tool that I’ve ever come across!

And with that, let’s move forward and get down to business. Let’s go through some of the best email list building tools and great Sumome alternatives.

Thrive Leads

I know you have heard about Thrive Leads and you guessed it right. I love Thrive Leads because it is extremely simple to use and is absolutely more flexible than Sumome.

Why is Thrive Leads is better than Sumome?

Thrive Leads is cheaper than Sumome. Being a Thrive Themes membership costs you $19 per month and you have access to Thrive Leads and 9 other Thrive plugins and themes. Compared to Sumome, you are only able to use Sumome to build an email list (and nothing more). You can also purchase Thrive Leads separately at $67 per month (that’s $5.58 per month).

Thrive Leads offers more features than Sumome. Absolutely a no brainer. This is true because Thrive Themes membership comes with 10 WordPress themes and 10 plugins for various blog and email marketing needs. Sumome is created solely for email marketing and therefore, it is definitely an advantage using Thrive Leads over Sumome.

Thrive Leads templates are beyond awesome. This is not a one sided opinion. When you use Thrive Leads, you have the opportunity to explore dozens of optin forms compared to Sumome. While the templates on Sumome aren’t completely bad, more templates and demo forms are always welcomed especially when you are a beginner and doing split testing.

How much does Thrive Leads costs?

See Thrive Leads in action here

OptinMonster

OptinMonster calls themselves as the best WordPress lead generation plugin. How good is OptinMonster?

More importantly, is OptinMonster a great Sumome alternative?

OptinMonster is created by the talented WordPress entrepreneur, Syed Balkhi of WPBeginner. OptinMonster became famous as it was the first WordPress lead generation plugin that offers Exit Intent technology.

With this technology, lead generation forms will only be visible when the website visitor is leaving the page. With Exit Intent technology, visitors will not longer receive lead generation forms that are annoying (you know how it feels like when a pop up flashes upon you when you are reading an article).

How much does OptinMonster costs?

If you are looking for a good Sumome alternative, you should consider using OptinMonster. It is powerful and it is also very user friendly (great for beginners)!

More OptinMonster features here

Bloom by Elegant Themes

I have used many email opt-in WordPress plugins and I got to say that Bloom is probably the simplest I have ever come across.

Bloom email list builder plugin is apart of the Elegant Themes (see my complete Elegant Themes review) and it used by many other bloggers in the industry to grow their email list.

But why Bloom?

Bloom is bloody straightforward and everything is created to help beginners start building an email list fast.

After installing Bloom, you are guided to create your first form and this is what you will see.

Bloom offers several optin forms to collect emails

Once the type of optin is selected, you move forward to create a form to collect leads (you can choose from a wide range of pre-made templates). You will end up with something like this.

Sample of email optin form using Bloom

What makes Bloom a great alternative to Sumome is the simplicity.

The Bloom plugin provides advanced customization to ensure that your form is delivered to the right audience and at the right time.

Bloom email list builder plugin is not sold separately and it comes with the Elegant Themes membership which starts at $89 per year (that’s $7.42 per month). Being a paying Elegant Themes member allows you have unlimited access to all premium themes including the famous Divi 3.0 multipurpose theme, and all the plugins as well.

Click for more Bloom features

Sumome Alternative: Which is the best alternative to Sumome?

There is no definite answer to this but there is one thing for sure — Sumome is not worth it especially with the paid pricing structure. The price is just too steep compared to what Thrive Leads, OptinMonster and Bloom are offering.

Plus, all of these three Sumome alternatives provide more marketing features compared to Sumome.
April 19, 2024
Which Email Marketing Solution Is Better Than MailChimp?

April 19, 2024
How To Use MailChimp: Step By Step Guide For Beginners
If you are looking for an extensive tutorial on “How To Use MailChimp“, this is it.

MailChimp is recommended by web developers and used by bloggers around the world. Make no mistake — MailChimp is the best email campaign management software that doesn’t cost you a dollar.

The standard MailChimp plan comes with 2,000 email subscribers and 12,000 email delivery cap per month. For small businesses and bloggers who are looking to start with email marketing, MailChimp is certainly a no-brainer option.

I hope you enjoy this extensive MailChimp tutorial and here’s the table of content before we dive in.

Note: You will learn more than just how to use MailChimp to send emails and newsletters. You will discover some nifty tricks within this posts that you can use to multiple your email marketing campaigns.

Quick NavigationThe MailChimp Introduction Part 1: Register a free MailChimp account Part 2: Familiarizing with the MailChimp dashboard Part 3: How to create email lists with MailChimp?Part 4: What is MailChimp segments and groups?How to send emails using MailChimp?Step 1: Creating a campaign Step 2: MailChimp campaign builder Step 3: Create an email using MailChimp Step 4: Basic MailChimp email setup Step 5: Design email using MailChimp Step 6: Craft your email content Step 7: Final step before sending the email out MailChimp Analytics Summary: is MailChimp worth it?

The MailChimp Introduction
- checkWhat is MailChimp
- checkHow good is MailChimp
- checkAdvantage using MailChimp
- checkWhy MailChimp is the right email marketing software for you
MailChimp is an email marketing solution that offers both free and paid plans.

In terms of features, MailChimp offers very competitive features which are often comparable to many MailChimp alternatives.

MailChimp allows you to:
- checkMultiple sign up forms
- checkCreate newsletters and emails using drag and drop editor
- checkHTML-ready templates
- checkPowerful and monitored servers for best delivery ratio
- checkManage all your email subscribers under one roof
- checkSend different types of emails to build engagement with your subscribers
- checkAnalyze and track performance of your email campaigns
Part 1: Register a free MailChimp account

The first step is pretty simple. Click on this link and you can create a free MailChimp account in minutes. No credit card required.

Part 2: Familiarizing with the MailChimp dashboard

This is what the MailChimp dashboard looks like. It is very simple and above all, straightforward.

Part 3: How to create email lists with MailChimp?

An email list is where you use to segment your subscribers. I recommend you to create different segments to deliver highly specific and customized newsletters to your subscribers.

You can create unlimited lists on the free MailChimp account. You should also take sometime to understand the differences between segments and groups in MailChimp.

Why?

MailChimp calculates email subscribers based on number of times they are subscribed to a list. This means that if an email subscriber is subscribed to 3 of your email list, the total number of email subscribers is calculated as 3 instead of 1. This is one reason why many people opt for MailChimp alternatives as it will affect your bottom line in a long run.

If you want to use MailChimp for email marketing, you should consider using both segments and groups.

What! What is MailChimp segments and groups?

Part 4: What is MailChimp segments and groups?

MailChimp Segments and Groups

Segments — Your list contains a lot of information about your contacts, like when they were added to your list, where they live, and how they interact with your marketing. You can use this information to filter contacts into segments, and then target them with email or ad campaigns.

Segments are used to create target audiences based on shared data. When you create a segment, you’ll set conditions to filter contacts based on the information that’s available in your list. Each segment can include up to five conditions.

Groups — You can use your MailChimp list to sort your subscribers into custom groups based on their interests and preferences. Groups function like categories in a list, and are an excellent way to manage diverse subscriber profiles in the same MailChimp list. Groups can be the basis for building list segments for sending to targeted audiences.

In other words, group is a collection of subscribers, categorized by their interests or preferences. A group consists of a group category and group names.

How to send emails using MailChimp?
- checkStep by step guide using MailChimp
- checkLearn how to create email campaign, creating email lists and sending out email newsletters without coding skills
Here’s where the juicy part is. The process of sending emails (or newsletters) using MailCHimp is very fun. Seriously!

MailChimp drag and drop UI is extremely intuitive and big brands such as Buffer uses them.

Here is the step by step guide on how to use MailChimp to send email newsletters and mage your email subscribers.

Step 1: Creating a campaign

Click on the ‘Campaign’ tab on the top and select ‘Create Campaign’.

Step 2: MailChimp campaign builder

MailChimp campaign builder is pretty cool. You can choose from the generic three options below, or using the ‘Let us guide you’ option. Here’s what you will get if you choose ‘Let us guide you’ option.

As you can see, there are different goals you can accomplish with MailChimp. Currently, there are 22 campaign options for you to choose from.

For this tutorial, I will not use the above option and go with the generic email creation (I choose ‘Create an email’ option).

Step 3: Create an email using MailChimp

You can opt for Automated, Plain-text or A/B Test apart from the Regular. Choose the one that fits your need.

Step 4: Basic MailChimp email setup

Again, very straight forward. Click on the grey buttons on the right to toggle the settings.

You can also link your Facebook and Twitter accounts with MailChimp to reach a wider range of audience!

Click on the ‘Design Email’ option for the next step.

Step 5: Design email using MailChimp

There will be a lot of designs you can choose from in this step.

Tip: Hover your mouse to each template will give you a quick preview of the design.

Step 6: Craft your email content

After selecting an email template to work with, this is what you will see next.

The left column will represent the template that you choose and the right column is the drag and drop editor where you can customize your email.

You can add content to your email by clicking on each element.

Once you have done adding the content for a particular element, remember to click ‘Save & Close’. By default, MailChimp has a 20 seconds automatic saving to ensure that you don’t lose any important changes you had done.

Step 7: Final step before sending the email out

The last step before sending out any email is to take a final look at it. Thankfully, you can do that easily with MailChimp.

Once the final check is done, the blue ‘Send’ button will be clickable.

MailChimp Analytics
- checkPowerful reporting feature
- checkEasy to understand reports
- checkLow learning curve
- checkAbsolutely free to use
- checkAbsolutely beginner friendly
I love MailChimp for it’s simplicity. It is really super easy to use and doesn’t require you to spend hours to learn it.

Here’s how it looks like.

MailChimp reporting comes with industry average open rates. So, it serves as an excellent benchmark for you to improve your email marketing campaigns.

You can also use MailChimp’s detailed reports to understand the open rates, clicks and reach for each email campaign.

Note: The stats are pretty old because I am currently using ConvertKit as my main email marketing software. You can check out the demo or read the comparison.

Summary: is MailChimp worth it?

It really depends. Personally, MailChimp is one of the best email marketing software in the market for the price and user friendliness.

If you are looking for an email marketing solution that is simple and beginner friendly, you should go for MailChimp. Morever, you can use MailChimp up to 2,000 email subscribers and 12,000 emails per month with the free account.

If you are looking for other MailChimp alternatives, you can try AWeber (with 30 days for free trial) or ConvertKit (no free trial but with 30 days money back guarantee).
April 19, 2024