If you’re confused about which of the email marketing services are best to use, believe me you’re not alone. I was exactly in the same situation when I first started my blog.
Although there are many marketing automation platforms and email services, there are really two that stand out from the rest. I’m talking about MailChimp.…
And ConvertKit.
So, I thought I would take a deep dive look to show you which might work better for you.
Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links. I will earn a small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you.
Ease of Use of Email Marketing Services
This is always my favorite place to start, because I’m totally non-techy. A bit better now than when I first began my blog, but still I say the easier the better.
I began with MailChimp and I would have to say it was fairly easy to navigate around the site. You can even design your own email for your subscribers. And it’s fairly easy to edit with their drag and drop editor.
Likewise, ConvertKit is relatively easy. One thing that’s different is that you need to add your subscribers before you can create your email. Not difficult. Just another step. In the editing area it’s pretty straight forward. Unlike MailChimp, with their drag and drop, you options are more limited, but still creative in that you can apply bold or italic styles to your text, change your font color and sizes, as well as add images.
Winner: I would say for Ease of Use, this one’s a tie!
Which Marketing Service has the Best Flexibility of Design
MailChimp can be almost overwhelming in their design flexibility. They have around 100 templates from which to choose. Plus, 14 blank layouts so you can design your own newsletters, invitations, etc.
ConvertKit is more limited with only 3 templates to choose from. Instead of focusing on the options for design, they have carefully researched emails tend to perform the best and they offer those to you.
The Winner on Flexibility of Design: My feeling is that ‘more’ often just becomes confusing and I’m willing to trust the experts, so I have give ConvertKit this one.
Best List Management of the Email Marketing Services
MailChimp allows you to create lists and in fact, allows you to create multiple lists. Unfortunately, they also charge you extra for contacts that are duplicated across lists.
ConvertKit on the other hand doesn’t do lists. All the contacts you have uploaded go to the same place. You can, however, organize them in a sequence or tag them with no additional charge. It’s a more straight forward, and less confusing, way to organize your contacts.
The Winner: ConvertKit
Who Does Best at Automated Emails?
I say, blogging is hard enough, and the more you can get help the happier you’ll be. Having your emails or newsletters automated is one less step for you. Both ConvertKit and MailChimp handle this problem for you.
It’s a bit tricky though to set up this process with MailChimp because the settings are hidden under the Create an email option and then you need to go to Campaigns and physically set up the process. Again, not totally bad, just extra steps.
On the other hand ConvertKit prides itself on their sequential email process. It’s called Visual Automations.You can easily begin with a welcome email, then proceed to go to follow up emails depending on your intent. This sequential email process has proven to convert better than a single email.
The Winner: ConvertKit once again, due to their diligent research into what works best for their customer.
Registration Ease of the Email Services
Forms are important to bloggers and you want to make it easy for your subscribers to sign up. Again both, MailChimp and ConvertKit have kept this process relatively simple.
However, MailChimp once again gives you more choices in the set up. You choose which type of form you want to set up and then choose whether you want to enter it from the List feature or the Campaign feature. Plus you can add design features like colors, font sizes, etc. To be honest, it gets a little confusing.
Once again, ConvertKit has made this process a little more straight forward. There are less options than with MailChimp but process is much easier to navigate because of their simple easy-to-use editor.
The Winner: ConvertKit. For me, Ease is the keyword.
Which Email Marketing Service Has the Best Landing Pages?
Both MailChimp and ConvertKit do a fine job on building a Landing Page. MailChimp once again offers more choices, actually 8, landing page templates. It’s not hard to set up, but does take a bit of time to set it up. You do have the option to host your landing page on your own site with MailChimp, but it will cost you an extra $99/year.
ConvertKit limits your choices to 4 templates. Have to say the choices are all pretty good and the set up is easy. Plus if you decide to host your landing page on your own site, there is no extra charge.
With both MailChimp and ConvertKit you are able to get reports on visits, conversions, subscribers and clicks.
The Winner: This was close since both of these companies do a good job on landing pages, but once again ease wins, as well as the savings of $99 yearly to host the landing page on your own site, so this one goes to ConvertKit.
Which of the Email Services Does the Best Design Testing?
Because of MailChimp’s dedication to design, this one is easy to decide. They offer you an inbox preview to let you see how your email will look on your phone as well as a link checker to catch any missing links.
ConvertKit, with their text based email, offers only a preview of what your subscribers will see, with none of the extra features of MailChimp.
The Winner: You guessed it. MailChimp
Which of the Email Marketing Services Wins at Reporting?
MailChimp offers an endless range of reports. They offer not only basic performance reports, but also hourly reports, location reports, social stats and much more. Plus extra information on how your campaign have performed against the industry average.
ConvertKit’s reporting is more basic. You get reports on open rate, click rates, links clicked and unsubscribes. Important information, but not as detailed as MailChimp.
The Winner: MailChimp
Who Reliably Does the Best Email Deliverability?
Yep, it’s important to be sure your subscribers receive their email.
Both of these companies do a good job with the majority of the mail going to the intended email, rather than spam.
However, the stats prove that ConvertKit does a little better job with 87% of their overall email delivered, compared to 83% with MailChimp. And for mail going to the primary mailbox, ConvertKit delivers 81%, where MailChimp delivers 65%.
The Winner: ConvertKit
Who Gives the Best Support?
Now, this is a category that I feel is paramount. When you need help, you need someone to be there quickly. You can reach both of these companies by email or chat. (Although I prefer phone, but hey that’s just me).
With ConvertKit, you can access them 24-7. Unfortunately, MailChimp only responds during regular business hours.
The Winner: ConvertKit
Which Email Marketing Service is Best at Overall Pricing?
Pricing is relatively close for both of these companies, with MailChimp being a little cheaper. Plus, they have a free starter plan.
But to compare apples to apples:
5000 subscribers:
MailChimp – $49.99/mo. ConvertKit: $79.00/mo
10,000 Subscribers:
MailChimp – $99.00/mo. ConvertKit: $119.00/mo
Plus MailChimp has charges that ConvertKit doesn’t have
Winner: This one was difficult because although MailChimp appears less expensive, they have extra charges that ConvertKit doesn’t charge, so I’m going to have to call this one a tie.
Final Conclusion of Best Email Marketing Services
Although MailChimp is certainly a formidable opponent, ConvertKit is the clear winner in my book with winning scores in 7 out of the 11 categories, plus an additional 2 tied scores. For more information and for the best price on ConvertKit click here.
