MailChimp vs Our CDP: What to Choose?

We are often asked on email marketing forums to advise some MailChimp alternative. Unfortunately, there is no common solution - the devil is in the details. So, let’s consider both our CDP and MailChimp in detail to determine what email marketing tool is best for you.

Email Editor

In Mailchimp there is convenient drag and drop editor, one of its features is a set of ready-made gifs. But there are some weaknesses:

• you cannot save the particular blocks;
• you need to use a photo editor to add text over an image;
• too few decorative fonts;
• deep HTML skills are required to provide adaptivity.

The main feature of our email editor is marketing automation of many routine trifles which took a lot of time before: for example, the system has a built-in product cards generator that automatically uploads product photos and all the info about it from a website.

There are no ready-made gifs in our email editor, but there is own free shutterstock instead.

Blocks library (customer templates) makes it possible to save any structural elements of the email to paste them in the following mailing campaigns if needed.

To make your email (or some particular block) adaptive, just enough to put the corresponding checkmark in the email editor.

Two or more users can work in parallel with the same template - just like in Google Docs.

Omnichannel 

In MailChimp account, you can make only email messages. There is info appeared on the Internet that MailChimp email marketing service recently began to help with SMS campaigns and web push notifications using integration with other platforms. But in any case, it’s impossible to combine these channels in one workflow.

Unlike that, our platform is an email marketing tool that allows you to use Email, SMS, Web Push, Mobile Notifications, Viber and other messengers combined in one workflow. You could segment messages in any channel by an unlimited set of parameters (Advanced Segmentation).

Dynamic content (from the recipient's name to automated adding of new products) is sent by every channel.

The channel may be selected depending on the individual purpose and conditions of your communications. There is no reason to send SMS in cases when is enough a mobile notification. Omnichannel not only reaches a larger digital audience but also saves your money.

Triggered Messages

In MailChimp, you can configure automated triggered messages, such as greeting emails, abandoned carts, views, thanking for purchase and other best practices of email marketing. But if you want to do this you will need to integrate email marketing service with your online store.

Additional triggered messages are run by execution/non-execution of the specified action, for example when the customers clicked through the certain link, opened a message, left segment for another and so on.

Using our platform as MailChimp alternative you can do the same but marketing automation and personalization are much deeper.

Data from your website or CRM is loaded intoour system via our special script.

With this email marketing service, it’s enough to create one email template, and all the further triggered messages generation will be based on it. The content will be added automatically by the conditions you specified.

All the updates may income via feed - for example, geolocalized info, new blog articles, or hot sales.

Just like in MailChimp, you can use clients API to generate events of any types to send triggered messages by them.

Support

If you have a free account you cannot ask for MailChimp service help.

This problem is partly solved by the FAQ and video manuals but personal contact is unavailable.

For a premium account, support may be provided via chat or e-mail (but there’s no phone mode). 

As for our platform, our support team is always online in all modes (including phone operators) and available for all clients, no matter are they premium or free.

Premium services include marketing agency management: it helps to collect and accompany your subscribers, compose emails, schedule and provide your advertising campaigns.

Integration

By default, MailChimp is integrated with many popular services - Facebook, Instagram, Paypal, BigCommerce, Magento, Shopify etc. So if you use some of them, it will be much easier to configure interaction with MailChimp.

For deep integration, custom development is required by the customer. On the one hand, it’s a bit longer to adjust it - but achieved results will be more accurate and informative.

In simpler cases, our system uses APIs and third-party tools (such as Zapier) for integration. With their help, our platform can integrate with any CRM, email verifier, online store or service.

Segmentation

With MailChimp, you can segment the subscribers' database by various sets of criteria. In the basic version, you can send a mailing to only one segment at a time. That is if you want to send all your subscribers a Happy New Year message via Mailchimp email marketing service but contact list is split into “Ladies” and “Gentlemen” segments, you will need either add the new "Common" segment or run the mailing campaign twice.

The difference seems to be not very significant... if you have only a few segments; but when segmentation is deeper (and by several parameters) it may cause serious inconvenience.

Just like Mailchimp, our platform makes it easy to create data segments. You can use multiple filters - by Open Rate, views, subscriber activities etc.

Default segments like “Active”, “Inactive”, and “Newcomers” are generated automatically.

To send a bulk mailing to several segments you just need to checkmark them. In addition, you can do the reverse action excluding the unnecessary items from your mailing list.

AI-based algorithms can set the filters that optimize the number of messages and personal sending time for each contact - this feature is called "Anxiety level control".

You can add the external segments by data that is stored in your CRM only.

A well-configured reporting system will put your contact database in order - you can always find the scenarios where a specified segment participates.

In addition, in 2018, our system connected the Advanced Segmentation feature: you could receive and use dynamic data over different time intervals, aggregating and extremely detailed them. You could track of constantly changing conditions, such as browsing and purchasing on the website and in the mobile app. To use these opportunities, it's enough to install a tracking module on the website and on the mobile app and set up the transfer of data on online and offline sales and products from catalogs.

Reports and Statistics

In both email marketing services you receive the reports on all the necessary parameters: Open Rate, clicks through, spam complaints, unsubscribes etc.

Differences:

In MailChimp there is useful (but for premium users only) function "Member rating". All contacts are automatically evaluated on a five-point scale depending on their activity with your mailings. It helps to identify the potential VIPs, set the mailing frequency etc.

"Conversion Tracking" function (again, for premium accounts only) tracks the purchases, registrations, subscriptions, and other actions through the mailing.

Differences:
The analyst is provided beyond the single distribution: cohort and RFM analysis of several campaigns results. Notice that analysis is available both on general statistics and on some specified segment.

Segments are generated automatically by emailing results: "opened", "clicked through" etc. So you can take immediate action on them, for example, send SMS to those who haven’t read your email. By the way, this algorithm is easy to automate via special script.

In MailChimp, these segments are generated only manually.

There is an option to view statistics on some single group taken from the common mailing (even if it was sent a year ago).

Basing on mailing results you can configure anxiety level control that regulates the mailing frequency for corresponding segments.

A click map helps you to optimize further campaigns.

Prices

Summing Up: MailChimp vs Our CDP

As we can see, there is no perfect recipe that works everywhere. The choice of email marketing service purely depends on your business model specifics.

If you just start working with email marketing or just need to send promo campaigns once a month to the small subscribers' database - MailChimp is an excellent email marketing tool.

It should be remembered that MailChimp is not designed to be customized. Mass user orientation makes it mostly optimal for small businesses.

Our platform is an ideal solution for big projects; we are ready to meet specific needs, provide individual support and integrate with the client’s CRM.

It’s a perfect choice and MailChimp alternative for a complex eCommerce marketing when you need not just to send emails but:

• manage the multichannel campaigns,
• track users behavior in emails, online and even offline,
• segment the client database accordingly to your customer criteria,
• analyze the campaign's results and bring them to a new level.

How to Switch from MailChimp to Our CDP

To move to our platform, just export your mailing lists from MailChimp. As a result, you will receive a file that contains all your contacts.

Don’t forget to download the unsubscribed list separately for our specialists exclude them from our platform's mailing lists.

Another way is even easier - contact our support team and your MailChimp database will be imported to our system, including all the segments.

After importing contacts to our system, the marketing agency will compose your first email for free; on its base, you will be able to create further messages for promo mailings and triggered campaigns. The same goes to the subscription form - we can make it for free, and it will be designed in your website style.