Email Marketing - Convertkit vs MailChimp - The Pros & Cons

MailChimp or Convertkit? This is a big decision, they're both great email marketing platforms but I definitely have a favorite I'm gonna tell you which one, and the reasons Why?


There are a lot of opinions out about MailChimp and Convertkit! I've used both of these platforms, I like them both, but I'm gonna go into some detail here on the factors that might influence your decision between MailChimp and Convertkit.

A lot of this comes down to perfecting your email strategy by doing, and I think that you can be hugely successful on either platform but that answer is not satisfying you, you clicked on this post and you want an answer...
I gonna give you some advantages (pros) and some inconvenience (cons) of each platform. So let's start..

MailChimp :


  Advantages :

 Ease of use : MailChimp is easy to use and it's perfect for beginners also for small to medium-sized businesses. MailChimp is the platform that I started on I made the mistake of creating an account and collecting Email addresses and not sending out emails consistently! but luckily i smartened on my act, but i like MailChimp especially for beginners.

 It's free for start : Yes MailChimp is free at the time of creating this article you'll start paying for your MailChimp account when you hit 2000 subscribers, then you should hopefully be making more money from your list and when you're actually spending on a cost of the subscription, but know that if you're not paying for an active subscription that they are gonna limit some of the features and the functionality! obviously, they want you to pay just like everyone else. But if you're in fact just getting started this can be a great place for you to do that in.

 Many integrations : This is definitely a pro and a perk of MailChimp being the largest provider out there. MailChimp integrates with many popular website platforms like Squarespace, Shopify or WordPress, by integration I mean that you can pair these services without requiring a third-party tool and if you're a blogger or an e-commerce service that relies on lots of images they're drag-and-drop functionality for creating their email templates can be helpful to customize a template.

  Inconvenients :

 Confusing features : MailChimp features are confusing the way that they name certain functionalities or (for example learning the difference between a Group, a Segment, and a tag) all of this can get complicated quickly and it's easy to mess up in many ways, for example having a bunch of different lists when you don't need it! this is a mistake that a lot of people make in MailChimp it can also backfire on you, having the same subscriber on multiple lists can potentially mean accidentally emailing that person more than once! as well as paying twice for one subscriber because MailChimp actually bills based on list subscribers. On the flip side there's a chance that this could actually be something good for you if you are running multiple businesses from the same email marketing account, then this feature in MailChimp might actually be useful for you.

 Defaults aren't good : I really don't like default templates that MailChimp offer and sadly most people don't customize their email templates enough, and they end up looking like a really ugly template, MailChimp templates tempt you into designing a really crafty visual email blast, but that thought goes against everything that you should be doing when it comes to email unless you're an e-commerce business that relies on lots of imagery to sell your product or convey your message, if you're a person or even a company there's a strong case to be made that your emails should look like a normal email, if your email looks like an advertisement it's not gonna be received well by your subscriber, they might delete it or ignore it, again I make exceptions for eCommerce businesses they rely on this.
MailChimp styling options like fonts and default backgrounds are not great you really need to put in some effort into styling your MailChimp template for it to look like a normal email. However, for beginners I still think MailChimp is a
great option.

Convertkit :


  Advantages :

 Plain text-style emails : No other platform makes this easy to send an email that looks like a normal email, there are lots of advocates out there for Convertkit including popular marketers like "Pat Flynn" because it's the easiest platform to send emails that look like something you'd send out of Outlook or Gmail.


When I switch from MailChimp to Convertkit my open rate skyrocketed, the last email I ever sent in MailChimp emulated a plain-text style email, so it felt like one that I was sending to one single person when I sent this my open rate shot to nearly 60% in this email and my click-through rate to 25%, and that's when I knew I was doing something right, that's the exact moment when I switched over to Convertkit which is all about sending plain-text style emails.

 Ease of tagging : In my opinion Convertkit's tagging feature is amazing, this is a great way to learn and record important data about your users : likes, dislikes, and purchases, and even their preferences I love Convertkit for this. If you're on the fence about which platform to use? and your personal brand that's wanting to send plain-text style emails like me I would strongly consider Convertkit. Unlike MailChimp where you need to design a custom template, in Convertkit the options for design are more limited, because the goal is to send an email that looks like an email, I think those limitations are actually a good thing, you can paste the HTML from your email signature into Convertkit into the custom template section to keep it looking the same, or you can use a free email signature tool creator like Hubspot, which is free you can use this to create one, also there's a paid tool that'll offer a little bit more assistance that tool is called Giantuser, you provide them the design and for a fee that they charge they will code it for you and that takes away all of your email signature mysteries. But know that if you're using HTML you still need to add some additional code if you don't know how!, reach out to someone who knows.

  Inconvenience :

 No chance of visuals : In Convertkit literally no chance even if you wanted them, it's not possible. Basic images in an email it's ok, but anything intricate for e-commerce needs forgets it! Convertkit is not the platform for you if you've got a lot of visual elements in your design, it's simply not made for that.

 They don't have an app : I really wish that Convertkit have an app, it's a small detail, but I think platforms like MailChimp definitely have an edge because of this, when I want to log into Convertkit from my phone I have to open the browser to remember my password, and it just takes a lot longer than simply opening an app to see how my latest campaign is doing.

 Hard to customize : Convertkit templates could be easier to modify or customize, my best advice for setting up your HTML template on Convertkit is to work with someone who knows how to code. There is no drag-and-drop feature like MailChimp, so sadly there's no real way around this, once it's set up you can keep using that template and you won't need to worry about code.

This is comprehensive comparison between two of the leading email marketing platforms: MailChimp and Convertkit. I hope you find that useful and I hope you've got some clarity around which option is best for you. 
So which platform do you prefer? which platform are you going to use? have you decided if you've taken the time to read this article I would love to hear from you, so comment below with your thoughts on this topic.

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