You’re a business owner who wants to send out regular emails to your clients and business partners. Perhaps doing it yourself isn’t efficient any longer because business has picked up. Perhaps you want it automated so you don’t have to think about it. Or maybe you want to better track your analytics, like your email click-through and open rates. This valuable information will tell you what emails and topics appeal to your clients the most – who opens what, and do they click on the link to visit my website or social media pages?
Regardless, you need an email campaign software. Small- to medium-sized business owners generally prefer an e-mail campaign software which is easy to use and delivers results. Literally. An email campaign software is the best
But there are so many to choose from…which will suit your needs?
As a member of many technical meetups and Facebook groups, this question comes up frequently. And over and over again, people comment I used to have MailChimp, but I moved over to MailerLite.
So, here are a few reasons why I prefer MailerLite over MailChimp.
- Ease of Use: MailerLite is very intuitive.
“Thanks so much for telling me about MailerLite. I had tried MailChimp on a couple of occasions and both times left discouraged by the user experience and ran out of patience. With MailerLite, I was able to create a newsletter and send a test email within an hour!”
Suzanne, from Simply Practice
Their menu contains large, easy-to-see courses of action for Dashboard, Campaign, Subscribers, Forms, Sites, and Automation. After teaching countless clients how to use this program, most report they enjoy sending regular correspondence to their email list.
MailerLite gets an intuitiveness score of 4 out of 5 from me.
By contrast, MailChimp has seven – much more difficult to decipher – menu items, very tiny icons which require hovering over to see. Sell Services makes me think they believe users have an ecommerce store (confusing for service-oriented businesses). What’s the difference between their Create and Content Studio? Unclear.
MailChimp gets a 2 out of 5.
Winner – MailerLite
- Cost: MailerLite’s lower fee structure.
If you are like me, you like to try things out before you pay for them. Especially with technology. MailerLite allows up to 1000 subscribers and 12,000 emails each month on their free plan. While this does not include email templates, you can easily create one with their drag-and-drop builder. MailChimp does have a 30-day free version, but after fees start at $10.00 a month for 0 to 1000 subscribers.
MailerLite on Cost 5 out of 5
Mailchimp on Cost 4 out of 5
Winner – MailerLite
- Templates: More is not always better
MailChimp has 81 templates, and MailerLite has 51 templates. However, more options don’t always equate to better results. Studies show click-through rates are actually higher on plain emails – no pictures! See this article from Databox which explains which type of email – plain text or html has a better click through rate.
If templates are important to you, think of MailerLite’s 51 templates like 51 flavors – sufficient email templates (and ice cream flavors)! It’ll give you enough diversity without overwhelming you with unnecessary options.
Template MailerLite score 5 out of 5
Template Mailchimp score 5 out of 5
Winner – Tied
- Support when you need it.
MailerLite provides free chat support and wonderful explanation videos. I have used MailerLite support in the past and they answered me within hours – not days. Impressive.
The free version of MailChimp includes zero support, only available when you move to the $9.00 a month plan.
Mailchimp score 0 out of 5
MailerLite score 5 out of 5.
- Landing pages & popup subscribe forms.
Both programs allow unlimited landing pages and popup subscribe forms. Having landing pages or subscribe forms which offer your clients freebies, coupons, or other incentives on your website is crucial to maximizing your website’s value in bringing in new clients for your business.
MailerLite and Mailchip – tie 5 out of 5.
- Segmentation.
MailerLite offers the added benefit of being able to segment these subscribers into groups, especially beneficial if you have clients who prefer one set of your services over another. For example, one of my clients specializes in meditation/yoga and wellness coaching. Her potential coaching clients receive emails targeted to that, and not the meditation or yoga topics, through MailerLite’s segmentation.
MailerLite allows you to create as many segments as you want in the free plan. Mailchimp on the other hand requires that you move to a paid plan for segmentation
Segmentation score for MailerLite 5 out of 5. Mailchimp – 0 out of 5.
CLEAR WINNER MAILERLITE!
I hope this has convinced you to use MailerLite, or to switch if you’re on another provider. Why do people still use MailChimp, you may wonder? They were there first, but MailerLite has clearly surpassed them in features.
Did I mention that if you have a WordPress website, I can create a stunning popup or landing page to gather email addresses for a mailing list of your own? My package for this includes working with you to pick your popup, setting it up on your website, and a bonus hour of one-on-one training on how to use MailerLite. I’ve made this affordable for small business owners at just $550. Contact me if you would like to hear more.
