Email marketing is one of the most effective digital marketing tactics you can implement, but you need the right software to meet your goals. However, finding the right software to help create and manage your campaigns takes a bit of research.
Constant Contact and Mailchimp are two of the top solutions on the market, and they both offer a wide range of features that will take your email marketing strategy to the next level. Keep your business’s unique needs in mind as you compare these two platforms to help you determine which one is the best fit for you.
Jump to:
- Constant Contact vs. Mailchimp: Audience management
- Constant Contact vs. Mailchimp: Reporting
- Constant Contact vs. Mailchimp: Design tools
- Constant Contact vs. Mailchimp: Extra features
- Constant Contact vs. Mailchimp: Pricing
- How to choose the best email marketing software
Also read: Email Marketing Best Practices That Drive Results
Constant Contact vs. Mailchimp: Audience management
Constant Contact‘s list building feature allows you to use segments to determine which campaigns to send to a contact. This functionality is simple to use, but it’s not very straightforward for keeping different lists organized. You can choose from a list of ready-made segments or create your own, then automate that segmentation based on criteria you specify. Additionally, the platform’s tagging feature makes it simple to instantly label contacts any way you wish to identify them.
Similarly, Mailchimp’s list-building and management features help you build an audience, create landing pages with CTAs, and utilize robust multivariate to better understand your audience. The tagging and segmentation features are so advanced they can sometimes get a bit too complicated, so it might not be the best solution if you’re looking for something simple and straightforward.
Constant Contact vs. Mailchimp: Reporting
Constant Contact‘s reporting and analytics are managed through a dashboard that gives you all the key insights you need, including sends, bounces, open rates, and click rates, all arranged on one simple graph.
Mailchimp offers an extensive reporting suite that includes a dashboard where you can easily view your campaign’s open and click rates and compare them against benchmarked open rates all in one chart. You can’t hide certain metrics on reports for different audiences, though, so it might be overwhelming to view that much information all at once. The Revenue tab reports enable you to enhance your data with stats about the traffic and revenue generated from a campaign by integrating with Google Analytics.
Also read: Small Business Reporting Software & Platforms
Constant Contact vs. Mailchimp: Design tools
Constant Contact’s design suite gives you drag and drop functionality when creating email campaigns. You can also choose from ready-made templates that give your emails a professional look and feel. HTML editing lets you get “under the hood” and custom edit on the code level. Constant Contact‘s design tools also give you the ability to create engaging landing pages and custom sign-up forms to collect the data you want from subscribers.
Mailchimp offers fewer design options than Constant Contact, but they are still easy to use. Mailchimp includes polished, ready-made templates that can be customized in the drag-and-drop editor. Or, you can opt for blank templates if you want to start from scratch. Alternatively, Mailchimp’s HTML editor with code import capability gives you complete control over your email design. The platform’s design tools translate to registration forms and landing page builders as well.
Constant Contact vs. Mailchimp: Extra features
Unique features that compliment Constant Contact‘s audience management, reporting, and design tools include:
- Over 350+ integrations, including social media and websites
- Eventbrite integration to manage and promote events and track registrations for attendees
- Support for social media ads
Mailchimp offers similar extra features:
- 800 integrations including social media management tools and website builders
- Survey integration with SurveyMonkey
- Social ad integration
- Postcards for added engagement
Constant Contact vs. Mailchimp: Pricing
Constant Contact doesn’t offer a free plan, but it does offer a 30-day free trial. The platform’s tiered pricing is based on the number of contacts on your list:
- Email: $20/month minimum spend
- Email Plus: $45/month
Mailchimp’s pricing is more complex, but it’s likely more affordable for many small businesses:
- Free: $0 – send up to 10,000 emails to up to 2,000 contacts every month
- Essentials: $9.99/month
- Standard: $14.99/month
- Premium: $299.99/month
How to choose the best email marketing software
These two platforms are very evenly matched. By comparing Mailchimp and Constant Contact side-by-side, you can see how each email tool has unique features and functionality to help you create and manage your audience lists and email marketing campaigns.
Mailchimp leads over Constant Contact in usability and functionality. If you’re on a budget but can benefit from advanced reporting features and more robust automation and A/B testing, this is probably the best choice.
Constant Contact provides more than just email marketing, and it is priced to reflect this. If deliverability rates, ease of use, and customer service are high on the list of requirements, Constant Contact may be ideal for you.
If neither platform seems like the right fit, consider alternative email marketing solutions we recommend on our roundup of the Best Email Marketing Software and Platforms.
