The introduction to email marketing automation (before we compare MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip)
Email marketing automation is the thing right now. It doesn't matter if you are selling a course or simply trying to create a more engaged subscriber.
According to Hubspot, success in email marketing automation comes down to two parts:
- Recognizing that marketing automation does not do marketing and lead generation for you but it can help you scale your business
- Centering your marketing messages around the real and live person at the receiving end of your campaigns
It makes all the sense if you think about it.
The first step is to start creating content that attracts the right type of audience and when they show up at your doorsteps, you need to bribe them with a powerful call to action (I use Thrive Leads for that matter).
The second part is to understand your audience before you are able to send emails that resonate closely with them. Hubspot said about "treating them like a real person" and that's what you should be doing!
Using advanced tagging tools, you will be able to send timely and powerful email contents to them and in return, you will get better click-through rates and engagement. Plus, you may even see a drop in people unsubscribing as well!
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MailChimp, ConvertKit, and Drip are three of the most powerful email marketing automation software in the market today. I was searching for MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip the past few days and sadly, I can't find one. Therefore, I did mine and I hope you like it!
What made it worse is that most of the comparisons out there don't compare or even include MailChimp. So, I hope this comparison between MailChimp, ConvertKit, and Drip will give you a great idea on which email marketing automation you should be using for your business.
This post would be pretty long since I'm giving a detailed explanation on all the three email marketing automation. Therefore, here's a quick drive down on the overall summary for them.
I recommend you to read the full article to get the complete information which will certainly be useful for your decision making between MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip.
If you are a complete beginner or running with very limited funds for email marketing
Then your best choice is MailChimp.
Sure, MailChimp has several weaknesses (highlighted here) but it is still the best value for money. I have seen MailChimp grow a lot since two years back and now, I'm proud to say that it has evolved into an excellent email marketing automation system.
Here are the reasons why you need to be using MailChimp for email marketing:
- Absolutely free to use (up to 12,000 emails a month and 2,000 subscribers)
- Comes with email marketing automation for all accounts
- Easy to setup and start for beginners
- Comes with an array of beautiful templates (for newsletters)
- Excellent delivery rates
- Easy integration with third party apps and e-Commerce stores
- Advanced tagging for paid accounts
How much does MailChimp cost?
- New Business plan (forever free) > Free for life up to 12,000 email per month and 2,000 subscribers
- Growing Business plan > Starts from $10 per month for 500 email subscribers and unlimited email delivery
- Pro Marketer plan > Starts from $199 per month
Who uses MailChimp?
- Yoast SEO
- Leadfeeder
- Viral Loops
- Breezy HR
- Captive Media
If you are a blogger or marketer trying to better manage your subscribers for better click-through rates and engagement
Then your best choice is ConvertKit.
ConvertKit is built for bloggers and marketers who want more than just email marketing. As a matter of fact, ConvertKit is was built directly against what MailChimp is doing and ConvertKit is a great alternative to MailChimp.
Here are the reasons why ConvertKit is best for you:
- Easy to use, plain templates that are proven to increase clicks and engagement rate
- ConvertKit is subscriber centric (ability to manage your subscribers with just a few clicks)
- Send targeted emails based on your subscriber's interest
- Easily track subscriber's actions based on clicks tracking
- Easy to use email automation system
- Comes with unlimited landing pages
How much does ConvertKit cost?
- 1 to 1,000 subscribers > $29 per month
- 1,001 to 3,000 subscribers > $49 per month
- 3,001 to 5,000 subscribers > $79 per month
There are also custom plans for those who have a huge list of email subscribers.
Who uses ConverKit?
- CopyHackers
- Bare Metrics
- Smart Passive Income by Pat Flynn
- Tara Gentile
- Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
If you are trying to sell eBooks, courses, and other paid media
Then Drip is your best choice.
Drip is just like ConvertKit, but with many other functions in it. What makes Drip different from the rest of the email marketing automation systems is the ability to tag each subscriber with extreme details.
Here are the reasons why you need to use Drip for email marketing automation:
- Custom made email marketing automation that makes sense
- Details workflow and email automation creation
- Advanced tracking of email subscribers
- Get more insights and more revenue with contact management tools
- Drip integrates with just about everything
- Comes with inbuilt widget without needing any plugin
How much does Drip cost?
- 1 to 100 subscribers > Starter plan (Free)
- 101 to 2,500 subscribers > $49 per month
- 2,501 to 5,000 subscribers > $99 per month
There are also custom plans for those who have a huge list of email subscribers.
Who uses Drip?
- Help Scout
- Ambassador
- When I Work
- Segment
- Teamwork
- Samcart
>> Create a free Drip account here <<
MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip - Complete Comparison
Now that you get a quick hang on what email marketing automation software and the importance of having the right tool, let's dive into the main topic for today, MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip.
MailChimp Review
MailChimp is one of the best email marketing automation for beginners and small businesses. As for the record, MailChimp doesn't offer automation back then. But since May 2017, MailChimp had rolled out new email automation for every MailChimp user.
And yes, you guessed it right! Even for the free accounts!
Email marketing automation can be a challenging business. Lucky for you, MailChimp is one of those email marketing providers that made marketing automation really that easy (even for beginners) to master!
It totally makes sense since there is so much competition in the market where MailChimp can no longer keep their hands clean and not doing anything about it.
For email marketing beginners, the MailChimp move is heavenly and timely.
I still use MailChimp for some of my projects and they are good. I have absolutely no complaints about them and I believe you won't have either, especially when you do not need advanced tagging on email subscribers.
Advantages using MailChimp
- Availability of free and premium plans
- Email automation on all plans (including free ones)
- Beautiful templates
- Best in the market for drag and drop
- Excellent delivery rates
Disadvantages using MailChimp
- The process of tagging a subscriber is not an easy task (coding required)
- Ugly subscription forms
- Many advanced features for email marketing are not available in the free plan
- Very strict rules in email content (including affiliates and promotions)
- Support is slow and available only for paid plans
My personal recommendations for using MailChimp
MailChimp is best when you do not require any advanced email marketing features. You can consider using MailChimp if you are just starting out in the blogging world or if you have a developer in-house to code your email for tagging reasons.
You can't go wrong using MailChimp and once you are comfortable enough with email marketing, there are better options such as ConvertKit and Drip to consider.
Start here: You can start using MailChimp using this link.
ConvertKit Review
If you like the interface on MailChimp, you are going to love ConvertKit too. Being a ConvertKit user, the best way to describe ConvertKit is MailChimp on steroids.
ConvertKit is powerful because it serves three main purposes that most email marketing automation software isn't able to do:
- Ability to tag each subscriber based on actions with ease
- Inbuilt landing pages makes lead generation even more powerful
- Easy email automation system with visual
Another selling point using ConvertKit is the forms, tags, and segments which will help you to segment your subscribers (a little setup required). Hit play on the video below to get more information.
Advantages using ConvertKit
- The power of Infusionsoft, but easier to use than MailChimp
- Integration with more than a dozen apps
- Email automation made easy
- Very supportive and active support team
- ConvertKit is created mainly for bloggers and advanced marketers
- Affordable pricing and plans to fit your needs
Disadvantages using ConvertKit
- Not able to manage multiple domains using one account
- Landing pages are very simple and limited in choices
- Plain text in most email templates
- Pricing increases dramatically (more than others) at higher tiers
- No free plan available
My personal recommendations for using ConvertKit
You should be using ConvertKit if you are serious about making money out of your email list. ConvertKit even published an article on the 5 reasons why you shouldn't use ConvertKit and stick to MailChimp.
In short, ConvertKit comes with a small price tag for some heavy duty email automation features.
Is ConvertKit worth the money? Absolutely!
Start here: Click here to check out ConvertKit now!
Drip Review
When I moved to Drip, I had my hat blown off. BIG TIME!
I heard about Drip sometime back and when LeadPages acquired Drip, I knew Drip was something. It must be, right?
Drip is like putting ConvertKit on steroids. Why?
I am totally blown away when I created my first account with Drip. What I love (not like) the most is the introductory part where you would need to answer a few questions. The answers collected from the Q&A will be used to customize your email marketing solution when you first start on Drip.
In other words, you will start with many features turned on (which helped a lot with the whole process).
I do a lot of things with my website; from consulting business to selling courses. So, it is a no-brainer to use Drip because of several advanced options under the hood.
Advantages using Drip
There are a lot of advantages using Drip (just like ConvertKit and MailChimp) and here is a list of them:
- A best-in-class visual workflow builder
- You can automate everything (18 triggers and 16 actions in the automation rule builder)
- Tag your subscribers based on their actions
- Identify your best leads (useful if you are selling a product or services)
- Send targeted emails (drip campaigns, broadcasts and one-off emails)
- Ability to track your email marketing performance
- Effortlessly capture email addresses (instead of using plugins)
- Drip natively integrates with dozens of applications and platforms
- Availability of free plan (for 100 email subscribers)
As you can see above, Drip does offer more advantages when compared to ConvertKit and MailChimp.
But hey, Drip has its disadvantages too!
Disadvantages using Drip
- Overall pricing is more expensive when your list is small (price improves once your list grows)
- Not suitable for beginners and newly started bloggers
- Too many features which may lead to confusion for beginners
- The free plan is only for 100 email subscribers
My personal recommendations for using Drip
Drip is not for everyone. As a matter of fact, the same goes for MailChimp and ConvertKit. Drip is the best email marketing automation software if you know exactly what you are selling.
I use Drip for this website because I wanted to create powerful marketing automation funnels to deliver the right content to the right audience.
The Goal: Create powerful marketing automation funnels
Start here: Click here to see Drip in action now!
MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip - Summary
Phew!
This is a long comparison between the top three email marketing automation systems in the market today. What do you think?
Would you go for:
- MailChimp which is the best free email automation system?
- ConvertKit if you are a blogger or marketer who wants to better manage your subscribers?
- Or like me, going for Drip because you want to have powerful email marketing automation features to maximize revenue and engagement?
Leave a comment below and I'm happy to hear your thoughts.
