Reginald Chan

Tag: drip vs mailchimp

  • MailChimp vs Drip: Which is the best email marketing tools?

    MailChimp vs Drip: Which is the best email marketing tools?

    MailChimp vs Drip — These are two of the best email marketing solutions but which is the better option?

    I love writing about email marketing solutions. Email marketing is a powerful digital marketing strategy that provides super high return of investment (ROI) for many companies and industries.

    Even if you are a blogger, you should start building an email list because it will come in handy when you are promoting a product, services or even keeping your subscribers engaged with the latest posts.

    In this article, I will give you some quick insights on what MailChimp and Drip does and how they compare to each other.

    Ultimately, I’ll also share my reviews on both the email marketing solutions with the hopes that it will help you in your decision making.

    MailChimp

    • checkFree for life (up to 2,000 email subscribers)
    • checkSend up to 12,000 emails a month for free
    • checkMost intuitive drag and drop visual builder (when creating emails)
    • checkHeavily based on HTML and images
    • checkLow learning curve
    • checkFree account comes with automation and workflow
    • Automation and workflow are limited
    • Advantaged tagging is not user friendly
    • Coding skill is needed to maximize MailChimp features
    • closeIs the worst email marketing solutions for affiliate marketers
    • closeVery basic landing pages
    • closeUgly form to collect emails
    • closeBasic reporting dashboard

    Try MailChimp today!

    Drip

    • checkBeautiful analytic dashboard and reporting
    • checkFree for first 100 email subscribers
    • checkAdvantaged tagging and workflow
    • checkAbility to segment subscribers based on their activities (clicks, open etc.)
    • checkLess dependent on HTML
    • checkLow to medium learning curve
    • checkOne of the best automation and workflow in the industry
    • checkMultiple widgets and plugins to help you collect emails
    • checkAdvanced ‘smart’ forms to collect leads at the right time
    • checkBest for eCommerce and website owners who are serious in email marketing
    • The lowest pricing is $49 per month and is often considered heavy for many beginners
    • Some users find the Drip’s feature overwhelming (because there are a lot of things you can do with Drip)

    Get started with Drip for free!

    MailChimp vs Drip — Detailed Comparison

    As a disclaimer, I use both MailChimp and Drip, alongside with ConvertKit for that matter.

    MailChimp is my favorite email marketing solution for my personal blog while Drip is used for my creative agency.

    Without further adieu, let’s dive into the MailChimp vs Drip comparison.

    MailChimp

    For me, MailChimp is an affordable email marketing solution for bloggers. It is easy to use and doesn’t cost a dime (for the first 2,000 email subscribers).

    Low learning curve and good delivery rates make MailChimp a no-brainer choice for many (including myself).

    What I love most about MailChimp is the newsletter template builder. MailChimp is heavily based on HTML and the visual builder is one of the best you can find in the market.

    ​

    BONUS: The Beginner’s Guide Using MailChimp

    MailChimp’s free account also comes with the ability to use the marketing automation which is pretty awesome.

    This is what it looks like.

    what is mailchimp automation

    Everything on MailChimp is very much into drag and drop — therefore, you can easily start email marketing almost to instantly.

    MailChimp also comes with a ever growing list of ready-made templates to help you get started on the right foot.

    templates on MailChimp

    As you can see, MailChimp is very much into beautiful designs and low learning curve.

    If you are a beginner, you are going to love MailChimp. Try MailChimp now!

    MailChimp is not for you if …

    There is no love from MailChimp if you are an affiliate marketer.

    MailChimp doesn’t allows you to use it for affiliate marketing purposes.

    The only way to solve this is through sharing a link to your blog post (and having great call-to-actions to drive website visitors to your affiliate products — which is of course the biggest hassle.

    Drip

    I first came across Drip because I wanted to better manage my email subscribers and sending emails to a highly targeted audience.

    On the surface, Drip beats MailChimp in every aspect except for the price.

    Drip comes with free account but only for 100 email subscribers.

    Using Drip, you can easily monitor the progress of your email marketing campaign in a beautiful dashboard.

    Plus, Drip comes with super detailed reports even for the free account as you can see below.

    drip dashboard for reporting

    Drip’s automated workflow does wonders and it is one of the best I have seen and experience in the market.

    When I first use Drip workflow, I was blown away … big time!

    This is what I mean.

    drip advanced workflow

    Drip email marketing solution is the best option if you are selling a product/service or serious in understanding how your subscribers react to your email.

    Drip allows you to tag your email subscribers based on the actions they take and therefore, you are able to send super targeted emails to them for a higher conversion.

    Last not least, Drip comes with form widget which is really awesome. If you are not using lead generation plugins such as Thrive Leads or OptinMonster,

    drip form widget

    Drip form widget is easy to configure and can easily integrate to major CMS including WordPress.

    Drip is not right for you if …

    You are concern about money. Drip comes with a forever free account which is applicable up to 100 email subscribers. After that, the pricing starts at $49 per month which can be pretty hefty for beginners.

    MailChimp vs Drip — Summary

    There is no denial that both MailChimp and Drip are two awesome email marketing tools.

    On one hand, MailChimp is a super cost efficient email marketing tool but offers limited features compared to Drip with a slightly higher cost.

    If you are just starting out, I recommend you to go with MailChimp and once you are ready to make email marketing work harder for you, Drip is the best email marketing tool!

  • Hitting 2,000 Email Subscribers Is A Milestone. Here’s What To Do Next

    Hitting 2,000 Email Subscribers Is A Milestone. Here’s What To Do Next

    We all love MailChimp Forever Free plan, don’t we? MailChimp’s Forever Free Plan allows you to keep up to 2,000 subscribers and send up to 12,000 emails per month. What happens when your MailChimp account has more than 2,000 subscribers?

    Here’s what I can guarantee you: Headache.

    Most of us love anything that doesn’t require us to pay for it (for whatever it is). But when we hit 2,000 email subscribers on MailChimp, we panic. We understand that we would need to start forking out money monthly just to maintain the email list.

     

    Read this before you go down that rabbit hole …

    The first thing is you should do right now is start cleaning up your email list. This means that you should remove all your email subscribers who have not interacted with you for some time.

    You need to start identifying those inactive subscribers by creating a segment on MailChimp (fastest way).

    Creating Segments MailChimp

    Once that is done, you need to add conditions to further discover email subscribers who are low in ‘value’.

    Adding Conditions MailChimp

    Due to MailChimp’s limitation, you can only choose a small portion of options as seen above. I use the last five campaigns as that would give me better stats and results.

    Once that is done, the second step is to re-engage with them for one last time before you ultimately remove them from your list. I often send a super personalized message with an urgent email title to ensure that the open rate is high. Don’t be afraid as it is common for them to unsubscribe themselves!

    If they fail to open the email within three days, you can proceed to remove them from your list. By now, you would have a smaller list and probably save you some space.

    IMPORTANT: I recommend you to continue reading the below as it will come in handy real soon!

     

    You should be making money using your email list and here’s why

    When you have more than 2,000 email subscribers, you should already be monetizing your email list. Wait, what?

    Yes, you heard me right. 2,000 email subscribers is not a small number and this means that you can be doing a lot more to generate revenue from your email list.

    Let’s say you take an example of promotion WP Engine on your email newsletter.

    • Revenue per successful WP Engine affiliate sale: $200
    • Open rate for your email: 50% (2,000 email subscriber x 50% = 1,000 email subscribers)
    • Click through rate for your email: 20% (1,000 email subscribers x 20% = 200 email subscribers)
    • Successful conversion (buying): 2% (200 email subscribers x 2% = 4)

    Total revenue earned: 4 x $200 = $800 per email campaign

    No, I’m not kidding you.

    You see, I’m putting a super low figure in all the calculation above and the reason is simple. I want you to understand that even with the lowest count, you can make a lot more money through email marketing.

    And yes, you can start making money NOW.

     

    Wait, I still have 2,000 email subscribers on MailChimp and I am not sure what to do!

    I’m glad you asked. I have gone through that road before and I was puzzled. I have no idea what I should do and my geeky brain told me to do the calculation (see above).

    I understood that I could earn a lot more money in a long run if I continue building my email subscribers. Thus, growing beyond the 2,000 email subscribers limit on MailChimp.

    What you need to do now (which we are going to discuss below) is this:

    Decide on an email marketing software to proceed with your email marketing.

    Before moving forward, take a quick moment to ask yourself this question.

     

    How much is the lifetime value of your email subscribers?

    Take a look at this infographic done by KISSmetrics.

    How To Calculate Customer Lifetime Value

    In short, lifetime value of your email subscriber is often determined if they are going to repurchase in the future.

     

    How to decide the best email marketing software once your MailChimp has more than 2,000 subscribers?

    1. Upgrade your MailChimp account

    You should go for MailChimp if:

    • You have a low lifetime value of an email subscriber (under $5)
    • You are not actively selling anything of high value to your email subscribers
    • Lead generation isn’t a top priority for you at this point in time
    • Segmenting your audience is not important for now

    On average, you are going to pay anywhere between $25 to $30 a month with 2,000 email subscribers on paid MailChimp plan.

    MailChimp is best when you are a small business or blogger which email marketing isn’t the most important thing for your business. Therefore, sticking to MailChimp is not going to hurt you in any way since you will be making more than enough to sustain.

     

    2. Move to ConvertKit

    ConvertKit is a good MailChimp alternative because of its pricing model. ConvertKit thrives ahead of MailChimp, especially with their subscriber’s centric model.

    Using ConvertKit, you will not be charged multiple times if the same subscriber subscribes to multiple lists. Compared to MailChimp, subscribers can be calculated multiple times which is based on the number of lists they are following. Not so good.

    You should go for ConvertKit if:

    • You are looking for a robust email marketing automation but as easy as MailChimp
    • You want to increase conversions with automated emails that feel personal
    • You need to organize and understand your subscribers
    • You need landing pages (this is a killer, ladies and gentlemen!)

    ConvertKit’s pricing is very flexible and it is one of the best deals in the marketplace. You can check out the ConvertKit pricing and the pricing starts at $29 per month.

     

    3. Move to Drip

    Drip is dope and I’m using it for my business (including this blog). Drip is really powerful because it allows you to take automation to whole new levels.

    [clickToTweet tweet=”If you are using email to sell online products and courses, you need to consider Drip today!” quote=”If you are using email to sell online products and courses, Drip does it better than any other email marketing solution. Period.”]

    Drip is also the main reason how I can sell thousands of dollars worth of affiliate marketing products every month!

    BONUS: Want to know how to make MASSIVE money through affiliate marketing? Learn more for free.

    You should go for Drip if:

    • Automate anything and everything (tagging, list cleaning etc.)
    • Selling online courses or products
    • Inbuilt different types of forms (slider, pop up, exit-intent)
    • Workflow technology (that brings automation to whole new level)

    I would say Drip works as powerful as Infusionsoft but just at a cheaper and lower pricing scale. If you are an advanced marketer, consider using Drip as it is guaranteed to grow your list. Don’t take my word for it. Click here to head over to Drip’s demo!

     

    Summary: What do you do when you hit 2,000 MailChimp email subscribers?

    You have three options right now; upgrade to MailChimp’s paid plan which will save you more money, migrate to ConvertKit if you want to start segmenting your email subscribers, or upgrade to Drip to take email marketing to whole new level and ultimately, make your email subscribers fall in love with you.

    Do you have more than 2,000 subscribers on MailChimp? What do you do? Tell me all about it in the comments below!