Time and time again, the ROI of email marketing has been proven to be the highest out of any marketing channel, but which platform is the best to use? To answer this question, we conducted a detailed analysis of the two top email marketing systems: MailChimp and Constant Contact.
I. The Importance of Email Marketing
Never underestimate what a strong list of subscribers can do for your business. Email marketing has, again and again, been revealed as the most effective way to reach people with what they want to know. It’s an instant way for a business to communicate and to receive feedback. When it comes to metrics and results, it’s a highly measurable tool.
But perhaps most significantly, email marketing has the best ROI of any marketing channel. A recent DMA study (Table 1) confirmed that email marketing is clearly superior, bringing in nearly $41 per dollar spent.
TABLE 1:
DMA Study – Marketing Channels ROI (2011)
Channel
ROI ($)
Email
$40.56
SEM
$22.24
Display Advertising
$19.72
Social Media
$12.71
Mobile
$10.51
Direct Mail
$7.30
(Direct Marketing Association Power of Direct Marketing Study 2011-2012 Edition)
Right now, email surpasses not only traditional direct mail, but also other web-based channels through its directness and efficiency. If you could meet your customers’ needs in the most efficient way possible, would you hesitate to do it?
II. MailChimp vs Constant Contact
Two of the most popular email marketing services are MailChimp and Constant Contact.
These services provide businesses with a platform to sign up customers to email lists, send them updates based on their interests and habits, and integrate campaigns into social media.
Both of these services are high quality and have excellent deliverability rates—up to 99% and 97%, respectively. They both offer predesigned templates that users can easily edit to fit their messages, meaning they’re extremely flexible when it comes to business’ brands.
III. Key Features: A Side-By-Side Comparison
MailChimp
Constant Contact
Notes
Deliverability
X
X
Both offer delivery rates of 96% – 99%
Usability
X
X
Both have easy-to-use interfaces
Mobile Applications
X
X
Both excel in this area
Email Lists
X
X
Both offer versatile list segmentation
Contact Management
X
X
Embedded Videos
X
X
Campaign Archiving
X
X
With recent updates, both offer strong archiving
Cost
X
X
For 6,000 subscribers, pricing is about the same for both (MC: $75/month)
Social Media
X
X
MC has deeper integration with Twitter; CC has deeper integration with Facebook
Images
X
MC hosts unlimited images for free; CC charges $5/month for 250 MB of storage
Reports/Analytics
X
X
MC allows for data exports of each campaign as a .csv file, enabling quick and easy analysis. CC exports as a PDF, making comparative campaign analysis difficult.
Automatic A/B Testing
X
MC allows you to run “test” campaigns to see what day of the week gets the best open rates, what subject lines are most effective, what name should be in the “From” field, etc.—then lets you know which option (A or B) worked best
Support
X
CC assigns a specific manager to your account
Email Templates
X
MC’s templates are easy to use, but CC offers a wider variety and more versatility if you know HTML
Integration
X
MC integrates easily with Drupal, WordPress, and Google Analytics, as well as the most-used CRMs
Email Client Testing
X
Allows you to make sure your email design looks great in all major email clients and apps before you send it (Paid feature)
IV. Clear Winner: MailChimp
Constant Contact and MailChimp are both effective email marketing solutions. Each provides users with high deliverability rates, an intuitive interface, efficient contact management, and easy-to-use mobile applications, among other features. Both offer stellar reporting and analytics that plainly illustrate just how well your email marketing is doing, though in a poll of 60 small businesses, more users preferred MailChimp in this area.
However, Mailchimp is the superior tool for three main reasons:
Better Design: Given that a good email is primarily images and text, design is a major factor in the success of an email campaign. MailChimp makes design easier and affordable by: (a) providing free image hosting, (b) having an Inbox Inspector that ensures that the design will appear in the user’s inbox exactly as you intended it, and (c) having better default templates (See here).
Better Data: For campaigns to develop effectively over time, performance data is key. If you cannot effectively compare campaign performance, you cannot optimize and improve. Constant Contact severely limits the ability for comparative campaign analysis as it exports data as a PDF whereas MailChimp allows for the data to be exported as a .csv file. Working within a spreadsheet allows the data to be sorted in multiple ways, allowing you to evaluate open rates, click rates, and trend analysis.
Better Technology: MailChimp’s API’s allow it to integrate better with other platforms and CRMs, while its automatic “A/B” testing allows you to easily identify the best strategies that will optimize every email campaign you send. A/B testing can only be done manually within Constant Contact.
These are just a few reasons why I recommend MailChimp over Constant Contact.
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