Mailchimp has been a leader in the email marketing industry for several years, but they may have seen their last day as an industry darling. For years, the popular email marketing service has earned brand loyalty from businesses of all sizes for its functionality and pricing. Their affordable plans offered small and new businesses a great way to communicate without making a huge upfront investment.
In recent years, Mailchimp has been attempting to rebrand themselves as an “all-in-on marketing platform” as they add new services to their list. Businesses can now create a website and even schedule social media content using Mailchimp’s services. But in their expansion, it seems like they’ve forgotten their original promise to provide businesses of all sizes with a superior email marketing tool.
Recent changes to Mailchimp’s pricing model have left many business owners mad as hell and looking for alternative email marketing software. In May, Mailchimp announced changes to their pricing model which would redefine who was considered a member of your audience.
Because businesses are charged based on the number of audience members on their list, this is a significant pricing change. Businesses can still remove unsubscribed users from their email lists, but it will not affect the number of emails considered for their audience.
This means businesses are being forced to pay for names that are no longer receiving emails from them.
This move is frankly unethical and puts business owners in a bind as they try to grow their active subscriber list. This change, paired with the lack of quality customer service for lower paid plans, has many looking for a new place to take their email lists. In case you’re on the market, here are a few alternatives:
ConvertKit offers users the same drag-and-drop style system as Mailchimp but has a more powerful automation system. They also offer landing page templates and customizable opt-in forms to help you grow your lists. This makes it a good choice for bloggers.
Drip is a good option for ecommerce businesses. Drip collects data on the actions your customers take in-store and automates parts of the customer outreach. They integrate well with popular ecommerce systems like BigCommerce an Shopify.
Constant Contact is a great choice for small businesses and non-profits who use WordPress. They offer a robust support system with live chat, phone calls, and email support.
A few other options on the market are Sendinblue, AWeber, GetResponse, and MailerLite. Depending on your needs and budget any one of these platforms can offer a comparable or superior service to MailChimp without charging you for unsubscribed users.
