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Mailchimp is a popular marketing automation platform and email marketing service. While Mailchimp began as an email marketing tool in 2001, the platform has since expanded to include a wide range of other marketing services, including a website builder and social media marketing tools. Learn more about what Mailchimp offers its customers in this article.

What Is Mailchimp? 

Mailchimp Logo

Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing platform, offering a selection of automated tools businesses can use to reach their growth goals. Mailchimp began as an email marketing service and still offers some of the most robust email marketing tools on the market. 

Through Mailchimp, users can create engaging and highly optimized emails using tools such as drag-and-drop templates. They can also use the Creative Assistant, which will customize emails based on a company’s brand. Businesses can then develop complex customer journeys and send personalized emails to subscribers automatically at every stage.

In addition to Mailchimp’s email marketing tools, the platform offers additional marketing services to help users round out their campaigns. Businesses can build websites, publish Facebook ads, and develop custom landing pages all through this platform.

Mailchimp: A brief history

Mailchimp was founded by Ben Chestnut and Dan Kurzius in 2001 as an alternative to the expensive and complex email software that existed in the early 2000s. Mailchimp continued to be a key player in the email marketing industry until 2019 when the company announced a new focus on becoming an all-in-one marketing platform.

Since 2019, the company has been successful, consistently adding new features to the Mailchimp platform so businesses can reduce the number of tools they use to build their marketing campaigns.

Who Uses Mailchimp?

Mailchimp can be used by virtually any business across any industry. E-commerce and retail businesses benefit from Mailchimp’s platform as it integrates directly into online stores. And developers can use Mailchimp to track marketing data and build custom integrations through the platform’s API.

Mailchimp’s easy-to-use, automated, and feature-rich platform is often chosen by startups or businesses that wish to remain cost-efficient by selecting an all-in-one platform. Other organizations simply choose Mailchimp for its email marketing capabilities and pair the platform with their other marketing tools.

Key Features of Mailchimp

Email marketing

Users can use Mailchimp to build emails from scratch or use the platform’s built-in templates. Built-in marketing automation tools then assist users in building email campaigns based on the customer journey. Mailchimp also provides insights via reporting so users can see which emails converted and which ones didn’t.

Automation

Mailchimp offers a robust set of marketing automation features, including personalized marketing workflows, scheduling tools, pre-built automations, and trigger-based messaging. Mailchimp automation enables businesses to offer the personalization customers are looking for across marketing channels.

Analytics

Mailchimp provides insights to users via Smart Recommendations, all based on campaign data. The platform also enables users to test their campaigns using A/B testing and see campaign success through features like the Audience Dashboard.

Marketing CRM

Small businesses can use Mailchimp as a simple customer relationship management (CRM) platform with tools for managing contacts, organizing audience data, and gathering insights about target audiences.

Website and landing page development

Mailchimp includes a complete website builder that requires no design or coding experience. The platform also offers drag-and-drop landing page design and development tools. 

Digital ad tools

Users can develop advertising campaigns using built-in ad tools for Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads. This includes the development of retargeting ads to nurture existing leads.

24/7 support

Mailchimp offers award-winning 24/7 support as well as a wide selection of marketing resources. These include guides, tutorials, and webinars.

App integrations

For businesses that use other marketing tools to round out their campaigns, Mailchimp offers over 300 app integrations to connect tech stacks. Some of these integrations include Stripe, Quickbooks, and Livechat.

Pros of Using Mailchimp for Email Marketing

Free plan

For small businesses, Mailchimp offers a free plan that allows users to send up to 10,000 emails a month. The free plan also includes the website builder, marketing CRM, and landing page development.

Drag-and-drop functionality

Many of Mailchimp’s email marketing tools feature drag-and-drop functionality for fast campaign building. Users can build emails quickly using drag-and-drop templates already built into the platform.

Collection of email automations

Mailchimp’s platform comes with built-in automations for email campaigns, including starting points and branching points. This ensures email campaigns run smoothly without the need for human intervention.

Robust list segmentation tools

Mailchimp’s segmentation capabilities are complex and work for multiple use cases. Users can segment their email lists based on campaign activity, contact rating, conversation activity, date added, and other audience metrics.

Automatic suggestions for improvement

Tools such as the Subject Line Helper deliver real-time suggestions for improving emails before they’re sent.

Cons of Using Mailchimp for Email Marketing

Duplicate subscribers are counted toward the maximum

Each pricing tier through Mailchimp has a maximum subscriber count. Mailchimp currently counts duplicate subscribers that appear in multiple audience segments toward that maximum.

Paid plans are expensive

While Mailchimp offers a great free option, the prices increase quickly when businesses upgrade. Compared to other email marketing platforms, Mailchimp’s prices are in the higher range.

All-in-one platforms can be confusing for beginners

For beginners just getting started with email marketing, the various marketing features and tools found inside Mailchimp may be overwhelming. They’re also very likely to pay for features that they don’t want or need without realizing it.

Interested in exploring Mailchimp alternatives? Learn about the Best Email Marketing Software here.

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