Mailchimp Software Reviews

Pros

Handling small lists and building email campaigns with this tool is pretty easy, whether the sends are automated or one-off. Adding addresses to include or suppress is simple and there are lots of options for organizing and segmenting contacts. With the Pro account, it works much more like a full marketing automation platform. It can also help with collecting email addresses or even driving traffic through ads when needed.

Cons

Connecting and setting up lead generation through CRMs like Salesforce is tougher than it should be. Reporting into Salesforce is fairly simple to configure but pulling in the correct contact lists, keeping them current and consistently removing users takes more effort than expected. The separate tasks aren't always hard on their own but there always seems to be some small issue that comes up so it needs more hands-on attention than it should. In short, this isn't really a set-it-and-forget-it system when it comes to syncing lists automatically because it usually needs ongoing babysitting.

Pros

Out of all the email marketing tools available, this one really seems to have cracked automation. The learning curve can feel pretty steep at first especially for beginners but there are plenty of tutorials and a very detailed knowledge base that help point you in the right direction. I work with several email marketing platforms across different clients and this is still the one I reach for first whenever automation is a priority because it's easy to work with and offers a wide range of options.

Cons

Putting together an email campaign from beginning to end can feel a bit awkward. There are a lot of pieces involved and I'd really appreciate a more aligned user experience.

Pros

Getting started with this platform feels pretty easy and having a free plan is a big plus. The playful touches are also a nice bonus, like the chimp giving you a high five after you send out a campaign.

Cons

I'd still love to see more templates and better layout flexibility. The details might already be buried somewhere in the help section but when you're handling marketing alone, it's hard to carve out time to go searching for that information.

Pros

The upbeat feel of the platform stood out to me. The dashboard is bright, fun and positive and it honestly makes using it a little more enjoyable. It's simple to navigate, offers plenty of useful features and comes with good pricing options as well. For a small company email program, it has more than enough power.

Cons

List management and reporting can feel a little awkward now and then. Also, when setting up a new email, the "next" button sits so low at the bottom of the screen that it's pretty easy to overlook.

Pros

Running a small business feels a lot simpler with this while still getting the kind of functionality you'd expect from a much larger list management platform. It connects with Zapier and most of the common business apps we already use which has been really helpful. It also doesn't feel overwhelming when you first start so for an easy operation like ours doing route mailings, it was an ideal choice and continued to work well as our customer base grew and our mailing needs expanded.

Cons

A few of the lists and features are tucked away in odd spots which can be confusing. The way customers on multiple lists are handled also could have been explained better because it's too easy to accidentally blacklist someone by moving them onto a list they never signed up for.

Pros

Right away, the most appealing part for me was how simple the platform feels to use. Another big plus is that it stays free until you're actually in a position to afford paying for it. To me, this is what I'd call a PRINCE tool!

Cons

Even though it's definitely one of my favorite email marketing and automation tools, getting started with it and managing everything still isn't that simple.

Pros

Putting campaigns together is very easy because you can build templates with images, text boxes and other elements, then save as many versions as you need. That makes it simple to reuse one template style for different topics and campaigns. Adding images is quick since you can just drag them in from your desktop and it also lets you include headers and voting buttons. You can create recipient groups, save them and use them again later which helps a lot with repeat communication. It works especially well for someone without much design knowledge while still making emails look polished and professional. We mainly use it for company-wide emails so everything stays consistent and has a more polished, high-class feel.

Cons

One issue is that sending campaigns and even test campaigns, can be unreliable at times since they do not always show up in the inbox on the first send. Another downside is with larger images because the system scales them down and that can reduce image quality although that may partly be due to the image itself.

Pros

Getting started with this platform is very easy and it comes with a lot of useful features and functionality. Creating a template for a newsletter is simple and setting up Marketing Automation is just as easy.

Cons

The biggest downside is the price. It worked really well while I was growing my subscriber list in the beginning but as that list became larger, the cost became too expensive to justify.

Pros

As an email marketing platform, it's one of the most widely used and it's not hard to see why. Sending campaigns is very easy and we use a really helpful Gravity Forms plugin that automatically pushes anyone who fills out a form on our website into the right list, group or segment. That saves us from having to keep re-uploading updated lists every time something changes. The templated email setup is also very simple, with a step-by-step flow that still gives you room for coding and more advanced customization when needed. We also use the RSS-to-email feature for blog subscribers which has been very useful. Another tool we rely on a lot is the automated drip campaign feature and it does a really good job of improving follow-up. On top of that, the A/B split testing is excellent for trying out different campaign messages. The reporting on clicks and user activity is one of its strongest features and it helps us identify which warm leads are worth reaching out to.

Cons

Even though the platform is user-friendly overall, the few areas where you do get stuck are usually easier to solve with a Google search than by contacting support. Their chat support is honestly pretty bad. Another major downside is how it handles lists, groups, segments and signup forms. Since billing applies to every contact across your lists, creating duplicate lists can turn into an expensive mistake. The only real way to separate contacts without being charged twice is by relying on groups and segments instead. That becomes frustrating with signup forms because users have to choose which group they want to join. It would be much better if signup forms were built around groups by default or if separate lists didn't create duplicate charges. Another weak point is managing a user's email preferences. If someone wants monthly emails instead of weekly ones, setting that up can be harder than it should be unless you plan it very carefully. It would be a lot more practical if email frequency were available as a customer profile setting since that would help prevent sending too many emails to people who want fewer updates.

Pros

It's clear they've really improved the product with the addition of automated email flows and Google remarketing. As a small startup, being able to handle more of my marketing tasks in one easy platform is a big plus.

Cons

Flow builder still isn't as advanced as some of the other providers we've worked with but switching back made sense because the price difference was substantial.

Pros

Designing a new email template is very easy and I can style it exactly the way I want before sending it to a large audience.

Cons

There are times when attaching a file to a link causes issues if the text box with that link is still selected when the email is sent. In the received email, that specific link ends up not working so you have to remember to click away from it before sending. It would also be much better if hyperlinks inside an attached PDF stayed active in the email that gets delivered but unfortunately they do not.

Pros

Campaign builder is easy to work with and I really like being able to preview exactly how my emails will look before they go out.

Cons

One thing that gets frustrating is having to duplicate campaigns when I want to send them to multiple lists. I really wish there were an option to choose several lists or all of them at once, for a single campaign. Since I send weekly emails to different groups, I end up copying the same campaign 5 to 10 times.

Pros

This is a great solution for creating professional mass emails and the pricing structure is one of its strongest advantages. I appreciate being able to use it for free until my needs grow.

Cons

Email builder interface can be a bit wonky at times, likely because of the complications that come with HTML, CSS and similar formatting. For example, fonts do not always update the way they should.

Pros

After spending a little time with the tutorials, I found it easy to build and launch campaigns. Exporting HTML, adding videos and links and maintaining strong deliverability have all worked well for me.

Cons

Pricing model is where it gets frustrating. In my business, a lot of contacts appear on multiple lists and the system counts them as multiple users. It also bills based on your highest peak during the month instead of your average usage so uploading a batch of new subscribers at one time can cause your costs to jump dramatically. Another limitation is the lack of radius filtering from a zip code. If you only want to target people within a certain city or nearby area, you have to pull that data manually.

Pros

Email deliverability has improved significantly and customizing HTML campaigns feels much easier. I also like how contacts can be added automatically through the API and assigned to drip campaigns.

Cons

I've sent in a few feature requests along the way especially around getting better tracking of user activity connected to our website.

Pros

Every week, I send emails to hundreds of people with very little effort. Importing lists is simple, the templates look polished and creating campaigns is quick and efficient for me.

Cons

One area that wasn't very clear was team collaboration. I originally set up the account on my own and others did the same without realizing we could have just added one another as users from the start. Because of that, I ended up doing extra work to move templates and lists over to other staff members as they took over different groups. That said, I know this came down to how I set things up and the customer service team is excellent if you need help getting your team configured properly.

Pros

Launching an email campaign is easy, whether I'm customizing a template or building one from scratch. Features like lead scoring, Facebook integration and social data add even more value.

Cons

My biggest frustration is the Salesforce integration. It feels very limited and misses a lot of important functionality though that may also be because Salesforce tends to favor its own email product. Either way, the integration is pretty basic and leaves out a lot of needed features.

Pros

The template selection is excellent and helps me create professional-looking emails quickly. I also appreciate the free forever plan and the built-in forms for collecting email addresses.

Cons

One downside is that the validation rules can feel a bit overly strict. For instance, if someone tries to sign up with an email address starting with "@info," they may run into issues. And while the email signup form tools are very useful, it's disappointing that there isn't an option to build landing pages as well.

Pros

Templates, analytics, automation tools and coding flexibility are all major strengths of this platform. I especially enjoy the autoresponders and how easily it connects with social media channels.

Cons

Sometimes, the HTML upload feature does not turn out as well as I would like. It also falls short in a few areas that other companies cover, such as surveys event management and similar extras. This really is a dedicated email marketing company and not much beyond that.

Pros

Both as a user and from a development perspective, the platform feels very simple. The ease of integration is one of the things I value most.

Cons

Only downside for me is that it still doesn't offer a way to manage multiple clients from one interface so I have to sign in separately as each client whenever I need to help administer their accounts.