7 MailChimp Alternatives: Drive Traffic, Boost Sales, and Stay Connected

MailChimp has long been touted as the most popular email marketing service available. And the truth is, they have the right to hold that spot. Not only is building an email list super affordable to do with MailChimp (can you say free?!), they provide a comprehensive list of tools and resources for website owners looking to build their business, expand their audience base, and make more money.

• Stunning templates for creating standout email messages
• Drag & drop interface for easy form building
• Marketing automation, audience targeting, and segmentation
• In-depth reporting for measuring successes and A/B testing
• Social media integration for audience building and ad campaigns
• Easy admin mobile access

That said, MailChimp has been facing some stiff competition lately as some of the other popular email service providers have been stepping up to the plate and offering similar services at competitive prices. In addition, many of these providers have gone beyond what MailChimp offers to website owners for free making your decision tougher when it comes to choosing the right service. To preface this, we currently use Jilt’s email marketing automation on a number of our websites (e-commerce stores) but also use it in combination with ConvertKit’s powerful segmentation and tagging.

Best MailChimp Alternatives 

• MailerLite
• MailOptin
• OmniSend
• SendX
• GetResponse
• ConstantContact
• Emma
• Aweber
• ActiveCampaign
• SendInBlue
• MailPoet

Today we are going to look at some of the best alternatives to MailChimp and see how they stack as email service providers. This way, when it comes time for you to decide which one to use for your email marketing, you have an idea which options are available and what you get from each.

mailerLite

MailerLite is an email marketing software designed to take away the complexity of creating and sending professional email campaigns. Ideal for small business owners and entrepreneurs who want all the benefits of a big email tool without all the unnecessary noise. Anyone can easily build newsletters from scratch with a drag-and-drop editor or choose from a library of well-designed templates.

This easy-to-use email service offers the same advanced tools and integration of other MailChimp alternatives, yet they manage to keep it simple, inexpensive and fun to use for people of all skill levels

MailerLite is one of the most reasonably-priced platforms that still includes:

• 24/7 Live Support with real people
• Interactive Survey Blocks to send questionnaires
• Landing Pages & Pop-ups included in all plans
• Intuitive automation builder to design any workflow
• Advanced subscriber management with GDPR tools

Pricing: Starting at just $10/month (Free plan available

Click here to sign up for MailerLite

MailOptin

MailOptin is a lead generation tool that you can get for free from WordPress’ repository. This is not just another lead generation plugin, but one that actually works and generates leads.

MailOptin will help you grow your mailing list and take your marketing skills to the next level. MailOptin offers several form types: lightbox pop-ups, slide-ins, inline, widget and sidebar, and notification bars. This plugin also offers pre-designed templates you can work with. Of course, all these pre-made templates are fully customizable.

MailOptin features are:

• Form templates
• Email templates
• Built-in live editor
  
• A/B split testing option
• ExitIntent
• After conversion actions
• Click Launch Trigger

Pricing: a standard license for one website is $69 per year.

Omnisend

Omnisend is a surprisingly flexible ecommerce marketing automation platform that uses an omnichannel approach to help growing ecommerce stores improve their marketing efforts. . If you’re growing and are looking for some great MailChimp alternatives for more advanced ecommerce marketing automation, Omnisend can be an option.

This platform will help to replace the many small, separate plugins you’re currently using, allowing you to have everything in one tool: different lead forms, landing pages, pre-filled marketing automation workflows, advanced visitors segmentation, and even SMS marketing.

• Predefined automation workflows  – Product abandonment, Cart recovery, Customer reactivation and others
• Omnichannel communication – Email, SMS, Google Customer match, Facebook Custom Audiences.
•  24/7 support
• Easy integration with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, PrestaShop, and Magento.
• Advanced segmentation by users behavior.
  

PRICE: Starting at $19/month

SendX

SendX is an Email Marketing Software with a focus on providing an extremely easy-to-use UI, affordable pricing tiers and a wide set of features to make Business Owners and Marketers more effective. Drive sales from your campaigns with an easy-to-use Drag and Drop editor and premium Email Templates. Additionally, they even have native tools to grow your audience and set up advanced automations using a neat “if then, then that” rule-based system!

Moreover, they have a particularly strong hold on things where MailChimp fails to deliver. Specifically, things like 24×7 Live Customer Support (on all plans), Great Email Deliverability and Unlimited Email Sends across all pricing tiers. This makes it one of the best MailChimp Alternatives out there, especially if you’re looking for pure Email Marketing capabilities.

• Powerful Drag and Drop Editor to create effective Email Campaigns.
• Premium Responsive Email Templates built from the ground up to convert.
• Excellent 24×7 Live Support via chat and email to ensure you never get stuck (near instant replies!)
• Extremely Affordable Pricing and Unlimited Email Sending Capabilities across all plans.
• Ability to create pop-ups and forms to grow your Email List (available across all tiers)

PRICE: Starting at $9.99/month

GetResponse

Get Response is an all-in-one marketing platform designed to grow your business. That said, it has a steeper learning curve than many of the other email service providers because it can do so much. For instance, create and deliver unique emails on any device, build convincing landing pages for those that visit your website, and even automate the funnel customers follow based on their personal data and behavior.

Moreover, integrate your social media networks, segment audience and send targeted messages, even message those that have abandoned your online store’s shopping cart. With GetResponse you can implement exit intent strategies, offer user webinars and surveys, and easily manage your growing email list with a few clicks. In the end, this email service has many of the same features MailChimp does, plus a whole lot more.

• Advanced analytics that are actionable
• A/B testing capabilities for measuring success
• Multi-user support
• Responsive design plus thousands of iStock photos
• Spam checker to ensure deliverability

PRICE: Starting at $15/month

Constant Contact

Constant Contact is one of the best alternatives to MailChimp. With a drag & drop email editor and hundreds of pre-designed templates to choose from, this email service provider makes creating and delivering messages a cinch. In addition, the autoresponder feature that pairs with trigger moments makes personalizing emails to loyal customers easy and consistent.

Upload contacts and let Constant Contact handle the rest – subscriptions, bounces, and inactive emails – all taken care of by someone other than you. Altogether, this seemingly complex service provider has everything you need to make the most out of your email marketing efforts.

• Post emails directly to your social media networks
• Plenty of education and inspiration with the online resource library
• Run special Facebook promos and integrate social sharing buttons into every email
• Add email forms to your website with a few clicks
• Track opens, compare campaigns, view heat tracking maps, and watch mobile activity

PRICE: Starting at $20/month

Emma

Emma is a modern digital marketing platform that makes creating beautiful emails a cinch. Additionally, this MailChimp alternative provides you with exclusive access to a team of specialists that are aiming to drive results straight to your website. Design personalized and branded emails using Emma’s pre-defined templates or have the crew at Emma help design the perfect campaign for you.

More so, have the team at Emma review your email campaign before sending it out to your growing email list to ensure maximum open and click rates. In the end, this email service provider does more than give you the tools to create successful email campaigns; they stay with your every step of the way.

• Receive easy to read reports and see actionable metrics
• Create unique, pop-up lightbox forms
• Enable advanced email automation with segmented target audiences
• Custom A/B testing – CTAs, image placement, subject lines, and more
• Intuitive drag & drop editor for easy email building

PRICE: Starting at $89/month

AWeber

AWeber is an affordable email service provider suitable for smaller businesses on a tight budget. However, that is not to say they lack in the feature department. For example, create engaging emails with visual appeal using the intuitive drag & drop editor. Pick from thousands of free images and over 700 email templates, preview all email campaigns before clicking send, and customize to match your brand by utilizing the AWeber toolbar.

In addition, automatically create emails from your newest blog posts, manage your entire subscriber list from one convenient location, and even target users based on their behavior. In all, AWeber gives you plenty of features to help grow your business from the ground up, one email at a time.

• Email tracking and analytics for measuring campaign success
• Build mobile-responsive sign-up forms for your website, blog, or Facebook
• Enable autoresponders to expand your reach and save time
• Integrate with several tools – landing pages, social media, shopping carts, and more
• View your success from any device using the AWeber Stats App

PRICE: Starting at $19/month

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a comprehensive marketing tool that aims to boost your website’s success and grow your sales. Send newsletters, stunning email campaigns, and stay connected with your subscribers and customers at all times. Plus, automate your campaigns based on personal and behavioral data so you reach the right people with the right information.

Lastly, add RSS feeds to your emails for sharing fresh content, insert webpages directly into emails with a simple URL, and take advantage of the several display modes – inline, floating box, modal pop-up, and floating bar – so you never miss a chance to encourage a subscriber to sign up. In conclusion, ACtiveCampaign gives you the perfect platform for email list building that will complement any website owner’s overall marketing efforts.

• Engage in split testing and reveal what makes your campaigns a success
• Define, adapt, and respond to specific automation goals
• Track conversion rates and segment your target audience accordingly
• Customize your sales goals with personalized sales funnels, sales stages, and tasks
• Connect seamlessly with any email provider such as Gmail and Outlook

PRICE: Starting at $17/month

SendInBlue

SendInBlue is a lesser known solution that remains highly popular with everyone that uses them as their MailChimp email service provider alternative. Leveraging essential email marketing features such as beautiful email campaigns, a full template gallery, mobile-friendly design, and an easy-to-use drag & drop editor, SendInBlue is a great option for websites of all sizes.

In addition, increase engagement with personal email messages, test and preview emails before sending them out, conduct advanced searches and build target audiences, and even create automatically updated email lists as your subscribe numbers grow. In the end, this email service provider is one of the top choices amongst many website owners and is worth a shot.

• Customize contact forms and learn about subscribers on a personal level
• Get real-time campaign results and export data in PDF or CSV format
• Monitor reader locations and follow user behavior
• Automate campaigns to save time and keep readers interested
• Create automatic trigger marketing workflows to boost sales with loyal customers

PRICE: Starting at $0/month

MailPoet

MailPoet is an excellent MailChimp alternative for those who have a WordPress website and want an easy plugin solution. To start, create newsletters, automated emails, post notifications, and autoresponders and watch your business grow. In addition, take advantage of the exclusive sign up widget, drop posts, images, and even social icons directly into your emails, and even customize your emails to match your personality and brand by changing colors and fonts.

Use the drag & drop newsletter designer, send emails to your WordPress users, get statistics regarding opens, clicks, and unsubsctribes, and always know that your campaigns are mobile-friendly. In all, this nifty WordPress plugin makes creating email campaigns simple, and you never have to leave the WordPress dashboard to do so.

• Send emails using your own web host or third-party SMPT such as Gmail
• Over 70 themes to choose from for building the perfect campaign
• Segment your audience based on user behavior – unopened, opened, and click rates
• Enjoy form shortcodes for easy pasting into posts and pages
• Use with WordPress Multisite

PRICE: FREE

Final Thoughts

In the end, there are so many options available for sending highly converting emails to your subscribers and customers. And, though MailChimp is often the first sought after solution, it is good to know that there is a variety of other available providers that are fighting to meet your needs and stay within your allotted budget.

If you are looking for a great way to stay connected with your readers, boost traffic to your website, and ultimately build sales, consider using one of the above-mentioned MailChimp alternatives. That’s not to say that MailChimp isn’t the perfect solution for you, because it may be. However, it is important as a website owner to be aware that the popular choice is not always the only choice.

Have you used any of the above-mentioned MailChimp alternatives as your email service provider? If so, which one? I would love to hear all about it in the comments below!