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Mailchimp and Constant Contact are two of the most well-known email marketing service providers—you’ve probably heard them mentioned through advertisements or office buzz. Here, we’ll give you the lowdown on each service, their differences, strengths, pricing, and more to help you choose.
Visit Mailchimp | Visit Constant Contact
| Constant Contact | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Design Tools |  | |
| Deliverability | | |
| Automation | | |
| Tracking & Analytics | | |
| Features | | |
| Customer Support | | |
| Pricing | | |
| Overall Winner | |
Design Tools
Constant Contact has more templates, but Mailchimp’s design features are more customizable and easier to use. Mailchimp also provides greater flexibility with layout options and image and button placements. Both services allow you to use HTML when designing your email templates.
Regarding images, Mailchimp gives you unlimited storage space, which is a huge plus. Constant Contact only allows up to 25 GB.
Winner: Mailchimp
Deliverability
Both Mailchimp and Constant Contact have among the highest deliverability rates, with Mailchimp at 96-99% and Constant Contact at 97% deliverability. Both services also have spam check tools that alert you of any problematic content in your email that could be marked as spam.
Winner: Constant Contact & Mailchimp (Tie)
Automation
Constant Contact has limited automation capabilities, with just a handful of autoresponders you can set up. Mailchimp is more advanced and allows you to set up triggers for different online behaviors, letting you tailor emails based on customers’ activity. Mailchimp even gives you autoresponders with its free plan.
Winner: Mailchimp
Tracking & Analytics
Both services give you analytics for open, click-through, bounce rates, and other metrics, and both offer Google Analytics integration. Mailchimp’s reporting features are far better, giving you geo-tracking, social media tracking, top locations by opens, top email links clicked, and e-commerce conversion analysis.
Winner: Mailchimp
Features
| Constant Contact | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Template Selection | 200+ | 100+ |
| Template Editor | WYSIWYG & HTML | WYSIWYG & HTML |
| Responsive Design | | |
| AI Copywriting Tool | | |
| Image Hosting | Up to 25 GB | Unlimited |
| Contact Manager/Import | | |
| Newsletter Archiving | | |
| Social Media Marketing | | |
| RSS Feed | | |
| Autoresponder | | |
| SMS (Texting) | Starting at $10/month | Starting at $20/month |
| Surveys | | |
| List Segmentation | | |
| Allows Attachments | | |
| Google Analytics | | |
| Spam Score (Checking) | | |
| Reporting/Stats | | |
| Private (Dedicated) IP Address | | |
| Split A/B Testing | | |
| Multivariate Testing | | |
| Trigger Based Messaging | | |
| Developer API | | |
| Customer Support | Phone, Live Chat, Email | Live Chat, Email (Phone for premium plan) |
Both services have impressive features; however, Mailchimp provides more modern designs and more advanced tools across the board.
Winner: Mailchimp
Customer Support
Constant Contact has the edge on customer support, although both services have good online tutorials, FAQs, and other resources. With Constant Contact, all plans get live chat (Monday through Friday, 3:00 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET) and phone support (Monday through Saturday).
The big drawback for Mailchimp is its limited phone support. While paid plans get 24/7 email and chat support, only premium plans get phone support (Monday through Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET). If you have a free plan, you receive email support for the first 30 days; otherwise, customer support isn’t included.
Winner: Constant Contact
Pricing
| Constant Contact | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | Up to 500 contacts/month 1,000 emails/month | |
| Lowest Price Plan/Month (500 Contacts) | $12/month | $13/month |
| Up To 2,500 Contacts | $50/month | $45/month |
| Up To 5,000 Contacts | $80/month | $75/month |
| Up to 10,000 Contacts | $120/month | $110/month |
| Up To 25,000 Contacts | $280/month | $270/month |
Mailchimp has a clear edge over Constant Contact with its free plan, but Constant Contact does offer a 60-day free trial. As you can see, Mailchimp is less expensive than Constant Contact in the mid to higher tiers and just slightly more in the lowest tier.
Winner: Mailchimp
How Do I Get People To Open My Emails?
The average office worker receives 120 emails each workday. With this flood of emails in everyone’s inboxes these days, it takes a lot of work to get noticed. This video by digital marketing guru Neil Patel gives guidance on improving your open rate and email results.
Overall Winner
Which service wins out in Constant Contact vs. Mailchimp? We prefer Mailchimp for its ease of use, free plan, and lower-paid plans compared to Constant Contact. Mailchimp has more advanced features and integrations, and Mailchimp blows Constant Contact out of the water with unlimited image hosting and reporting. However, Constant Contact is the better choice if you want phone tech support and more comprehensive customer service.
A significant driver in deciding which email marketing service provider to go with should be your specific business’ marketing needs. Constant Contact and Mailchimp have their pluses and minuses, so ultimately, it comes down to what you’re looking for in an email marketing service.
Winner: Mailchimp
What About Other Email Marketing Providers?
See our comprehensive email marketing provider reviews to learn more about how these companies stack up against all the major players and to gain a broader perspective on email marketing service providers and practices.
Which provider are you leaning towards? Let us know in the comments!
Tagged With: Email Marketing, VS
