The return-on-investment email marketing typically offers is too good to ignore as a business owner. But, the results you get depend greatly on which email marketing software you use. The right tool can help you convert leads into customers and your existing customers into lifelong fans.
In this Mailerlite vs. MailChimp review, we’ll tell you which of these two email marketing tools is more lightweight and a better overall option. It's undeniable that MailChimp has more brand recognition than Mailerlite does. Of course, this doesn't prove that the service is superior.
If you're here, it's either because you've tried MailChimp and weren't happy, or you've heard good things about Mailerlite and want to see how it stacks up against MailChimp. Whatever the case, let’s dive in.
Mailerlite vs. MailChimp: Which One is Better Lightweight Email Marketing Software?
Let’s first talk a little about both email marketing companies.
We've seen that despite MailChimp's notoriety in email marketing, it isn't always the best option. If you want a simple solution that doesn't spare on functionality, Mailerlite is a great option. Its costs are substantially lower than MailChimp's, and managing your mailing list is much simpler.
It's been a tight matchup overall, but I believe this comparison demonstrates that MailChimp still has some ground to cover when it comes to simplicity.
About Mailerlite
Mailerlite is used by businesses of all sizes to send over 1 billion monthly emails. So, while it might not be as popular as its competitors, such as MailChimp, it's not a small company and is trusted by more than 700,000 businesses.
With Mailerlite, you can select from three different editors to create interactive, responsive campaigns. Drag-and-drop content blocks with interactive features, rich-text emails, and coded campaigns are all at your disposal. Since Mailerlite also offers a mobile version of its software, you can manage your email list and campaigns from your PC or on the move with the app. (Related: ActiveCampaign vs. Mailerlite: Which One is Best for Infopreneurs)
About MailChimp
MailChimp is one of the most popular email marketing companies, if not the most popular. The reasons for its exceptional popularity are:
For email marketers of all skill levels, MailChimp is an excellent choice. The marketing tool offers a winning combination of cutting-edge capabilities and a clean, simple interface.
In addition, you have a wealth of information on how to use the tool effectively thanks to the extensive online knowledgebase and community. Plus, by using the built-in analytics tools, you can easily monitor your campaigns' performance and get the understanding you need to evolve and grow. (Related: Flodesk vs. MailChimp: Which One is Best for Email Marketing?)
With the basic introduction out of the way, let's take a look at their features.
Mailerlite Features
MailChimp's powerful email marketing features, user-friendly layout, and well-organized navigation make it simple to reach out to the appropriate consumers with the right material at the right time. Thanks to its detailed reporting capabilities, you can better understand your customers' actions and tailor your marketing efforts to increase engagement and conversions.
Dashboard
Mailerlite's dashboard is super simple to use, which makes it an excellent option for email marketing newbies. When you start the signup process, it'll ask you a few basic questions to set your account up.
Once your Mailerlite account is ready to use, here's what it looks like:
As you can see, everything you'd need to create with Mailerlite is right there on its dashboard. Whether it be:
Email Segmentation
Subscribers may be sorted into subsets and then saved as a separate segment using the sophisticated filtering method. This paves the way for in-depth segmentation, letting you tailor your content to each subset of your audience. Mailerlite can also track how active your subscribers are.
Emails may be tailored to the specific devices, and operating systems subscribers use. Inactive subscribers that are negatively impacting your campaign analytics may also be seen. They may either be removed from your list or marked as "unsubscribed."
Performance Overview
The "performance overview" section tells you everything you need to know to gauge your campaign's performance.
Mailerlite Integrations
Integrations with your email marketing software can help a lot. For instance, the Shopify connection enables you to include bespoke product blocks in emails, encouraging clients to make purchases without ever leaving the email inbox.
Your newsletter may earn money if you use Stripe on your Mailerlite landing pages to offer subscriptions. You won't need to write any code at all to do anything. Mailerlite offers easy one-click integrations with popular apps, streamlining your workflow. Plus, it's Zapier-compatible, so you can quickly integrate thousands of other apps.
Mailerlite Email Editor
Need to build an email marketing campaign or publish a newsletter? Based on your objectives, Mailerlite provides a number of campaign configurations from which to pick. Regular campaigns, A/B testing campaigns, auto-resend campaigns, and RSS campaigns are just some options available to you.
The drag-and-drop editors, Rich Text editors, and custom HTML editors add to the software’s functionality. Your editing method need not pioneer something new. You can quickly and easily create professional-looking emails with Mailerlite's newsletter templates. Mailerlite offers one of the most user-friendly email editors/designers in the market.
Thanks to the software's intuitive drag-and-drop builder, even beginners can use it easily and effectively.
Mailerlite Automations
Using the automation builder's simple interface, complex marketing processes can be set up and managed automatically.
Use triggers to send out automated emails or change custom fields. RSS campaigns, which alert subscribers to new information, and auto-resend campaigns, which boost interaction, are two further functions.
You can incorporate if/then splits into your workflows so that distinct sets of actions are performed depending on the values of certain variables.
Timeouts may be inserted between any two operations in a process. Put a hold on things for a little while, whether it's an hour, a day, a week, or even a date. The automation features of Mailerlite are simple yet effective.
However, you might not find them as powerful as MailChimp’s automation features. So, if you’re looking for more advanced features, MailChimp would be the right option. Whereas, Mailerlite’s simplicity makes it more suitable for beginner-level marketers.
Mailerlite Landing Pages
Well-designed landing pages can double your revenue. Landing pages help you gather email addresses, expanding your contact database. And the longer your email list gets, the more money you can generally make from it.
But, the problem is although there are plenty of landing page builders out there, most won't offer the ease Maikerlite offers. See, you don't require any coding expertise or even design experience to build impactful landing pages.
The drag-and-drop builder makes everything simple. Importantly, Mailerlite's landing page designer is lightweight, keeping up with the email marketing software's super user-friendly look and feel. In addition, you will get a bunch of pre-designed, fully customizable landing pages. This gives you a jump-start on the landing page design process.
Editing a template would be ideal if you don't have a design in mind or don't have enough design knowledge. There is a standard set of components that make up every successful landing page. These guidelines, or "building blocks," should be a foundation for your material.
Some readers aren't going to enjoy this. After all, isn't differentiation the key to successful marketing? Why limit yourself to a single template for your landing page? Don't you think your writing will become too... formulaic?
It turns out that the primary reason why certain landing pages convert so well is that they have perfected the basics. You may increase the likelihood of conversion by learning about your audience and following a proper landing page structure.
Popup Subscription Forms
Popups may be considered intrusive by some, but you can't ignore their effectiveness as a lead generation tool. Mailerlite lets you design your popups with a simple and lightweight editor.
You get a few pre-built popup form templates, helping you design them quickly. In addition to pop-up forms, Mailerlite also lets you create:
Embedded forms are less intrusive than pop-ups, which is why they can be more effective. The “Promotion” form option lets you communicate different marketing messages with popups.
With Mailerlite’s features out of the way, let’s take a look at how MailChimp compares with it.
MailChimp Features
Let's get started.
Sign-Up Forms
The sign-up form is a crucial point of contact with the consumer. You may put your company's logo on these forms and make other adjustments using MailChimp. The tool lets you create:
Your social media accounts may also be included on these forms, which is a feature you won’t see on most of its competitors. In addition, your mobile device's contact list may also be synced with MailChimp.
Automation
Use MailChimp's built-in marketing automation features to schedule and execute repetitive operations with little effort.
This will allow you to focus on campaign-specific marketing and communication initiatives. You may also use this to improve the substance of your emails and add a more human touch. Here’s how MailChimp lets you choose the starting trigger of your email automation.
With MailChimp's Customer Journey function, you can set up a sequence of automatic email messages. A customer's experience begins when they sign up for your email newsletter and ends when they unsubscribe.
For instance, at the beginning of the customer journey, someone signs up for your email newsletter (she/he is added to Stage 1 of email list subscribers in your customer journey). The second stage of their customer journey begins when they open the promotional email you sent them and follow the link to your product.
Stage 3 of your customer Journey could be one week later. They open the email you send them, which includes a special link to your product.
At this point in the customer journey, you've sent Jane a thank-you note for purchasing your product and have extended offers for other items.
MailChimp Reports
The email report tells you:
Similarly, the website report tells you the following:
MailChimp Landing Pages
MailChimp offers a free landing page creator. It's part of their "Free Forever" package. That's right, no cost at all to create as many landing pages as you need. Another cool thing is that it lets you create engaging and converting landing pages.
Moreover, the templates you get on MailChimp’s free plan give you a jump start on the designing process, and help you build eye-catching landing pages.
Plus, the design editor is one of the simple ones out there.
However, when you compare it with Mailerlite, the latter gets the lead.
It’s important to remember that MailChimp is more than simply a landing page creator. Essentially, it is an email marketing platform. MailChimp is an excellent choice if you need a program that handles email marketing and landing page creation.
MailChimp Email Designer
MailChimp’s email designer is as simple as it gets. As soon as you click “Design Email”, you’ll be redirected to the editor, where you can choose a pre-designed template or start from scratch.
Engagement Analytics
MailChimp’s “Audience Dashboard” gives you actionable metrics like:
Main Dashboard
MailChimp’s main dashboard shows the performance of your most recent campaign. But, that’s about it; unlike Mailerilte, it doesn’t offer a lot there.
Verdict
There's a good reason why both Mailerlite and MailChimp are so successful as email marketing tools. Both tools offer advanced features for creating automated email campaigns and communicating with your audience effectively.
However, although it offers extensive features and customization options, MailChimp requires more experience and technical expertise. Especially when you compare it with MailChimp. And, it feels a little less lightweight than Mailerlite.
On the flip side, Mailerlite's incredible simplicity makes it a perfect fit for startups, small businesses, newbies, and solopreneurs.
All in all, Mailerlite seems to be a more lightweight option among the two.