Mailerlite or Mailchimp - which one is right for you?

It goes without saying that you’re going to need technology to help you stay organised and grow your business.

Whether that’s Practice Better to manage your clients, or Canva to produce sexy graphics, social media content and lead magnets.

One thing you’re also going to need is ‘email marketing software’.

A safe place to store all your subscribers details, create landing pages, and first class newsletters.

I narrowed it down to 2 in my research, and this is what I learned along the way:

Which is the most user friendly?

Both of them market themselves as easy to use email marketing software solutions.

Mailerlite is definitely living up to its promise. Mailchimp however is harder, with less intuitive functionality which can be hard for beginners to use.

Easy software, means faster outcomes - so for me, user friendly was top of my list.

How lists are managed

Mailchimp won’t allow you to have your contacts on different lists for different reasons, unless you are on their paid plan.

For example I have a lapsed client list, a current client list and a general subscribers list. I might want an individual person on 2 of these lists but in Mailchimp I will have to upgrade and pay to do this.

Mailerlite’s solution is much more flexible meaning that I can cross sell to my different lists, or send the same campaigns to various lists with no issues.

Quality of email templates

Both Mailerlite and Mailchimp have good customisation, but both are very different.

Mailchimp has more templates, but the templates in Mailerlite are more modern and professional in appearance.

Automations:

Sometimes, especially when using landing pages and lead magnets, we want stuff to automatically happen.

This is standard for Mailerlite’s free plan, but on Mailchimp you need to be on the paid plane to use automations.

Integrations

Both Mailerlite and Mailchimp have an impressive list of integrations. However if you’re looking to integrate Shopify, you won’t be able to do this in Mailerlite without a third party integration such as Zapier.

If you want e-commerce (an online shop) then Mailerlite is the one.

Support

Very important when you are starting out! And this is where Mailerlite is streets ahead.

They offer 24-7 support and are super responsive via a responsive live chat.

Mailchimp is English only, whereas Mailerlite has got you covered for English, Spanish, Ukranian, Lithuanian, Russian, Polish and French. Mailchimp will only 1 month free support unless you upgrade to a paid plan.

Pricing

Both Mailerlite and Mailchimp have a free plan to get you stared, however the functionality varies significantly between the two.

With Mailerlite you can have access to the most important functions for free and have a generous limit of the number of emails you can send per month. As your business grows and the number of emails you send grows with it, then Mailerlite will prompt you to move onto a paid plan.

The Verdict:

It won’t surprise you to know that I’m team Mailerlite all the way. If I outgrow it (unlikely) then I will probably look into Autopilot rather than Mailchimp.

If you want more functionality and value, then Mailerlite should be the go-to for new businesses starting out.