ActiveCampaign Vs. Mailchimp: Compare Top Features Of The Email Marketing Platforms

Both Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign utilize “tags” to categorize and assign properties to the members within your email lists. With ActiveCampaign, these tags are automatically applied and function according to the parameters that you set. With Mailchimp, however, tag additions and removals must be done manually.

Within both platforms, these tags can be used for a variety of purposes. For example, you might choose to segment your email list, or grant a user specific permissions based on a purchase or opt-in. Tagging is invaluable when you’re ready to really start targeting specific client groups and provide a more personal experience for them.

ActiveCampaign’s use of tags is far more comprehensive and granular than Mailchimp.

Tags can be added automatically to users on form signup, within a marketing automation workflow, or manually. If you’re using tags to segment and direct your automations, you’ll also appreciate the ability to automatically remove tags from a user within your automation process.

Like Mailchimp, there’s currently no way to organize your list of tags, so you might find a spreadsheet helpful when working with hundreds of tags to help keep everything organized and up to date.

Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign both allow you to create automations for your email marketing workflows.

Mailchimp’s email automations are extremely simple and are mainly intended to allow you to send multiple emails based on a single trigger (like if a tag is manually added to a user, or if they clicked a link in an email, purchased a product, etc.).

For businesses with very basic email follow-up scenarios, this works well.

But if you want to run more advanced marketing campaigns, you might find yourself looking elsewhere.

If you are planning to sell products on your website, the e-commerce integrations available to ActiveCampaign vs. Mailchimp will play a huge part in your decision.

Neither marketing automation tool includes a built-in e-commerce solution. However, both advertise a list of “official” apps that they integrate with and if you have access to a talented, experienced developer, you have the option to build your own integration via API

Like we saw with Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign does not include any e-commerce within its platform. However, it does have the capability to integrate with any number of payment processing systems and e-commerce apps.

The list is quite a bit more comprehensive than Mailchimp’s functionality and includes some big names like PayPal, Stripe, and Shopify.

Before you get super excited that your favorite payment processor claims an ActiveCampaign integration, be aware that not all integrations work the same. (See the current list of ActiveCampaign integrations here.)

Example: The Shopify integration will actually auto-add a new customer to your ActiveCampaign email list only if that customer chooses to optin to your marketing updates during the checkout process.

If they don’t, you’ll have to manually add them yourself before you can apply any tags and add them to a follow-up sales sequence.

Whereas the BigCommerce integration will automatically add new clients to your email lists.

ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp are neck-and-neck when it comes to user-friendliness. Both systems have easy navigation and a wealth of help text that will point you in the right direction.

Mailchimp is more text-heavy, so you always have plenty of information on what you can accomplish on any setting or page inside your account. However, it might still take a little bit of time to learn how to accomplish simple actions like creating opt in forms, since the settings are buried a few pages deep.

ActiveCampaign has a cleaner interface, with an emphasis on easy navigation between all major areas of your account. Although its marketing automation builder is far more advanced than anything Mailchimp offers, the drag-and-drop builder is surprisingly easy to learn and use.

Setting up an affiliate program can be a great way to boost your sales and business reach. Of course, it also includes an entirely different set of responsibilities for you to manage, including unique affiliate links, sales, and refunds.

Not surprisingly, since they don’t include e-commerce, neither tool offers an affiliate management system.

So you’ll have to do your research and find out whether the 3rd party platform of your choice offers an integration with ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp, as well as understand what capabilities come with this integration.

Your budget might play a large role in deciding which tool you decide to work with.

Mailchimp starts their pricing tiers with an extremely attractive “free forever” plan that allows up to 2,000 contacts and up to 25,000 emails per month.

If you want to send more emails, however, your price point begins to rise, and depends on the number of subscribers as well as the “tier” you belong to, each of which includes additional feature sets.

To determine your price, you’ll want to head over to Mailchimp’s pricing page, where you can enter in the number of contacts and see what your monthly rate would be.

The ActiveCampaign pricing system is separated into three tiers: Lite, Small Business, and Enterprise. Each of those tiers represents the functionality you’ll get, rather than a set price range.

Like Mailchimp, the price is actually largely dependent on the number of contacts you have within your CRM.

Generally speaking, though, a business with a smaller email list and simplified needs is going to lean towards Mailchimp as the more affordable option. However, the lower tier of ActiveCampaign is still an extremely attractive option (for businesses on a budget), especially when you consider the added functionality this brings with it, in terms of email automation capabilities.

One more thing to think about when deciding based on price is whether you intend to expand your business significantly in the future.

If this is the case, you might find that you’ll “outgrow” Mailchimp and should consider whether it will be worthwhile to start small now and port everything over to ActiveCampaign later on, or whether you’d prefer to start with ActiveCampaign in anticipation of a more robust business in the future.

There’s no such thing as a “one size fits all” marketing automation tool for any business. Hopefully, this comparison has given you enough information to move forward with your search and know which one will better suit your unique needs.

If you’re currently thinking of moving to ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp, know that it will take time to set up your system, learn the tool, and begin using it confidently.

Take a look at both ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp’s websites and try their demos or talk to their representatives to get a feel for what they can offer.