Mailchimp has evolved into a product that I have come to like less over the years.
March 07, 2023

Mailchimp has evolved into a product that I have come to like less over the years.

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Legacy Plan

Overall Satisfaction with Mailchimp

Potential customers usually find us by searching on Google but after they've found us we want to build a lasting relationship and strengthen our brand. So to avoid that people visit the website and after they've read the information they forget us we use our newsletter to keep providing valuable information so they become gradually more aware of our initiative and what we can offer as value to them.
  • Integrations with a multitude of plugins and web applications via its API
  • Digests of RSS feeds
  • Flexible anotation with additional information about subscribers
  • Email flows are not as flexible as I would like them to be - alternative email service providers have better solutions.
  • Backwards compatibility - once something is configured, especially for the flows I expect them to work as they should - since they've added features suddenly older email flows stopped working reliably - support couldn't really find the root cause.
  • When I started using the product 10 years ago, the system was simple to use. Today lots of features that I'm not using were added making the system more complex in its use.
  • Since the acquisition from the founders to Intuit, I feel the focus has shifted to increasing prices while the value from my perspective hasn't changed much.
  • Positive: created a list of potential customers and build something akin to a relationship with them
  • Negative: due to email flows that suddenly stopped working some paying customers didn't get important emails. This for sure results in loss of revenue and loss of trust with some of them
Haven't used AWeber in quite a while, but back in the day it was great because it was simple. The downside of AWeber compared to Mailchimp was that they didn't support segmentation of a list. So you were forced to put subscribers into multiple lists, instead of having one list and then segment from there. This data duplication was problematic. It also didn't support adding custom fields to subscribers.

Intercom is not only email but also chat support. The product works well from a SaaS perspective because it allows you to collect what users are doing in your app and then based on their behavior trigger automations.
It was simple and powerful at first, but after adding all the extra features I feel the product has become more difficult to use. To some extent I also feel that maybe there could be opportunities to get additional value for my business from those features but not a lot of effort is done to create awareness around all that is possible with the product.
Mailchimp is mainly used in my business as an Email Service Provider. I have not benefited from the "all-in-one" promise that is being made. For me the strength of Mailchimp has always come from the fact that it integrates with other apps so you can use the best-of-breed specialised apps to implement the marketing experience that you're willing to give to your customers and prospects.
For me the main goal was to use Mailchimp as a set-and-forget system for creating awareness with potential customers. It was set and forget because there's evergreen content on the one hand used to send via email workflows, and more dynamic user generated content via RSS feed digests.

Whatever system you're using you should think first about what experience you want your customers and to-be-customers to have and then select the appropriate solution from there.

My biggest lesson is that you're never really sure how a product will evolve and when you no longer fit their new target group or their new USP they have set out to realise you start feeling this.

Do you think Mailchimp delivers good value for the price?

No

Are you happy with Mailchimp's feature set?

No

Did Mailchimp live up to sales and marketing promises?

No

Did implementation of Mailchimp go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Mailchimp again?

No

Well suited:

- Ecommerce type of businesses can benefit because features were added to help business owners maximize the shopping cart value and avoid shopping cart abandonment.
- Simple newsletters based on RSS feeds or manually written

Less suited:

- Advanced email flows (if-then-else) based on visitors actions on websites are difficult to implement.
- Difficult to use as a email system to support staying in touch with users of a SaaS application you've developed.

Mailchimp Feature Ratings

WYSIWYG email editor
8
Dynamic content
8
Ability to test dynamic content
Not Rated
Landing pages
Not Rated
A/B testing
7
Mobile optimization
Not Rated
Email deliverability reporting
8
List management
8
Triggered drip sequences
7
Calendaring
Not Rated
Event/webinar marketing
Not Rated
Social sharing and campaigns
Not Rated
Social profile integration
Not Rated
Dashboards
7
Standard reports
7
API
8
Integration with Salesforce.com
Not Rated
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Not Rated
Third-party software integrations
9