Email marketing is a key strategy for businesses of all sizes, but finding the right platform can be challenging. In the quest to identify the most suitable solution, Sendlane and Mailchimp stand out as notable competitors.
Mailchimp often comes to mind when businesses compare several email marketing platforms. Founded in 2001, it has grown into a versatile marketing tool.
Sendlane, while less old than Mailchimp, has been a significant player since its inception in 2013. It specifically caters to the needs of ecommerce and digital marketers, bringing a decade of experience and innovation to the table.
Sendlane is notable for its advanced automation and personalization. This makes it attractive for targeted marketing strategies. Mailchimp, meanwhile, offers a broad range of features and integrations. It’s known for its reliability and versatility.
Choosing between Sendlane or Mailchimp depends on several factors. These include ease of use, design flexibility, automation features, and pricing. This article compares both platforms thoroughly, considering these aspects.
Below is our detailed comparison of Sendlane vs Mailchimp to help you identify their unique offerings.
Sendlane vs Mailchimp: Quick overview
Mailchimp is a well-established player in the email marketing space. It boasts a rating of 4.5/5.0 from over 380 reviews on the Shopify App Store. Users often praise its user-friendly interface and robust customer support.
Mailchimp offers various pricing options. It’s also known for its comprehensive automation capabilities. We’ll explore its features more in the later sections.
Sendlane hasn’t gathered as many reviews as on the Shopify App Store yet. This doesn’t undermine its potential but indicates its growing presence in the market.
Users who have adopted Sendlane highlight its targeted automation and personalization features. Although less reviewed, its unique offerings are gaining attention among several users.
Here’s a table showing a quick comparison of Sendlane vs Mailchimp:
Now, the question arises:
Sendlane or Mailchimp, which is the better choice for you?
To answer this, we’ll delve into a detailed comparison of their key features. This will help you make an informed choice for your business.
Sendlane vs Mailchimp: Feature by feature
Comparing Sendlane and Mailchimp helps pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses. This process is crucial for identifying which tool’s offerings align with your goals. It can also help you avoid unnecessary expenses.
With this in mind, a feature-by-feature comparison of Sendlane vs Mailchimp is below.
Ease of getting started
Which tool offers a more intuitive initial setup process – Sendlane or Mailchimp? Let’s find out.
Sendlane’s signup process is unique, focusing more on booking demos than direct registration. This approach differs from most platforms. Once you navigate to the actual signup, it’s straightforward.
Mailchimp follows a more conventional route. It offers a simple signup process with a necessary credit card for its 30-day free trial. If you sign up for a free plan, you don’t need to provide your credit card information.
Similarly, starting a 14-day free trial on Sendlane is easy once you locate the option.
Sendlane’s interface is modern, with clear settings. This makes initial navigation a breeze. Sendlane also boasts unique features like a 2-way reply center.
Mailchimp features a clear design and a beginner-friendly setup checklist. Its broad functionality range is also impressive. However, this makes finding specific features, such as changing the sender’s email, a bit challenging.
Mailchimp takes the lead for ease of getting started. Despite requiring a credit card for the free trial, its user-friendly signup process stands out. Additionally, its extensive setup guidance and intuitive design make it more accessible for beginners.
Building an email campaign
This section details the email campaign creation capabilities of Sendlane vs Mailchimp. We compare the features and user experience that each tool presents.
Sendlane’s email wizard is unique. It indicates any missing elements in your email setup, such as preheaders. Mailchimp also impresses with its straightforward campaign setup and two user-friendly email builders.
Adding images and editing email copy in Mailchimp is easy, though removing the Mailchimp tag is less so. You might also find Sendlane’s email builder tricky for aligning elements. It also doesn’t include an image library.
As regards email templates, Mailchimp’s free plan offers a few basic templates. But its paid plans include many modern designs.
Sendlane offers over 50 modern templates and personalization (through merge tags). However, it lacks dynamic content and a gallery for images. Both platforms support standard email campaign types like regular campaigns, A/B testing, and automation.
For unique features, Sendlane offers multiple layout options in its emails for added flexibility. Mailchimp, however, stands out with the following features:
- Dynamic content blocks
- An ability to send postcards
- Survey creation
- Subject line recommendations
It also offers limited inbox preview tokens through Litmus integration. This feature is absent in Sendlane.
While both tools shine in several ways, they have their limitations. Mailchimp’s email scheduling is reserved for paid users only, and it has no unique discount code generator.
Sendlane, meanwhile, falls short in the following areas:
- There’s no built-in unique coupon code generator
- There’s no recommendation content block
- Dynamic content is unavailable
Mailchimp has a slight advantage in building email campaigns. Its unique features, like dynamic content blocks, make it a more versatile choice.
Marketing automation
Sendlane and Mailchimp excel in marketing automation, each with unique strengths. Let’s explore both tools’ automation offerings.
Sendlane’s automation wizard is user-friendly. It offers advanced features ideal for small to mid-sized ecommerce businesses.
Sendlane grants users access to various triggers, webhooks, and audience segmentation tools. It stands out with its nine prebuilt ecommerce workflows, including:
- Welcome series
- Cart abandonment
- Back in stock
- Customer win-back
- Product recommendation
- Browse abandonment
Mailchimp also has an intuitive automation interface. It offers 70+ prebuilt customer journey templates incorporating emails and social media channels. The structural framework of these templates comes ready to use. However, Mailchimp requires users to add most of the content manually.
Unlike Mailchimp, Sendlane has built-in email and SMS integration within its workflows. Meanwhile, Mailchimp doesn’t. To send SMS with this platform, you must integrate with Twilio or other SMS providers.
From the ecommerce marketer standpoint, Sendlane slightly outperforms Mailchimp in marketing automation. It stands out with its combination of user-friendly automation and prebuilt ecommerce workflows. Additionally, its email and SMS integration gives it an edge over Mailchimp.
Signup forms and landing pages
Both Sendlane and Mailchimp offer functionalities for signup forms. But they have varying capabilities and limitations.
Sendlane provides inline, popup, and banner forms but doesn’t have a form design library. Its form builder allows for text and color customization, but layout flexibility is limited. While not offering ready-to-use signup forms, Mailchimp allows for greater customization to align with the brand.
Both Sendlane and Mailchimp provide performance analytics for forms.
One key area that Mailchimp excels in is its landing page capabilities. It offers nine templates and a comprehensive landing page builder. Mailchimp also simplifies managing subscriber lists. But it charges for duplicate email addresses, including unsubscribed and inactive contacts.
In contrast, Sendlane falls short in landing page offerings, as it doesn’t provide any. Additionally, forms in Sendlane require manual code insertion for publication. And with Mailchimp you can do it automatically.
A notable limitation in Mailchimp is the restriction to one popup form at a time. This limits your opportunities for experiments and different signup form tactics.
In this round, it’s a tie. Mailchimp offers a landing page builder and a more flexible form editor. However, Sendlane doesn’t charge for email duplicates and unsubscribes.
Segmentation
Segmentation is a key feature in email marketing. Both Sendlane and Mailchimp offer this capability with some differences.
Mailchimp offers three ready-to-go audiences, simplifying the initial setup for users. Its segmentation is quite powerful and allows up to five conditions per segment. This is generally sufficient, but some users might require more complexity.
Segment criteria you can expect on Mailchimp:
- Contact details, like name, birthday, predicted age, predicted gender, VIP status, etc.
- Source of acquisition
- Email and automations activity
- Conversions activity, landing page activity
- Ecommerce activity, like amount spent in total, or on single order, purchase activity, total number of orders, etc.
- Tags
Sendlane doesn’t provide ready-to-go audiences, but its segmentation options are comprehensive. Users can segment by the following options:
- List
- Contact properties
- Custom fields
- Engagement and activity
- Contact tag
- Participation in automation
- Certain Shopify filters
Notably, Sendlane includes lifetime value and site visit options in its segmentation, making it quite robust. However, it lacks some on-site behavior filters like browse abandonment or cart abandonment.
It’s a tie again. Both platforms offer very similar segmentation capabilities.
Analytics
Analytics plays a crucial role in assessing the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns. Both Sendlane and Mailchimp offer these insights with varying depths. Let’s see how they compare.
Sendlane’s analytics are comprehensive, allowing users to track the following:
- Contact list growth and signup form performance
- Attributed revenue from email campaigns
- Automation
- Email health metrics
It also provides data on email providers and devices used by recipients. However, Sendlane lacks a click map feature. This could offer deeper insights into user interactions.
Mailchimp’s analytics are extensive but lack depth in certain areas. It tracks a wide range of metrics, from standard opens and clicks to social media engagement and landing page interaction rates.
Unique to Mailchimp is the ability to track forwarded campaign engagement. There are also comparative reports for premium plan users. However, ecommerce businesses might find Mailchimp’s analytics quite limited.
Mailchimp takes a slight lead in analytics. It has a broader range of metrics.
Customer support
Sendlane provides extensive support options, including 24/7 email and live chat support for all customers. Those on the Enterprise plan or higher even get a dedicated customer success manager. They also gain access to a personal Slack channel for quick collaboration.
Mailchimp’s level of customer support depends on the plan chosen. Free users receive email support only for the first 30 days. Meanwhile, paid users have access to 24/7 email and chat support. Premium plan users also benefit from phone support and priority assistance.
Mailchimp’s support is quick and efficient, with live chat options and prompt responses. However, the limitation of support for free users after 30 days is a drawback. Mailchimp compensates for this with an abundance of resources, including the following:
- Mailchimp 101 tutorial
- Blog articles
- YouTube videos in various languages
These resources provide a comprehensive educational foundation for its users.
Sendlane’s support is also notable for its responsiveness, with issues being resolved swiftly. However, Sendlane lacks phone support. In terms of resources, Sendlane offers a wealth of tutorials and ecommerce academy courses.
Sendlane wins in the customer support category. It offers impressive 24/7 support for all users, regardless of their plan. Enterprise users also enjoy a range of additional benefits.
Integrations
Sendlane and Mailchimp both offer integrations but to different extents.
Sendlane provides up to 100 integrations, covering various needs. This number may be lower than some competitors. However, it often suffices for most users’ requirements.
On the other hand, Mailchimp boasts hundreds of integrations, offering a wide range of tools. This extensive array of integrations allows users to connect with many platforms and services.
Mailchimp comes out ahead in this round. Its vast selection of integrations far exceeds that of Sendlane. It gives users more options to connect and synchronize with various other platforms and services.
Compatibility with other marketing channels
Sendlane and Mailchimp offer different levels of compatibility with other channels. Sendlane supports SMS marketing, but this is limited to US and Canadian numbers. Additionally, it provides easy integrations with Facebook and Google Ads. This expands its marketing capabilities.
Mailchimp, while not offering SMS or push notifications, connects to a variety of other marketing channels. These include Facebook, Instagram, and Google Analytics. This range of integrations allows for a broad marketing approach. It allows users to integrate various digital platforms into their campaigns.
Mailchimp has a slight advantage in terms of compatibility with other marketing channels. But if you prioritize the SMS channel, Sendlane might work better for you.
Generative AI tools
Integrating generative AI tools in email marketing platforms is becoming increasingly important.
Mailchimp stands out with its range of AI features. These tools are designed to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of marketing campaigns.
Here are some of Mailchimp’s AI offerings:
- Creative assistant: Assists in creating visually appealing designs.
- Content optimizer: Helps optimize email content for better engagement.
- Send-day and send-time optimization: Determines the best time to send emails.
- Predictive segmentation: Segments audiences based on predicted behaviors.
- Product recommendations: Suggests products to include in campaigns for increased relevance.
In contrast, Sendlane doesn’t offer AI tools at present. It places more traditional methods at the forefront of its functionality.
Mailchimp’s extensive array of AI features significantly exceeds Sendlane in this category. Its AI capabilities offer a substantial advantage in crafting more effective and personalized marketing campaigns. Also, it helps marketers to save time.
Price Comparison
When selecting an email marketing platform, pricing plays a crucial role. Balancing the cost with the range of features and capabilities is essential. In this section, we compare the pricing of Sendlane vs Mailchimp, focusing on their value proposition.
Free plans comparison
Mailchimp offers a free plan, which is particularly appealing for new businesses or individuals starting out. On Mailchimp, you can get for free:
- A 30-day trial with most paid features, except multivariate testing, advanced segmentation, and comparative reporting
- 1,000 email sends per month
- A selection of basic email templates
- 30 days of email support
Sendlane, in contrast, doesn’t provide a free plan, only a 14-days free trial. Users looking to explore its features would need to consider its paid options directly.
Paid plans comparison
This section compares the paid plans of Sendlane and Mailchimp. It sheds light on what each plan offers for their respective prices.
Here’s a quick overview of the pricing structure of Sendlane vs Mailchimp:
Sendlane’s pricing varies based on the number of email sends and SMS credits required. Unlike Mailchimp, Sendlane’s pricing model isn’t based on your list size. This approach gives room for flexibility. It allows businesses to scale their plans according to their specific outreach requirements.
Mailchimp’s pricing model is structured differently. It offers three paid plans, each escalating in features and capabilities.
Mailchimp’s price depends on the number of subscribers. It also factors in the level of features needed, such as:
- Automation
- Analytics
- Advanced segmentation tools
A detailed comparison of Sendlane vs Mailchimp paid plans reveals distinctions. Both tools’ prices are tailored to different business requirements and growth stages.
However, Mailchimp is more affordable and can be used by marketing beginners. Meanwhile, Sendlane price indicates that they focus on more mature businesses that can pay at least $100 per month for email marketing only.
Take some time to understand these differences. It’ll help you choose a platform that aligns best with your financial and marketing objectives.
Sendlane vs Mailchimp: Which one wins?
To conclude our comparison of Sendlane vs Mailchimp, let’s revisit their key features and costs:
4.0
4.1
50,000 emails – $100
100,000 emails – $200
200,000 emails – $300
500,000 – $600
Up to 500 subscribers – $13
Up to 2,500 subscribers – $45
Up to 5,000 subscribers – $75
Up to 10,000 subscribers – $110
Up to 50,000 subscribers – $385
– Paid plans only
– 14 days free trial available
– Free trial for 30 days
– 1000 email sends/month
– A few basic email templates
– 30 days email support
– Very good automation features
– Good onboarding
– Good email + SMS features
– 2-way SMS communication
– Good segmentation and contact management
– Good support
– The tool has a very wide range of features
– Mailchimp has a lot of integrations and can be easily integrated into any toolkit
– The tool is user-friendly
– Expensive
– No signup form library
– No landing pages
– No pre-built segments
– Mailchimp charges for email duplicates
– Very limited Free plan, and paid plans get expensive quickly
– Email templates available on the Free plan are too basic for current ecommerce needs, so it’s almost impossible to use Mailchimp for free
– Mid-size ecommerce businesses
– Solopreneurs
– Startups
– Bloggers
– Non-profit organizations
– Small businesses with tight budgets
– Bloggers
– NGOs and other non-profit organizations
– Ecommerce stores that are in their active growth stage
Sendlane excels with its advanced automation features and personalized marketing. This makes it ideal for mid-sized ecommerce businesses.
Mailchimp, on the other hand, offers a more comprehensive set of tools. Its offerings include a wider range of integrations, superior AI capabilities, and extensive analytics. Hence, it caters well to businesses seeking a broad marketing approach.
Ultimately, the choice between Sendlane and Mailchimp hinges on your needs and goals. For those prioritizing advanced ecommerce features and personalization, Sendlane is a strong contender. However, Mailchimp may be the more beneficial choice for a more versatile platform with a rich feature set.
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Our team strives to be accurate and unbiased in reviewing email tools. However, we recognize that mistakes can happen, and it’s essential for us to stay up to date. If you come across any errors or things that need to be reviewed again, please let us know.