Which Email Software Best for SMBs Update 1. Based on the feedback weve received in the comments of this post, as well as new product updates from both Constant Contact and Mailchimp, this post has been updated to reflect more current information. At Capterra, we recently conducted a poll of 6. Mail. Chimp or Constant Contact for their email marketing needs. Shockingly, more than half of the respondentshad used both systems at some point in time, which speaks to the enormous market share these two leading email marketing software providers have. The more interesting finding from our study of the businesses that had used both, 7. Html Email Templates Mailchimp' title='Html Email Templates Mailchimp' />Mail. Chimp over Constant Contact. Tweet this stat. But does that make it the clear winner for all small businesses Not necessarilyDespite recent hype about content marketing, social media, and mobile, for the majority of small businesses, the first step to marketing success is still through the good, old fashioned inbox. Email marketing has consistently been cited as the single most effective marketing tactic for for awareness, acquisition, conversion, and retention. And according to recent reports, 5. If youre just venturing into the world of email marketing or looking to make your business emails more sophisticated this year, youve likely already done a quick Google search to evaluate your options and encountered the two market leaders Mail. Chimp and Constant Contact. Both are tailored for your small business needs, affordable, and easy to use so hows a small business marketer to choose In this post, Ill break down the primary differentiators between these two leading email marketing software providers. Plus, Ill show you who wins out in the Mail. Chimp vs Constant Contact battle for six common consideration factors Price, Customer Support, Features Functionality, Deliverability, Third Party Integrations, and Company Culture. Price. As a small business marketer, you most likely dont have unlimited funds to put toward your email marketing software. Html Email Templates Mailchimp' title='Html Email Templates Mailchimp' />Luckily, you can rest assured that neither Mail. Chimp nor Constant Contact will break the bank. Mail. Chimp offers a Forever Free  version for up to 2,0. Html Email Templates Mailchimp' title='Html Email Templates Mailchimp' />Their paid email marketing service starts at 2. All paid plans have unlimited email sending capabilities throughout the month. The highest plan is 3. Mail. Chimp also offers a Pay as you go option to purchase email credits for 0. To take your email marketing to the next level, an additional 1. Mailchimp Pro Marketer Plan, which includes all of their marketing automation lite features. ThemePreview/01_Preview_Responsive-Email-Marketing-Template-Builder-RETINADROIT-NEW-Email-Newsletter.__large_preview.png' alt='Html Email Templates Mailchimp' title='Html Email Templates Mailchimp' />Emailblueprints HTML Email Layouts by MailChimp. Join GitHub today. GitHub is home to over 20 million developers working together to host and review code. Whether youre an expert or just starting, MailChimp has an email template for you. Learn about different types of templates and how to pick one for you. Businesses need to design their emails and newsletters for all devices. Simcity 4 Android Apk. These responsive email templates can help. Html Email Templates Mailchimp' title='Html Email Templates Mailchimp' />All nonprofit organizations receive a 1. Mail. Chimp paid accounts. Constant Contact offers a 6. After your free trial runs out, email marketing with CC starts at 2. Constant Contact now offers an Email Plus Plan, which includes surveys, registration forms, coupons, and more. Email Plus starts at 4. You can receive 1. Constant Contact account if you prepay for 6 months in advance, or 1. Nonprofits get double the incentive to prepay, with a 2. Pricing Winner Mail. Chimp. As the founder and CEO of m. Konnekt, Seshu Madabushi consults SMBs on how to engage customers with their marketing platform. Madabushi told us that Mail. Chimps Forever Free model makes it a clear winner for his small business customers. Given that most of our clientele are SMBs, the flexible pricing including FREE for the first 2. Support Both Mail. Chimp and Constant Contact are well known for being intuitive and easy to use, even if youre not very tech savvy. But if you expect to need some hand holding, there are some key differences in service Mainly self service support available through their online Knowledge Base. Free accounts can only use the Knowledge Base, but users will have an introductory period that includes 3. Monthly and pay as you go customers can also use chat and email support 2. Phone, chat, and email support offered Monday through Friday for business hours across all time zones in the US and Canada, plus weekend email support. Constant Contact also offers limited phone support for UK users. Additional training and support services are available for an additional purchase, such as a Quick Start to set up your account, Design Build to create custom templates, or a Personal Marketer package to have a dedicated expert on call whenever you need them. Support Winner Constant Contact. Ira Wolfe, President of Success Performance Solutions, has been using Constant Contact for nearly 1. He comments, Constant Contact offers a tremendous amount of support and resources for the small business. Im guilty of not utilizing more than I do, but its available. Features Functionality. While most of the same basic features are available in both Mail. Chimp and Constant Contact, Mailchimp has functionality that lends itself better to e. Commerce companies, while Constant Contact has more robust features for companies hoping to integrate their social media and email marketing. Ive created a chart below to show where the functionality differs. Note the highlighted cells indicate unique features, where one email provider had an advantage over the other. Some small business owners, like Michelle Geib at Xperience Days Inc., prefer Mail. Chimps functionality At the time the decision was made, Constant Contact was the most prominent email marketing solution for small businesses. The features it offered such as delivery, open rate, and click thru statistics, as well as the ability to view trends over time were attractive benefits, especially because we did not have access to any of this information with our former, in house solution. We began looking for a new solution in November, 2. Constant Contact account. We made the switch to Mail. Chimp, which offers a multitude of additional features Constant Contact didnt offer. These unique features and the scalable pricing plans were the reasons we decided to move our account. But others, like Brent Levi at The Office Connection, say Constant Contact has the edge in functionality. I feel that Mail. Chimp is best to start out in email marketing for the first time, but it lacks more powerful features. However, I know they are always adding new features. Constant Contact seems to be the best for those who have some experience but are not necessarily experts such as the common Marketing Coordinator. Kevin Jordan of Redpoint Marketing Consultants concurs. He notes that Constant Contact seemed very intuitive to use and had a large number of professional looking templates for different types of emails and industries. I also liked the fact that it has event marketing and social media marketing tools in addition to email. Functionality Winner Tie. Deliverability. Both systems have among the highest deliverability rates in the industry, according to Shero Designs, with Constant Contact at 9. Mail. Chimp at 9. Mail. Chimp Deliverability. Based on anecdotal feedback from users, it seemed Mail. Chimp was stricter about CAN SPAM compliancy between the two. However, Mail. Chimp does allow you to re upload unsubscribes to your lists, which some reported would halt your entire account if you attempted to do so in Constant Contact. Dave Bowman of Design Turnpike says hes not sure if its verifiable or quantifiable, but that his bounce rate and unsubscribe rates were considerably lower with Mail. Chimp than with Constant Contact.