tinyEmail vs Mailchimp

Everybody knows Mailchimp. It's the biggest brand name in the email marketing space, so it's quite natural for people to ask, "How does tinyEmail stack up against the leader?" 

My short answer is, "It depends."  

If you're looking for a comprehensive, Goliath-like platform to manage all of your digital marketing needs (e.g. landing page, CRM, social media, paid digital ads, and more), then Mailchimp is worth a look.

But, if you're looking for an easy-to-learn platform that helps users design, schedule, and send email campaigns and automations in minutes (rather than days or weeks), then tinyEmail is for you. 

Here's my thesis. tinyEmail punches above its weight. It delivers the same essential email marketing features you get with Mailchimp, but users enjoy a smoother user experience with all the required apps and automations an email marketer might need, plus a competitive price point. I'd argue that tinyEmail is more cost-effective for any business new to email marketing and wants to start building a list. 

User experience

How does the tinyEmail user experience stack up against Mailchimp? Check out the aggregate customer review scores from Trustpilot. The difference is, well, staggering. tinyEmail gets high marks for an intuitive interface and affordability.

Mailchimp users reported frustration with customer support, inadequate design customization options, and a bumpy UI. Based on my own Mailchimp experience, I'd add confusing documentation to the list of things that frustrate. 

Confession 

I used to be a Mailchimp fan. Once upon a time, it was an amazingly cool tool that helped thousands of small businesses get into email marketing, often for free or at a manageable cost that scaled with the business. And then, in 2019, it morphed into a one-stop digital marketing Hydra. I still have a legacy account with 2000 subscribers "free forever." Not long ago, Mailchimp changed the meaning of forever.

* Scores were recorded on June 25, 2023.

In terms of reporting and analysis, Mailchimp has an impressive tool kit. I especially like the campaign benchmarking, which lets me compare the open rate for one campaign against my audience average and the industry average. tinyEmail has a clean and minimalist dashboard. All the essential KPIs are easy to find and read. 

App features

The range of available features is far greater than I could possibly document here, so let me cover a few points. 

Templates

• Mailchimp has two template editors, the boxy Classic editor and a new one that comes loaded with 106 templates and a nice drag-and-drop editor. Users on the paid plan can create their own templates. 
• tinyEmail has over 600 templates that all users can access, even people on the Free plan. All templates can be customized with the drag-and-drop editor.

Lead generation

Both tinyEmail and Mailchimp have forms that are great for list-building. 

• tinyEmail has three form styles (embedded, popup, and flyout) with 40+ customizable template options and the chance to create custom forms. 
• Mailchimp forms are pretty basic, with limited customization options. If you're on the free plan, all the forms (and emails) display the Mailchimp branding. tinyEmail does not display its branding on your work.

AI subject line assistant

Both platforms have an AI tool that helps users write more compelling subject lines. Mailchimp claims to have 20+ AI tools, but at the time of writing, many were not widely available or required a paid plan.

Shopify integration

Mailchimp and tinyEmail both have an app that integrates with a Shopify store.  

App automations

Both options have automations that cover four essential e-commerce needs: abandoned cart, win-back, welcome series, and thank you for purchase.

• Mailchimp has 80+ automations (called journeys) plus a custom automation builder. Sounds like a lot, but it's unlikely that a small to medium size email marketer would use most of them. Some are app-specific (e.g. Zapier only), and others are variations of a single purpose (e.g. there are four engagement automations).
• tinyEmail has five automations and a few more in the pipeline. For a bigger selection of AI-generated, customizable automations, check out our companion product, tinyEinstein.

App pricing

Mailchimp pricing is based on the number of contacts with an upper limit on monthly sends per tier. tinyEmail calculates costs based on sends, and not list size. That's good value for businesses that send out less frequently and don't want to pay more for their aggressive list-building efforts.

Across the board, tinyEmail offers better value, especially for small lists. For anyone new to list building, the free plan looks enticing, but getting a list to 1000 contacts is actually not that difficult with a bit of strategic social media posting. Mailchimp costs for a small list (up to 1500 contacts) are two to four times higher than tinyEmail. The mid-range prices are comparable - as long as you keep the list under 5000 contacts. The price advantage again goes to tinyEmail when the list size is between 10,000 and 20,000 

* No limit on the number of contacts in tinyEmail paid plans.

What's the bottom line?

Here's my two cents.

I used to be a Mailchimp fan and see why some folks stay with that platform. I also understand why some people express frustration. Occasionally, I find a Mailchimp help center document that mentions add-on costs that weren't described on a previous product page. Hmm. That's another reason to like tinyEmail - cost transparency.

There's no denying Mailchimp packs a powerful email marketing punch, but I wonder who has the time to leverage all those tools? If you read through this article, I think you'd agree - when talking about essential email marketing features and automations, coupled with user experience, tinyEmail can easily take on the industry's Goliath.