CONSTANT CONTACT VS. MAILCHIMP

By: Paige Smith

Table of Contents • Background 3 • Business Objectives and Target Audience 4 • Strategies 5 • Segmentation Goals 6 • Segmentation Features 7 • Pricing 8 • Reports 9 •  Interface 10 • Customer Service 11 • Other Capabilities 12 • Summary & Final Recommendation 13

Background • As Alan’s continues to grow, it is critical that the marketing

department discovers new marketing tactics that will engage our current customers and target new customers. One of our goals is to gain greater market share in the wedding cake business. In order to reach this goal, we will target brides by sending emails regarding customized cakes, bridal events, and specialties. For our current customers, we will send emails regarding menu specials, online orders, catering options, and VIP events. To reach our current and new customer base, we will utilize email marketing through one of two services: Constant Contact or MailChimp.

Business Objectives and Target Audiences

Business Objectives

• Offer exceptional catering menus

• Grow sales on wedding cakes and bridal events

• Encourage current customers to become repeat customers

Target Audiences

• Office personnel • Brides • Professionals on-the-go

Strategies

Current Customers

•  Send emails regarding menu specials to encourage customers to dine in

•  Place orders online to accommodate on-the-go customers

•  Send catering reminders and deals to local office buildings

•  Send reminders about anniversaries to previous customers who purchased specialty cakes

New Customers

• Send emails that showcase wedding cake designs to local brides

• Offer wine/cake tasting parties to encourage brides to shop Alan’s for their special occasion

• Send reminders about the cake and icing flavors Alan’s offers

Segmentation Goals •  In order to target multiple audiences, the marketing

department will need to segment groups based on needs. The three main groups we will target are local office staff, brides, and frequent customers. Brides will be grouped based on their wedding month so Alan’s can send specialized emails. Local office staff and frequent customers will be grouped based on previous purchases and location. Both Constant Contact and MailChimp offer segmentation capabilities that can accommodate Alan’s specifications.

Segmentation Features

Constant Contact

•  Import contacts and assign tags to each contact

•  Create groups based on what type of email they will receive (newsletter, weekly deal, invitation)

•  Tagging and grouping is manual

•  Automation is an extra paid feature that will automatically send emails based on specifications we create

MailChimp

• Upload contacts and manually create groups

• Or send emails to specific targets based on location, previous purchases, engagement, or date.

•  Limited to 5 conditions in basic segmentation

• Must pay for unlimited conditions

Pricing

Constant Contact

•  $895 per month •  Additional $115 per month

for Plus features including: •  Automation •  Facebook Fan Promotion •  Events Registration &

Management •  Donations •  Surveys •  Coupons •  Event Invitation

Total: $1,010

MailChimp

•  $875 per month • Additional $199 per month

for Pro features including: •  Advanced Segmentation •  Merge Fields for more data

storage •  Time Zone Automation •  Transactional Emails •  Predicted Demographics

Total: $1,074

Reports

Constant Contact

• Engagement Report • Revenue Report • Contact Growth Report • Mobile Open Rate

MailChimp

• Revenue Report • Geographic Segmentation • Bounce Rate • Unsubscribes •  Industry Comparison • Engagement Report • Deliverability Ratio •  Trend Analysis

Interface

Constant Contact

• Pre-built templates •  Image library • Call-to-action buttons • Automatically converts to

mobile or desktop view • PDF import

MailChimp

• Provides pre-built templates or customized email design

•  13 layouts and over 300 template themes

• Built-in photo editor • Call-to-action buttons • Social media sync

Customer Service

Constant Contact

• Available to call Monday-Friday 9am-8pm

• Video tutorials for campaigns, customization, donations, contacts, and generating new contacts

• User discussion boards

MailChimp

•  No direct customer service phone number

•  Support blogs •  Provides design and

development advice online •  Glossary of MailChimp

terms and email marketing concepts

•  Complaints from customers about poor customer service

Other Capabilities

Constant Contact

• Online resources including webinars and blogs about: •  Email Marketing •  Event Marketing •  Online Marketing •  Social Media Marketing

MailChimp

• Online email marketing resources including: •  Average Stats by Industry

and Company Size •  Subject Line Formulation •  Average Stats for

Segmentation Options •  Effective Design Techniques

Summary and Final Recommendation •  The segmentation features are relatively the same for Constant

Contact and MailChimp as long as you pay for the upgraded service. In order to send reminders to previous customers about birthdays and anniversaries, Alan’s will need to purchase the Plus/Pro plan. The plan will also allow us to add “order online” buttons and event registration directly into the email. Along with this plan, we receive in-depth analytics from both Constant Contact and MailChimp. MailChimp offers advanced features like time-zone automation and predicted demographics that may be better utilized by larger companies. Both interfaces appear to be user-friendly and offer similar features. Constant Contact’s webinars and tutorials are easier to follow and offer more relevant content than MailChimp. Throughout my research, there were significantly more complaints about MailChimp’s customer service and contact list availability. Since MailChimp is more expensive, offers unnecessary reports, and is subject to customer complaints, I recommend Constant Contact for Alan’s email marketing campaigns.