Mailchimp

Mailchimp is the most recognized name in email marketing, used by over 13 million active accounts worldwide. Founded in 2001 by Ben Chestnut and Dan Kurzius as a side project from their web design agency, Mailchimp grew into the dominant email marketing platform largely thanks to its generous free tier and approachable design. Intuit acquired Mailchimp in 2021 for $12 billion — a testament to its market position. Today, Mailchimp has expanded beyond email into a broader marketing platform with landing pages, social media posting, customer journeys, and basic CRM features, though email remains its core strength.

Email Campaign Builder

Mailchimp's drag-and-drop email builder is one of the most polished in the industry. You choose from 100+ pre-designed templates or start from scratch, dragging content blocks (text, images, buttons, social links, product recommendations) into position. The builder handles responsive design automatically — emails look good on desktop, tablet, and mobile without manual adjustment. A/B testing lets you test subject lines, send times, content variations, and from names against a subset of your audience before sending the winning version to the rest. Send time optimization uses historical engagement data to deliver emails when each subscriber is most likely to open.

Audience Management and Segmentation

Mailchimp organizes subscribers into Audiences (previously "lists") with tags, groups, and segments for targeting. Basic segmentation filters by location, engagement level, signup source, and purchase history. Advanced segmentation (Standard plan and above) combines multiple conditions with AND/OR logic: "subscribers who opened 3+ emails in the last 30 days AND purchased in the last 90 days AND are located in the US." Predicted demographics use AI to estimate subscriber age, gender, and location even when not explicitly provided. The segmentation is powerful but less flexible than dedicated tools like Klaviyo for e-commerce or ActiveCampaign for complex B2B workflows.

Customer Journeys (Automation)

Customer Journeys is Mailchimp's visual automation builder, replacing the older "Automation" feature. You create flowcharts with triggers (signup, purchase, date-based, tag added), actions (send email, add/remove tag, update audience field), and conditions (if/else splits based on behavior or segment membership). Pre-built journey templates include welcome series, abandoned cart recovery, re-engagement campaigns, and post-purchase follow-ups. The visual builder is intuitive for simple automations but becomes unwieldy for complex multi-branch workflows. ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign handle sophisticated automation logic more gracefully.

Beyond Email: The Marketing Platform

Mailchimp now includes landing pages, social media posting (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), postcards (yes, physical mail), and a basic website builder. These features are functional but not best-in-class — you'd use dedicated tools for serious social media management or website building. The value is consolidation: small businesses that only need basic capabilities across these channels can handle everything in Mailchimp without managing multiple subscriptions. The built-in CRM (contact profiles with engagement history, tags, and notes) is useful for understanding individual subscribers but lacks the deal pipeline and sales features of HubSpot or Pipedrive.

Pricing (Post-Intuit Changes)

Mailchimp's pricing has become more complex and more expensive since the Intuit acquisition. The Free plan now limits to 500 contacts and 1,000 sends per month (previously 2,000 contacts and 10,000 sends) — a significant downgrade. Essentials starts at $13/month for 500 contacts with email support, A/B testing, and basic automations. Standard at $20/month adds Customer Journeys, send time optimization, and behavioral targeting. Premium at $350/month adds advanced segmentation, multivariate testing, and phone support. Pricing scales with contact count: 10,000 contacts on Standard costs $100/month; 50,000 contacts costs $350/month. This contact-based pricing means costs grow quickly as your list grows.

Where Mailchimp Falls Short

Mailchimp's biggest problem is its pricing trajectory. The free plan shrinkage and escalating paid plan costs have pushed many users to alternatives like ConvertKit, MailerLite, or Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Automation capabilities, while improved, still lag behind ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit for complex sequences. The platform charges for unsubscribed and inactive contacts unless you manually clean your list, which inflates costs. And customer support quality has declined post-acquisition — the Standard plan includes only email and chat support, with phone support reserved for Premium ($350+/month). Small businesses that loved Mailchimp's free plan five years ago are increasingly looking elsewhere.