MailChimp is a known name in the world of email marketing platforms. Of late, it has also expanded its offerings to include services like Website builder, Landing page builder, Online Store builders, and so on.
Omnisend, on the other hand, is focused on the email and SMS marketing automation niche. It is more geared towards eCommerce businesses that want to explore the power of automating your marketing campaigns.
While the offerings from MailChimp may look diverse initially, we often find being Jack of all trades falling behind the master of one. In this comparison between MailChimp and Omnisend, we will see which platform is a better choice for you.
Also, note that here we will focus on the comparable offerings from the two platforms. In other words, we are going to compare how MailChimp and Omnisend stack up against each other in the email marketing niche and discuss their differences.
Omnisend vs Mailchimp
MailChimp is a suitable platform for small businesses that need an easy-to-use platform to send email newsletters. On the other hand, Omnisend is an all-inclusive platform meant for growing and nimble eCommerce teams. If you are looking for a fully integrated, easy-to-use yet powerful email and SMS marketing platform to increase sales- Omnisend is for you.
In this article, we will look at the various differences between Omnisend and Mailchimp. In particular, we will discuss about:
- MailChimp vs Omnisend: Key Differences
- Onboarding and Pricing
- Email Campaigns
- SMS/MMS
- Web Push Notifications
- Automated Workflows
- Customer Segmentation
- Forms and Popups
- Sales Tracking and Reporting
- Integrations
- Summary
Omnisend vs Mailchimp: Key Differences
| Features | Mailchimp | Omnisend |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | Yes | |
| SMS/MMS | No | Yes |
| Web Push Notifications | No | Yes |
| Email Campaigns | Yes | Yes |
| Automated Workflows | Basic | Advanced |
| Customer Segmentation | Basic | Advanced |
| Forms and Popups | Yes | Yes |
| Sales Tracking and Reporting | Requires 3rd Party apps for Shopify | In-built |
| Integrations | BigCommerce WooCommerce Magento and more via API | Shopify BigCommerce WooCommerce Magento and more via API |
| Visit Mailchimp | Visit Omnisend |
Omnisend vs Mailchimp – Differences in Onboarding and Pricing
Opening an account in Omnisend or MailChimp is simple. Moreover, both platforms let you create an account for free and continue as a free user with some restrictions.
For example, a free user of Omnisend can send up to 2000 emails per day and 15000 emails per month. This is a good choice for the starting email marketer as free users of Omnisend do not have access to any of the advanced offerings of Omnisend including SMS marketing. On the other hand, a free user of MailChimp can have up to 2000 contacts in the list.
Let us now dive into the details of the pricing of these two platforms.
Omnisend Pricing
Omnisend lets you choose from four different pricing tiers – the pricing depending on the number of contacts. Moreover, if you opt for the annual option, you can avail of a high discount on your pricing.
Free Tier
- The base tier of Omnisend is free and is best to test the system.
- You can design, target, and send personalized emails to up to 15000 emails per month.
- Users will get a powered by Omisend verbiage on their newsletters.
- You can easily send promotional email campaigns.
- You can create up to 5 segments of contacts.
- You can have up to 2 active signup forms.
- You can generate automatic discount codes that can sync with your store.
- You can access several beautiful in-built email templates.
- Integrates with multiple third-party systems.
Standard Plan
- The Standard tier of Omnisend starts from $16 per month and can go up depending on the number of your contacts.
- You can design, target, and send personalized emails to (up to 12 times your list) emails per month.
- You can send SMS and MMS messages to reach your customers or contacts via phone.
- You can easily access email and message automation tools, and workflow utilities.
- You can create up to 20 segments of contacts.
- You can have an unlimited number of active signup forms.
- Integrates with more third-party systems than supported by the free offering.
Pro Plan
- The Pro plan of Omnisend starts from $99 per month and can go up depending on the number of your contacts.
- You can design, target, and send personalized emails to (up to 15 times your list) emails per month.
- You can send SMS and MMS messages to reach your customers or contacts via phone.
- You can easily access email and message automation tools, and workflow utilities.
- You can create up to 50 segments of contacts.
- You can have an unlimited number of active signup forms.
Enterprise Plan
- The Enterprise plan of Omnisend is a custom tier tailored for your specific needs.
- This is actually an Unlimited offering where every you can avail of every Omnisend feature in an unlimited way.
We encourage you to visit the Omnisend website to compare these features and offerings in more granular detail.
You must note that all paid offerings of Omnisend offer fourteen days to try out the system for free. So, if in doubt, you can create your trial accounts and explore the platform to find if it suits your needs.
MailChimp Pricing
MailChimp also has four different pricing options that include a perpetual free tier.
Free Tier
- It is free and has the tools you need to start marketing.
- You can have up to 2000 contacts.
- You get access to the Email Builder.
- You can access the Marketing CRM tool.
- You can create Forms & Landing Pages.
- You can access MailChimp’s Creative Assistant.
- You get access to Website Builder and Mailchimp Domain.
Essential
- This offering is for growing businesses that want more customization and 24/7 support.
- Starts at $10.25 per month for 500 contacts and increases as your list grows.
- You can access MailChimp’s email templates and A/B testing tool.
- You can have custom branding.
- You get access to 24/7 Email and Chat Support.
- Plus everything in the Free tier.
Standard
- The Standard tier of MailChimp is made for advanced businesses that want more automation and data-powered tools.
- Available from $15.31 per month for 500 contacts.
- You get access to Customer Journey Builder + Branching Points.
- You can use Send Time Optimization.
- You can make use of Behavioral Targeting.
- You can use Custom Templates.
- Make use of Dynamic Content in your marketing material.
- Plus everything in the Essential Plan.
Premium
- The Premium tier of MailChimp is for high-volume senders who want all marketing features and phone support.
- Starts at $306.10 per month with 10,000 contacts.
- You get everything in Standard offering.
- Make use of Advanced Segmentation features.
- You can use Multivariate Testing and Comparative Reporting.
- You get priority Phone Support.
Omnisend vs Mailchimp – Differences in Creating Email Campaigns
Omnisend makes it easy to create beautiful newsletters. Thanks to its library of professional and stunning email templates. These templates are easily customizable to match your brand. These changes can be saved and reused. If you are running multiple stores, you can even share your saved templates across the different connected stores.
For eCommerce stores, you can even create actionable emails that can boost your conversion. The drag & drop Content Editor makes it easy to create campaigns with dynamic content blocks designed for eCommerce like Product Picker, Dynamic Discount Code, Scratch Cards, and Product Recommendations.
You can leverage customers’ profile data, shopping history, and more filters to build audience segments that can then be included or excluded from your campaign targeting.
The built-in Campaign Booster and A/B testing tool can help you to optimize your open rates.
MailChimp also has a built-in template library that can help you to create an attractive email fast. The drag-and-drop editor is intuitive and can help you to customize your emails visually.
Moreover, you can store and manage all your images and files in MailChimp’s content studio so you can always find what you need for your campaigns.
MailChimp also offers marketing automation and a real-time analytics system to track your campaigns. You can also send fast and personalized transactional emails using API or SMTP.
Send fast, personalized transactional emails like order confirmations using API or SMTP.
Verdict – Though both MailChimp and Omnisend offer similar features in terms of a template library and customizing tools – we found Omnisend offerings are more refined. I will say this is a tie between the two platforms for simple users. However, if you want to use these email marketing tools for an eCommerce business – Omnisend can make your life easier.
Omnisend vs Mailchimp – Differences in Sending SMS/MMS
If your eCommerce business demands SMS and MMS communication – Omnisend is the only option here.
Mailchimp does not have this capability. You must use a third-party system to send messages along with Mailchimp to do so.
With Omnisend, on the other hand, you can combine automated texts with email using a single automated workflow and provide a consistent, personalized experience to your customers. In other words, Omnisend offers SMS as a fully integrated channel that you can include in your automation or use for one-off campaigns.
The automation library has pre-built workflows with SMS in cart abandonment, birthday, order & shipping confirmation. You can get activate these with only a few clicks.
Omnisend uses high-throughput toll-free numbers. This means there are no hidden fees for higher sending speed or scale. Moreover, Omnisend supports all country codes for sending text-only messages. You can also collect your site visitors’ phone numbers with TCPA-compliant SMS list-building tools like Popups, Sign-up Boxes, Landing Pages, and Wheel of Fortune.
Pro & Enterprise plan users of Omnisend get monthly credits added to their account. This means the users can save on SMS costs while engaging with customers using better-converting, omnichannel messaging.
Verdict: When it comes to SMS marketing, Omnisend is the clear winner. Its powerful marketing suite makes it an attractive option across all marketing automation tools. Unfortunately, Mailchimp lacks this feature altogether.
Omnisend vs Mailchimp – Differences in Sending Web Push Notifications
If you prefer to instantly retarget your customers using integrated and personalized push notifications into your eCommerce marketing – use Web Push Notifications.
Like SMS marketing, unfortunately, Mailchimp does not have this capability built into the system.
But Omnisend lets you easily add push notifications into your automated workflows. You can choose to combine push notifications with emails or use them as a fallback for automated SMS and increase your reach while keeping the message consistent.
You can use Push Notifications to:
- Push for Cart Abandonment
- Push for Browse Abandonment
- Push for Transactional Messages
- Push for Promotional events
As you can understand, wise usage of Push notifications can give a definite boost to your eCommerce sales.
Verdict: Mailchimp does not give any competition to Omnisend when it comes to Push Notifications. While Omnisend has a powerful Push Notification system, Mailchimp does not have any. Omnisend is the clear winner here.
Omnisend vs Mailchimp – Differences in Creating Automated Workflows
Omnisend lets you offer a consistent, personalized experience by reaching out to your customers on their preferred communication channels like eMail, messages, or Push notifications. What impressed me was the ease with which Omnisend lets you drag and drop these channels into a single workflow. You can use the pre-built messages, subject lines, and workflow settings to start marketing fast.
For example, you can reuse the in-built automation for:
- Welcome eMails
- Cart Abandonment
- Product Abandonment
- Order Confirmation
- Shipping Confirmation
- Cross-selling
It also lets you add rule-based automation splits and /B testing capabilities.
The in-built reporting feature can help you identify what works for your case. You can also connect with third-party software to enhance all your automating needs.
In short, powered with a strong Workflow Editor, Omnisend has very advanced automation capabilities built right into the system.
On the other hand, Marketing automation is quite limited in the case of Mailchimp. While it has a few in-built capabilities like Cart Abandonments and Welcome Series – the capability is basic in nature.
Mailchimp also lets you send transactional emails and triggered or scheduled emails.
Verdict – Automation is more complete, advanced, and powerful in the case of Omnisend. Though Mailchimp offers a few basic options – Omnisend is far ahead in this comparison.
Omnisend vs Mailchimp – Differences in Setting Up Customer Segmentation
Omnisend has been designed primarily for eCommerce businesses. It lets you filter your audience based on different transactional events and purchase behaviors.
Its intelligent customer segmentation based on lifecycle helps you retain the most valued customers. Omnisend dynamically assigns each customer a lifecycle stage and presents this data in an easy-to-read lifecycle stage map.
Mailchimp, on the other hand, has a more basic segmentation feature. It lets you filter your contacts based on a shared behavioral trait and user attributes like language, platforms, email clients, and etc.
Verdict – If you are an eCommerce business, Mailchimp’s segmentation feature is far from comprehensive. It may suit small websites that need a limited segmentation option. For longer lists and functional eCommerce business Omnisend should be the way to go for segmentation.
Omnisend vs Mailchimp – Differences in Building Forms & Popups
Omnisend has several built-in signup forms that you can use for collecting contacts and leads. For example, you can use Popups, Landing Pages, Wheel of Fortune, and Signup Boxes to capture these leads.
You can also use Exit Popup to decrease the bounce rate, reduce checkout abandonment, and boost signups. You can even choose a specific number of pages to view before the popup appears or even limit targeting them to specific pages of your store or website.
Popups can also be used to collect phone numbers and start growing your SMS lists. You can create phone number-only forms or capture both phone numbers and email addresses.
An interesting thing to note is that you can start running marketing activities in Omnisend if you have the phone number only.
The consent information is collected using TCPA and GDPR compliant forms. The forms are mobile optimized. And you can pick any of the professional themes to build your contact list.
MailChimp also lets you collect the data you need using Sign Up forms. With the built-in signup and popup forms connected to your Marketing CRM, you can easily convert leads.
You can even create effective custom popups that appear when and where you want them. You can also add a customizable form to your website. MailChimp lets you share your form anywhere when you post a simple signup landing page across all your channels to generate leads.
Verdict – Both MailChimp and Omnisend have sufficient features to make a professional and effective signup form for your website. Both platforms let you use any of its pre-built templates as the starting point. No doubt it is a tie here.
Omnisend vs Mailchimp – Differences in Tracking Sales & Reporting
As a platform geared towards online businesses of every size, Omnisend has powerful eCommerce reporting and analytics tools. With its reports, you can easily keep track of the sales that Omnisend is driving you with spot-on revenue attribution and reporting. You can also monitor the sales generated across all campaigns.
With its advanced reporting functionalities, you can see which campaigns & workflows are adding most to your bottom line and which segments show the best engagement. You can also compare and contrast the performance of email, messages, and other channels against various key metrics.
Moreover, with Omnisend Benchmarks, you can also compare your brand performance to similar e-stores in the industry.
Mailchimp also has reporting tools embedded in the system. You can access all your marketing data in one place. The growth, engagement, and revenue reports can help you learn more about the behavior of your audience. Like Omnisend, you can compare open, click, and unsubscribe rates to your industry peers using Mailchimp.
But you must note that the reporting in Mailchimp seems more basic compared to Omnisend. Also, unlike Omnisend, you need third-party apps to utilize the full reporting feature if you are running a Shopify store.
Verdict: I will give a slight edge to Omnisend here. Though both the platforms have in-built reporting features, Omnisend seems to have a more powerful and advanced reporting and sales tracking functionality built right into the system.
Omnisend vs Mailchimp – Differences in Supported Integrations
Omnisend has ready integrations with almost every app and web service you may need for running your online business. These integrations range across categories like Customer Support, eCommerce Platforms, Finance, Loyalty, Payments, and so on.
Moreover, Omnisend segregates its integrations in collections relevant to different eCommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, and WooCommerce.
If you are an eCommerce business, you may need multiple third-party services as you scale up. Omnisend knows it. You can check the latest list of Omnisend integrations on the official website.
Mailchimp, on the other hand, also has in-built integrations with a few third-party apps. What you must note is the Mailchimp catalog is not as diverse as Omnisend.
Mailchimp integrates well with platforms like Stripe, SimpleTexting, WordPress, ChargeBee, and so on.
At the time of writing this article, Mailchimp integrates with 293 different platforms.
Verdict: Tie. Both Mailchimp and Omnisend have ready integrations with several apps and services. While Omnisend is more focused on services catering to online businesses, Mailchimp has a more generic catalog. I recommend you to visit the official websites and check for yourself if the service you are looking for is present in the list of integrations.
Wrapping Up Our Omnisend vs Mailchimp Comparison
If you are looking for a platform that seems to be a Jack of all trades, you can try out MailChimp. However, you must note that several other services often offer better features than MailChimp more economically.
Now, if you need a platform that does marketing automation in the best possible way, Omnisend is the way to go.
Overall, we found Omnisend as a more powerful tool to automate your marketing campaigns. It is particularly apparent if you are going to use the platform for your eCommerce business. While MailChimp offers most of the basic eMail marketing tools, Omnisend has a more powerful suite of services under its umbrella. In this article, we have discussed all the differences between Mailchimp and Omnisend that really matter.
Omnisend has an attractive pricing plan with very powerful features. If you are in doubt, you can sign up for the free plan of Omnisend and explore the platform.
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