If you’ve sent an email newsletter in the past year, you’ve likely heard of FloDesk or Mailchimp at some point – even if you are still a user of Constant Contact. In the chronology of email marketing, I consider Constant Contact to be the grandparent, Mailchimp to be the parent, and FloDesk to be the teenager. (If you’re wondering where I’d place Convert Kit or Active Campaign in this digital family tree… I’d call them the out-of-state cousins that are rarely seen and not well-liked. Sorry, guys!) 

You’ve very likely to have heard of Mailchimp or FloDesk, Active Campaign or Convert kit. All of the applications have their pros and cons and unique features. However, I’m going to compare the two that I use most and that are the most popular kids on the block: FloDesk and Mailchimp. 

Trying to pick the best email marketing platform for your business can be difficult. I want to gie you an overview of the differences between the two key players, FloDesk and Mailchimp, and hopefully give you some insight as to which will suit you and your business. 

FloDesk Email Marketing Pros & Cons 

FloDesk launched in 2019 and caught the attention of female entrepreneurs pretty much everywhere. They offer beautiful email templates, forms, and simple workflows. From their help files they are fully GDPR compliant. 

The clean, minimal dashboard is a huge draw for some business owners, while others are conflicted by the lack of e-commerce integration. When I say FloDesk is SIMPLE, I mean that in every sense of the word. That said, they are a new platform. Who’s to say they won’t make their features more robust? 

FloDesk Features: 

• Email templates 
• Email builder 
• Automation 
• Tags 
• Forms 
• Analytics 
• Workflows 
• Shopify Integration 
• Fixed price, unlimited subscribers

Mailchimp Email Marketing Pros & Cons 

Mailchimp launched waaaaay back in 2001 and has continued to add feature after feature to their arsenal, from automation sequences, forms, and integration with nearly every major e-commerce platform. While their dashboard has gone through many revisions, it’s fairly simple to use once you know your way around. 

Mailchimp Features: 

• Marketing CRM
• Audience dashboard
• Tags
• Segmentation
• Behavioural targeting
• Lookalike audiences
• Content studio
• Templates
• Domains
• Websites
• Email
• Automations
• Social media
• Landing pages
• Shoppable landing pages
• Digital ads
• Postcards
• Transactional email
• Reports & analytics
• Integrations
• Tiered pricing based on the number of subscribers you have

Compared to FloDesk’s features, Mailchimp is certainly much more robust. That said, Mailchimp can be more or less affordable than FloDesk, based on how many contacts you have. A great way to ensure you aren’t overpaying Mailchimp is by archiving or deleting low-quality contacts from your Mailchimp account a couple of times per year. This method is often called “pruning your list” and is shows you what your real open rate is, rather than letting your open rate be skewed by all the unopened from people who just don’t want your emails but haven’t unsubscribed themselves.  

Also, it’s a great bonus that Mailchimp lets you design websites on their platform. You can even buy your domain through them. Kind of cool, although I’ve never done it, so I can’t report back on this. 

FloDesk vs. Mailchimp: Which is better for Email Marketing? 

You might think I’m biased toward Mailchimp, but I’m not.. my emails for Smash are delivered through FloDesk and I’m really enjoying the way it looks and works. I have used Mailchimp for many years and it does offer a great deal of functionality. 

If you aren’t sure which email marketing platform is best for you I would recommend that you try the free versions of both accounts and try them both out.  

Let me know how you get on, 

Emma