Constant Contact vs MailChimp

[SusanG]

Ok, we have Constant Contact for our shop and all is fine. However, I need to send a newsletter to a non-profit group of about 125 people maybe once a month. I hear that Mail Chimp is free of charge, but how does it compare to Constant Contact? Are there any major differences in reports between the two? Ease of use? Can you get help from Mail Chimp? This doesn't need to be super pretty so a generic template would be fine. Is there anyone out there who has used both?
Thanks!
Susan

 

[Rick Bergeron - CPF]

Susan,

I can't help with the comparison that you are asking but you might as well look at

YourMailingListProvider.com

while you're looking. We've been using them for nearly 3 years for our monthly newsletter instead of the others. I like the interface and the data that is associated with each newsletter that we send. I did look at Constant Contact and MailChimp before settling on YMLP but never actually used them.

 

[johnny]

Delivery to big domains is bound to be much better on Constant Contact. I don't know about MailChimp, but in return for keeping spam complaints below 1 in 1000 emails places like Yahoo, AOL, Gmail and Hotmail share their spam lists changes with Constant Contact daily and have over a 99% delivery rate on emails coming from Constant Contact. That's why when you send through Constant Contact they really monitor your spam complaints. With other providers, especially free ones, the deliverability of the emails really suffers.

Since your list is a small, closed group it might be worth the effort to put out a notice to them that you're trying the free service on a certain day and request that anyone who does not receive it contacts you in order to be sure that you won't have a problem.