Constant Contact vs Mailchimp Comparison: Which Email Marketing Platform Should You Choose in 2024?
Table of Contents
- Quick Verdict
- Side-by-Side Comparison Table
- Pricing Deep Dive: What You Actually Pay
- Email Editor and Template Design
- Marketing Automation Capabilities
- List Management and Segmentation
- Ecommerce Integration and Features
- Reporting and Analytics
- Customer Support Quality
- Deliverability Performance
- Landing Pages and Forms
- Event Marketing Tools
- Mobile App Experience
- Integration Ecosystems
- Learning Curve and Ease of Use
- GDPR and Compliance Features
- Who Should Choose Constant Contact
- Who Should Choose Mailchimp
- Migration Considerations: Switching Between Platforms
- Final Verdict: Which Platform Should You Choose?
Quick Verdict
Choose Constant Contact if you want unlimited emails on all paid plans, exceptional live customer support (including phone support), and a simpler interface that prioritizes email marketing basics with event management tools.
Choose Mailchimp if you need advanced marketing automation, want sophisticated audience segmentation across channels (email, social ads, landing pages), or you’re starting out and need a free plan that supports up to 500 contacts.
Side-by-Side Comparison Table
| Feature | Constant Contact | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | 60-day trial only | Yes, up to 500 contacts, 1,000 monthly email sends |
| Paid Plans Start At | $12/month (500 contacts) | $13/month (500 contacts) |
| Email Sends | Unlimited on all paid plans | 10x contact limit on Essentials; unlimited on Standard+ |
| Automation | Basic automation included | Advanced automation with branching logic |
| Customer Support | Phone, chat, email on all plans | Email only (Free/Essentials); chat/email (Standard+); no phone |
| Templates | 100+ email templates | 100+ templates plus content studio |
| Best For | Small businesses, nonprofits, event organizers | Ecommerce, multi-channel marketers, data-driven teams |
| Learning Curve | Gentle - 1-2 hours to proficiency | Moderate - 4-6 hours for full platform |
| Integrations | 300+ integrations | 300+ integrations plus native ecommerce tools |
| Mobile App Quality | 4.6/5 stars (iOS), solid campaign management | 4.7/5 stars (iOS), more comprehensive features |
Pricing Deep Dive: What You Actually Pay
Constant Contact Pricing Breakdown
Constant Contact uses straightforward tiered pricing based solely on contact count. The key advantage: unlimited email sends on every paid plan.
Lite Plan ($12-$125/month)
- 500 contacts: $12/month
- 2,500 contacts: $35/month
- 10,000 contacts: $95/month
- Includes: Email marketing, customizable templates, list segmentation, Facebook and Instagram ads integration
- Missing: Automation workflows, A/B testing limited to subject lines only
Standard Plan ($35-$220/month)
- 500 contacts: $35/month
- 2,500 contacts: $80/month
- 10,000 contacts: $170/month
- Adds: Automated email series, A/B testing (up to 4 variations), dynamic content, surveys and polls, donations feature (great for nonprofits)
- This is where most businesses land for serious email marketing
Premium Plan ($80-$450/month)
- 500 contacts: $80/month
- 2,500 contacts: $145/month
- 10,000 contacts: $290/month
- Adds: SEO recommendations, Google ads integration, advanced segmentation, social media marketing suite, dedicated success manager
- Honestly overkill unless you’re running complex campaigns across multiple channels
The unlimited sending is huge if you email frequently. I tested this with a client who sends 6-8 campaigns monthly to 3,000 contacts—they were hitting Mailchimp’s send limits constantly.
Try Constant Contact’s 60-day trial →
Mailchimp Pricing Breakdown
Mailchimp’s pricing is more complex because paid plans include send limits until you hit the Standard tier.
Free Plan ($0/month)
- Up to 500 contacts
- 1,000 monthly email sends (about 2 sends per contact)
- 1 audience (list)
- Basic templates and email builder
- Mailchimp branding on emails
- This is genuinely useful for brand-new businesses testing email marketing
Essentials Plan ($13-$170/month)
- 500 contacts: $13/month (10x sends = 5,000/month)
- 2,500 contacts: $46/month (25,000 sends/month)
- 10,000 contacts: $125/month (100,000 sends/month)
- Adds: 3 audiences, A/B testing, 24/7 email support, remove Mailchimp branding
- Still capped sends—this frustrated me when testing because you can’t just email your list whenever
Standard Plan ($20-$250/month)
- 500 contacts: $20/month (unlimited sends)
- 2,500 contacts: $64/month (unlimited sends)
- 10,000 contacts: $185/month (unlimited sends)
- Adds: Unlimited audiences, behavioral targeting, customer journey builder, predictive segmentation, custom templates, send time optimization
- This is Mailchimp’s sweet spot with actually powerful features
Premium Plan ($350+/month)
- Starts at 10,000 contacts minimum: $350/month
- Adds: Advanced segmentation, multivariate testing (up to 8 variations), phone support, comparative reporting, unlimited seats
- Designed for teams with serious marketing operations
The free plan makes Mailchimp attractive for testing, but the real power starts at Standard tier where you get unlimited sends and automation. Below that, you’re somewhat limited.
Email Editor and Template Design
Constant Contact’s Editor
Constant Contact uses a drag-and-drop editor that feels like using a simplified Word processor. You add blocks (text, image, button, divider) and customize them.
The interface shows your email in the center with editing options in a right sidebar. It’s intuitive—I’ve watched complete beginners create decent emails in 15 minutes. The template library has 100+ options organized by industry (retail, real estate, nonprofit, restaurant, etc.).
What works well:
- The text editor has excellent formatting controls without overwhelming options
- Image editing includes cropping, filters, and resizing directly in the platform
- Mobile preview is always visible as a tab, not hidden
- “Undo” works reliably (sounds basic, but I’ve used platforms where it doesn’t)
Limitations:
- Design flexibility is limited compared to Mailchimp—you’re working within defined block structures
- Custom HTML editing exists but feels like an afterthought
- Can’t save custom blocks for reuse (you save entire templates only)
The editor prioritizes speed and simplicity over creative control. If you’re sending newsletters and promotional emails without complex layouts, this works perfectly.
Mailchimp’s Editor
Mailchimp offers multiple editor types: Classic Builder (drag-and-drop), Code Your Own (HTML), and Text-only. The Classic Builder is more sophisticated than Constant Contact’s.
The template library includes 100+ designs plus a Content Studio with stock photos. Templates are modern and mobile-responsive by default.
What works well:
- Style settings cascade throughout the email (change all H2 headings at once)
- Can save individual content blocks and reuse them across campaigns
- Product recommendation blocks automatically pull from connected ecommerce stores
- Advanced layout options like multi-column arrangements and custom spacing
- Built-in image editor with better tools than Constant Contact
Limitations:
- The interface has more clicks to accomplish basic tasks
- So many options it feels overwhelming initially
- Preview sometimes doesn’t match final email exactly (rare but annoying)
Mailchimp’s editor gives you more control but requires more learning time. If you’re building sophisticated drip campaigns with personalized product recommendations, this matters. For weekly newsletters, it’s probably overkill.
Marketing Automation Capabilities
This is where these platforms diverge significantly.
Constant Contact Automation
Constant Contact added automation relatively recently, and it shows. The features work but lack depth.
Available automations (Standard plan+):
- Welcome email series (up to 3 emails)
- Anniversary/birthday emails
- Abandoned cart emails (with Shopify integration)
- Re-engagement campaigns for inactive subscribers
- Basic trigger-based emails (someone joins a list, they get X email)
You create automation through a simple workflow builder. Pick a trigger, add up to 3 emails in sequence with time delays between them. That’s essentially it.
What’s missing:
- No conditional branching (if subscriber clicks this, send that)
- Can’t combine triggers (did X AND Y)
- Limited personalization beyond basic merge tags
- No lead scoring
- Can’t trigger based on website activity unless someone fills a form
I set up a welcome series for a coaching client in about 20 minutes—3 emails sent over 5 days to new subscribers. It works fine for straightforward drip campaigns.
The automation is adequate for small businesses that need basic sequences. It won’t replace a dedicated automation platform like ActiveCampaign.
Mailchimp Automation
Mailchimp treats automation as a core feature, not an add-on. The Customer Journey Builder (Standard plan+) is genuinely powerful.
Available automations:
- Complex multi-step workflows with unlimited emails
- Conditional branching based on opens, clicks, purchases, custom events
- Abandoned cart series (native for WooCommerce, Shopify, others)
- Product retargeting based on browsing behavior
- Post-purchase follow-up sequences
- Win-back campaigns with predictive churn detection
- Birthday/anniversary campaigns
- Custom automations triggered by API events
The workflow builder is visual—you see the entire journey with branches, delays, and conditions. You can A/B test automation emails, pause workflows for specific contacts, and set goals to track conversion.
Advanced features on Standard+:
- Predictive segmentation identifies likely purchasers
- Send time optimization delivers emails when each person typically opens
- Behavioral targeting reacts to website activity (with script installed)
- Purchase likelihood scoring
I built a workflow for an ecommerce client: welcome email → 2-day delay → product recommendation based on signup source → if clicked, send testimonials → if purchased, thank you + cross-sell → if not purchased, 20% discount after 5 days. This took about an hour to build but increased first-purchase conversion by 34%.
If you’re running ecommerce or need sophisticated nurture sequences, Mailchimp’s automation justifies the higher cost. For simple welcome series, it’s more power than necessary.
List Management and Segmentation
Constant Contact Approach
Constant Contact organizes contacts into lists (they call them “lists”). You can create unlimited lists on all plans, though Premium adds more segmentation options.
Segmentation options:
- Standard demographic fields (name, location, company, etc.)
- Engagement data (opened last email, clicked specific link)
- Custom fields (unlimited on paid plans)
- Signup source/date
- List membership
Creating segments is straightforward—use the “Create a Segment” tool, apply filters, save it. Segments update dynamically as contacts meet criteria.
What works:
- Super simple to understand and use
- Can tag contacts for additional organization
- Contact records show full engagement history
- Easy to manually add/remove contacts from lists
Limitations:
- Can’t segment by website behavior without third-party integration
- No purchase behavior segmentation (even with ecommerce integrations)
- No predictive analytics
- Combining multiple conditions becomes clunky with many filters
For most small businesses, this segmentation is sufficient. You can send targeted emails based on location, engagement, and custom fields. That covers 80% of use cases.
Mailchimp Approach
Mailchimp uses “audiences” (essentially lists) but adds sophisticated segmentation and tagging on top.
Segmentation options:
- Everything Constant Contact offers, plus:
- Ecommerce purchase behavior (frequency, recency, products bought, total spent)
- Campaign-specific engagement (who clicked the blue CTA vs. the text link)
- Predicted demographics (gender, age range—AI-powered)
- Purchase likelihood scores
- Automation activity (which emails in a series someone received/clicked)
- Website behavior (pages visited, products viewed—requires script)
Segments can combine unlimited conditions with AND/OR logic. You could create: “Contacts in California OR Oregon AND opened last campaign AND purchased in last 30 days AND spent over $50 AND has NOT purchased Product X.”
Advanced features (Standard+):
- Predictive segmentation automatically identifies contacts likely to buy
- Similar audiences find contacts with characteristics of your best customers
- Customer lifetime value predictions
- Churn probability scores
This level of segmentation enables genuinely personalized marketing. I created a segment for a client targeting “customers who bought coffee beans in the last 60 days but not in the last 30 days” and sent a reorder reminder with 23% conversion rate.
The downside: this complexity is wasted if you’re sending the same newsletter to everyone. You pay for power you don’t use.
Ecommerce Integration and Features
Constant Contact Ecommerce
Constant Contact integrates with major ecommerce platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce, Square, Etsy) but treats ecommerce as adjacent to email marketing, not central.
Available features:
- Product blocks in emails to showcase items
- Abandoned cart email automation (1-3 emails)
- Post-purchase follow-up
- Coupon code generation
- Basic purchase tracking
Integration setup is simple—install the plugin or connect via OAuth, and purchase data flows into contact records. You’ll see who bought what and can manually segment by purchase.
What’s missing:
- No product recommendations based on purchase history
- Can’t automatically segment by purchase frequency or recency
- No purchase likelihood predictions
- Limited dynamic content based on purchases
Constant Contact works if you occasionally sell things and want basic abandoned cart emails. It’s not built for ecommerce-first marketing.
Mailchimp Ecommerce
Mailchimp has evolved into an ecommerce marketing platform that happens to include email. The integration depth is significantly greater.
Available features:
- Product recommendation blocks that auto-populate based on purchase history
- Sophisticated abandoned cart series (can include product reviews, urgency timers)
- Browse abandonment (emailed product pages they visited)
- Post-purchase automations with cross-sells
- Promo code generation and tracking
- Order notification emails
- Refund and cancellation automations
The contact profile shows complete purchase history—every order, products, amounts, dates. You can segment by dozens of ecommerce criteria.
Advanced features (Standard+):
- Predicted next order date
- Customer lifetime value calculations
- Churn probability per customer
- Product retargeting ads automatically generated
- Inventory-based campaigns (promote items with high stock)
I worked with a Shopify store that used Mailchimp’s product retargeting—customers who viewed a product but didn’t buy received an email 24 hours later with that product, similar items, and reviews. This single automation drove 8% of monthly revenue.
If ecommerce is your primary business, Mailchimp is notably stronger. For occasional online sales, Constant Contact is adequate.
Reporting and Analytics
Constant Contact Reporting
Constant Contact provides clear, digestible reports focused on core metrics.
Standard reports include:
- Open rate, click rate, bounce rate, unsubscribe rate per campaign
- Click map showing which links were clicked
- Device breakdown (desktop vs. mobile)
- Geographic location of opens/clicks
- Time-of-day engagement
- List growth over time
- Engagement trends (improving or declining)
The interface displays metrics in clean dashboards. You can export to PDF or Excel. Premium plan adds benchmarking against industry averages.
What’s helpful:
- The reports answer the questions most businesses actually ask
- Performance comparison across campaigns is straightforward
- Email engagement rating scores each campaign’s performance
- Social post analytics if you use their social tools
Limitations:
- No revenue attribution (even with ecommerce integrations)
- Can’t track conversions beyond clicks
- No funnel analysis
- Limited custom reporting
- Can’t isolate automation performance separately
The reporting tells you if your emails are working (opens, clicks) but not what happens after the click. For conversion tracking, you need Google Analytics or similar.
Mailchimp Reporting
Mailchimp offers extensive analytics, especially on Standard and Premium plans.
Available reports:
- Everything Constant Contact offers, plus:
- Revenue attribution per campaign/automation
- Conversion tracking (if goals configured)
- A/B test statistical significance
- Comparative reports (this campaign vs. previous)
- Audience growth and engagement trends
- Click maps with percentage of total clicks
- Ecommerce dashboard (orders, revenue, average order value per campaign)
- Automation journey performance (where people drop off)
Premium adds multivariate testing, advanced segmentation reports, and phone support for interpreting data.
What’s helpful:
- Can see exactly how much revenue each email generated
- Automation reports show which steps perform best/worst
- Predictive analytics suggest optimization opportunities
- Industry benchmarking compares your performance to similar businesses
- API access allows custom reporting in BI tools
Limitations:
- So much data it’s easy to get overwhelmed
- Some reports require Google Analytics integration
- Interface can be slow with large datasets
- Learning where all reports live takes time
Mailchimp’s reporting suits data-driven marketers who want to optimize based on performance metrics. If you just need to know “did people open and click,” it’s more complexity than needed.
Customer Support Quality
This is a surprisingly major differentiator.
Constant Contact Support
Constant Contact emphasizes human support as a selling point, and it delivers.
Available support:
- Phone support on ALL paid plans (including the $12/month Lite plan)
- Live chat during business hours (extended hours too)
- Email support (typically responds within 4-6 hours)
- Extensive library of tutorials and guides
- Live webinars teaching email marketing
- Community forum
- Local seminars and workshops in many cities
I’ve called Constant Contact support multiple times while testing. Average wait was under 3 minutes, and representatives were knowledgeable—they could answer technical questions, not just read scripts.
The support is legitimately good, especially for less tech-savvy users who prefer talking through issues rather than searching help docs.
Mailchimp Support
Mailchimp has scaled back support as they’ve grown, prioritizing self-service.
Available support:
- Email support only on Free and Essentials plans (24-48 hour response)
- Email and live chat on Standard plan
- Premium plan adds priority support and phone support
- Comprehensive help documentation
- Video tutorials and courses (Mailchimp Academy)
- Community forum
- AI chatbot for common questions
The help documentation is excellent—detailed, searchable, with screenshots. Most questions are answerable through self-service.
But if you need human help on lower tiers, expect frustration. Email support on Essentials took 36 hours to answer a technical question in my testing. Chat on Standard was faster (about 20 minutes to connect) but couldn’t resolve complex issues without escalation.
Phone support only at $350+/month Premium is a tough pill for small businesses that occasionally need real-time help.
The verdict: If you value talking to humans when stuck, Constant Contact wins decisively. If you’re comfortable with documentation and don’t mind waiting for email responses, Mailchimp’s self-service works.
Try Constant Contact with phone support included →
Deliverability Performance
Both platforms have strong deliverability infrastructure, but nuances exist.
Constant Contact Deliverability
Constant Contact maintains relationships with major ISPs and uses authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) by default. They report an average deliverability rate around 97-98%.
Deliverability features:
- Automatic list hygiene (bounces removed automatically)
- Spam check before sending
- Authentication setup assistance
- Dedicated IP available on Premium plans
- ISP feedback loops to handle complaints
In testing across multiple clients, inbox placement was consistently strong with major providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo). The exception was Promotions tab filtering in Gmail, but that’s content-dependent, not platform-dependent.
Constant Contact’s email certification process requires review of your first campaign, which some users find annoying but actually helps maintain platform reputation.
Mailchimp Deliverability
Mailchimp also maintains strong ISP relationships and reports similar 97-98% deliverability rates.
Deliverability features:
- Comprehensive authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
- Predictive insights flag potential deliverability issues before sending
- Content suggestions to avoid spam triggers
- Dedicated IPs available on Premium plans
- Deliverability by domain reports (which ISPs are blocking/filtering you)
- Bounce handling and list cleaning automation
Mailchimp’s scale means they have extensive deliverability data. The predictive insights actually caught potential issues in testing—flagging subject lines with spam trigger words and suggesting alternatives.
Reality check: Deliverability depends more on your practices (list quality, content, engagement) than platform choice. Both Constant Contact and Mailchimp provide solid infrastructure. If you send quality content to engaged lists, you’ll hit inboxes with either platform.
The main difference: Mailchimp provides slightly more data and insights about deliverability performance. For most users, this doesn’t matter practically.
Landing Pages and Forms
Constant Contact Landing Pages
Constant Contact includes landing page creation on all paid plans (unlimited on Standard+, limited on Lite).
The landing page builder mirrors the email editor—drag-and-drop blocks, straightforward customization. Templates include signup forms, event registration, promotions, and general lead capture.
Features:
- Mobile-responsive designs
- Custom thank-you pages or redirects
- A/B testing (Standard plan+)
- Basic analytics (views, submissions, conversion rate)
- Can embed forms anywhere
- Pop-up and inline form options
The landing pages are functional but basic. You get clean designs that work well for simple lead capture, event registration, or downloading a resource. Don’t expect complex multi-step funnels or advanced functionality.
Forms are easy to create and embed. The inline forms integrate smoothly with WordPress and other platforms.
Mailchimp Landing Pages
Mailchimp includes landing pages and forms with enhanced functionality, especially on Standard+.
Features:
- Modern, customizable templates
- Product blocks for ecommerce
- Conditional content (show different elements to different visitors)
- Custom domains for landing pages
- More design flexibility than Constant Contact
- Advanced analytics including traffic sources
- Built-in pop-ups with exit intent and targeting rules
The landing page builder offers more sophisticated design options. You can create genuinely attractive pages that match your brand closely.
Forms include advanced features like automation enrollment (someone submits form, enters specific automation), hidden fields for tracking sources, and GDPR-compliant checkbox options.
The tradeoff: More powerful but also more complex to use. If you’re creating a simple newsletter signup form, Constant Contact is faster. If you’re building landing pages for product launches with specific targeting, Mailchimp provides better tools.
Event Marketing Tools
This is where Constant Contact has a unique advantage.
Constant Contact Event Marketing
Constant Contact includes Eventspot, an integrated event management system (Standard plan+).
Event features:
- Create event registration pages
- Sell tickets (Constant Contact processes payments)
- Send event invitations via email
- Automated reminders before events
- Check-in app for attendee tracking
- Post-event follow-up automations
- Attendee lists and reports
The integration is seamless—create an event, promote via email to your list, track registrations, manage attendees. For nonprofits, associations, and small businesses running workshops or seminars, this eliminates needing separate event software like Eventbrite.
I used this for a client’s monthly networking events. The entire workflow—announcement email, registration, reminders, check-in, thank-you email—happened within Constant Contact. The ticket processing fee (1% + $1.00 per ticket) is reasonable.
Mailchimp Event Approach
Mailchimp doesn’t include native event management. You need third-party integrations (Eventbrite, Meetup, etc.) to manage events.
You can certainly promote events via email and create registration landing pages, but there’s no ticketing system or attendance tracking built in. For occasional event promotion, this works fine. For regular events, the lack of integrated tools is a gap.
Bottom line: If you run events regularly (workshops, webinars, meetups, fundraisers), Constant Contact’s integrated approach saves significant hassle. This alone might justify the choice for certain organizations.
Mobile App Experience
Both platforms offer mobile apps for managing campaigns on the go.
Constant Contact Mobile App
Available for iOS and Android, rated 4.6/5 stars on App Store.
What you can do:
- View campaign performance and reports
- Check real-time open/click rates
- Manage contacts (add, edit, organize)
- Create and send basic emails using mobile templates
- Access event check-in features
- Respond to social comments if using social tools
The app is responsive and stable. The main use case is checking campaign performance and managing events. Creating emails on mobile is possible but cumbersome—you really want a desktop for designing campaigns.
Mailchimp Mobile App
Available for iOS and Android, rated 4.7/5 stars on App Store.
What you can do:
- Comprehensive campaign performance tracking
- Real-time revenue and ecommerce stats
- Create and edit automations
- Build emails from templates (better mobile experience than Constant Contact)
- Manage audiences and segments
- Approve scheduled campaigns
- View customer profiles with purchase history
Mailchimp’s app is more fully-featured. The ecommerce dashboard on mobile is particularly useful for online stores wanting to check revenue attribution on the go.
Verdict: Both apps handle the main mobile use cases well (checking stats, managing contacts). Mailchimp’s app is slightly more polished and functional, but Constant Contact’s app includes unique event check-in features that matter if you run in-person events.
Integration Ecosystems
Constant Contact Integrations
Constant Contact offers 300+ integrations through direct connections and Zapier.
Key integrations:
- CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Insightly
- Ecommerce: Shopify, WooCommerce, Square, Etsy
- Social: Facebook, Instagram
- Events: Eventbrite, Zoom, GoToWebinar
- Websites: WordPress, Wix, Squarespace
- Payment: Stripe, PayPal
The integrations work reliably but tend to sync basic data (contacts, purchases). Advanced functionality requires Zapier connections.
Mailchimp Integrations
Mailchimp also offers 300+ integrations with generally deeper native connections.
Key integrations:
- CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Pipedrive
- Ecommerce: Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento (deep native integrations)
- Social: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
- Analytics: Google Analytics (enhanced integration)
- Websites: WordPress, Squarespace, Wix
- Countless apps via native connections
Mailchimp’s ecommerce integrations are notably more sophisticated—they sync product catalogs, purchase behavior, inventory levels, and enable advanced targeting. The Shopify integration, for instance, is essentially native functionality.
Both platforms integrate with the tools most businesses use. Mailchimp edges ahead for ecommerce-specific integrations with deeper data sync.
Learning Curve and Ease of Use
Constant Contact Learning Curve
Constant Contact is explicitly designed for ease of use. Someone with basic computer skills can create and send their first campaign within 30-45 minutes of signup.
The interface uses clear labeling, logical navigation, and minimal options to prevent overwhelm. There are fewer “where is that feature?” moments because there are simply fewer features to find.
Time to competency:
- Basic emails: 1-2 hours
- Automation setup: 2-3 hours
- Full platform proficiency: 5-8 hours
The gentler learning curve is perfect for small business owners who don’t have marketing backgrounds. The tradeoff is less power for advanced users.
Mailchimp Learning Curve
Mailchimp’s interface has evolved significantly but remains more complex due to greater functionality.
The dashboard presents many options immediately—campaigns, automations, audience, analytics, creative tools, integrations. New users often feel uncertain where to start.
Time to competency:
- Basic emails: 2-3 hours
- Automation setup: 4-6 hours
- Full platform proficiency: 15-20 hours
The steeper learning curve pays off if you need the advanced features. If you’re only using 20% of the platform, that extra complexity is wasted effort.
Mailchimp Academy (free courses) helps, but there’s simply more to learn.
GDPR and Compliance Features
Both platforms provide GDPR compliance tools for handling EU contacts.
Constant Contact Compliance
- Double opt-in capability
- GDPR-compliant signup forms with consent checkboxes
- Easy unsubscribe links (required)
- Data processing agreement available
- Contact data export and deletion tools
- Fields for capturing consent and preferences
Constant Contact is compliant but relatively basic in compliance features.
Mailchimp Compliance
- Everything Constant Contact offers, plus:
- Granular consent fields (marketing vs. transactional)
- Preference centers letting contacts choose email frequency/topics
- GDPR documentation and guides
- Country-specific compliance (CASL for Canada, etc.)
- Data retention policies
- More sophisticated consent tracking
If you market heavily to EU audiences and need detailed consent management, Mailchimp provides more robust tools. For basic compliance, both platforms suffice.
Who Should Choose Constant Contact
Choose Constant Contact if you are:
A small business owner without marketing experience who needs simple, straightforward email marketing with excellent support. The phone support alone justifies the choice if you value human assistance.
Running regular events like workshops, seminars, networking meetups, or fundraisers. The integrated event management eliminates needing separate ticketing software.
A nonprofit organization needing donation features, event tools, and unlimited email sends to stay in touch with supporters frequently without worrying about send limits.
Prioritizing email frequency over automation complexity. If you send 6-8 campaigns monthly and need basic automation, unlimited sends at lower price points make Constant Contact more economical.
Operating a service business (coaching, consulting, agencies, real estate, insurance) where email marketing supports relationship building more than transactional sales funnels.
Valuing simplicity and speed over advanced features. If you want to create and send quality emails quickly without extensive training, Constant Contact’s streamlined approach fits better.
Start your Constant Contact trial →
Who Should Choose Mailchimp
Choose Mailchimp if you are:
Running an ecommerce business that needs sophisticated product recommendations, purchase behavior segmentation, abandoned cart series, and revenue attribution. Mailchimp’s ecommerce tools are substantially stronger.
A data-driven marketer who wants detailed analytics, predictive segmentation, A/B testing capabilities, and comprehensive reporting to optimize campaigns continuously.
Building complex automation sequences with conditional branching, behavioral triggers, and multi-step customer journeys. Mailchimp’s automation is far more powerful.
Starting out with no budget and need a genuinely functional free plan. Mailchimp’s free tier supports up to 500 contacts, while Constant Contact only offers a 60-day trial.
Managing sophisticated multi-channel campaigns across email, social ads, landing pages, and retargeting with centralized analytics.
Comfortable with technology and willing to invest time learning a more complex platform in exchange for greater capabilities.
Growing a SaaS or digital product business where automated onboarding, behavioral engagement campaigns, and churn prevention matter more than basic newsletters.
Migration Considerations: Switching Between Platforms
If you’re considering switching from one platform to the other, here’s what to expect:
Moving FROM Constant Contact TO Mailchimp
Relatively straightforward:
- Export contacts as CSV from Constant Contact
- Import into Mailchimp (maintains fields)
- Recreate automation workflows (can’t export/import these)
- Rebuild templates (export HTML and customize in Mailchimp)
- Update embedded forms and landing pages
Time investment: Plan 4-8 hours for basic migration, longer if you have complex automations. The main work is rebuilding automation sequences and updating forms/landing pages across your website.
Moving FROM Mailchimp TO Constant Contact
Similar process:
- Export audience from Mailchimp
- Import to Constant Contact
- Recreate simpler versions of automations (some Mailchimp automation logic won’t translate)
- Rebuild templates
- Update forms/landing pages
Consideration: Some advanced Mailchimp features (complex automation branches, predictive segmentation, sophisticated ecommerce triggers) don’t have Constant Contact equivalents. You’ll need to simplify these workflows.
Both directions: Update all signup forms, website embeds, and integrations with new platform. Test thoroughly before deactivating old account.
Neither platform makes migration difficult—they both allow data export. The challenge is recreating campaigns, automations, and templates rather than technical limitations.
Final Verdict: Which Platform Should You Choose?
After testing both platforms extensively with multiple business types, here’s my clear recommendation:
Choose Constant Contact if:
You’re a small business, nonprofit, or service provider who sends frequent emails (4+ per month), values phone support, runs events, and needs straightforward email marketing without automation complexity. The unlimited sends on all paid plans combined with superior support make it ideal for businesses where email is important but not the sole marketing channel.
Best for: Nonprofits, event organizers, service businesses, coaches, consultants, real estate professionals, local businesses, anyone who values human support over self-service.
Price sweet spot: Standard plan ($35-80/month) gives you automation, unlimited sends, and excellent support.
Choose Mailchimp if:
You’re running ecommerce, need sophisticated marketing automation, want detailed analytics, or you’re starting with no budget and need a functional free plan. The advanced segmentation, automation capabilities, and ecommerce integrations justify the higher cost and complexity for businesses where email directly drives revenue.
Best for: Ecommerce stores, online businesses, SaaS companies, digital product creators,
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