1. Constant Contact vs. MailChimp
Created by: Anna E. Steele
January 28, 2016
Alan’s Email Package
Recommendation

2. Business Objectives
Alan’s is a bakery, confectionery, and deli.The deli prepares
fresh, locally sourced breakfast and lunch items, and offers
catering services. However, we are most well-known for
wedding cakes and baked treats.
Alan’s has a strong reputation for quality, reliability, and a
friendly staff.
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Thus, the business objective is to
encourage repeat business
through an email program that
enables Alan’s to stay in touch
with customers.

3. Target Consumers
Alan’s has 10 locations in the Metro Atlanta area. Shops are
located near large office buildings in Downtown Atlanta and
in the affluent northern suburbs.
Therefore, target consumers include office workers, the
lunch crowd, brides, and
middle to upper class
party - throwers.
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4. Strategies
Target customers through email with:
- Menu specials of the day
- Place order online
- Reminder about catering options for 10+ people
- Send special emails targeting brides with offers for wine and
cake testing parties
- Invite VIPs to “best customer events”
- Offers to cater office Christmas parties, summer picnics, etc.
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5. Our Needs
The current email database contains 200,000 customer
names, sorted by location, and a list of local brides’ email
addresses from the Great Bridal Expo.
The new mailing system needs the following capabilities:
- Segmentation based on location
- Segment brides based on wedding month and send about 12
emails per campaign
- Send emails out twice a week to the 200,000 person lunch crowd
- Send emails to specialty cake customers to remind them about
the anniversary of their special day and Alan’s readiness to help
celebrate
- User-friendly interface
- Robust analytics package
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6. Service Providers…………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………
In order to choose the best email package, I will be
analyzing Constant Contact and MailChimp according
to the business’s needs.

7. Attribute Values
Attributes Constant Contact MailChimp
Customizable Templates ✓ ✓
Multi-User Accounts ✓ ✓
Marketing Automation ✓ ✓
Segmentation Capabilities ✓ ✓
Reporting Capabilities ✓ ✓
Mobile Apps ✓ ✓
Social Media Integration ✓ ✓
Customer Support Phone, Email, Live Chat,
Twitter
Self-help, Email
Pricing $895/Month $875/Month
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8. Segmentation Capabilities…………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………
Preferred:
Rather than collect data on each customer and manually tag them according to
their data, MailChimp’s segmentation capabilities are more automated and
allow for quicker segmentation.
Constant Contact MailChimp
Categorizes contacts with tags Segmentation based on:
- 100% customizable - Entire list
Captures new contacts with sign up tools - Pre-saved segments
- Location (radius)
- Subscriber activity
- Date subscribers were added
Discovers similar subscribers based on
your lists

9. Reporting Capabilities…………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………
Preferred:
Both options sufficiently meet the needs of Alan’s, but MailChimp offers a
more robust analytics reporting package, which makes it easier to track the
effectiveness of all marketing efforts.
Constant Contact MailChimp
Contact growth report Subscriber activity reports
Revenue report Revenue reports
Engagement report Engagement by country
Bounce rate Bounce rate & reason for bounce
Unsubscribes Unsubscribes
Mobile open rate Website usage metrics
Marketing on-the-go mobile app Email domain metrics
Track email performance Track email performance

10. Pricing…………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………
Subscribers Emails Per Month Monthly Cost
Constant Contact 150,001 – 200,000 Unlimited $895.00
MailChimp 185,001 – 200,000 2,400,000 $875.00
We estimate that we will send emails out twice a week to the lunch crowd
of 200,000. We will also send 12 emails per campaign to brides segmented
according to wedding month. Additionally, we will send emails to specialty
cake customers to remind them about the anniversary of their special day
and Alan’s readiness to help celebrate.
This would require about 1,600,000 emails per month to the lunch crowd.
If half of the lunch crowd purchases specialty cakes or desserts, 100,000
emails would be sent to them.This leaves 700,000 emails to send to brides,
VIPs, offices, etc.Therefore, MailChimp’s standard emails per month is not
a restriction and we can choose the cheapest option, MailChimp.

11. Interface…………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………
When creating emails in
Constant Contact and
MailChimp, the templates
and design possibilities are
very similar.
Interface feasibility depends
primarily on segmentation
and tracking/reporting
capabilities.
I recommend using
MailChimp, because the
segmentation, tracking, and
reporting is easier to navigate
and customize.

12. Integrations
Both Constant Contact and MailChimp have countless integration possibilities,
including CRM software, blogging platforms, and social media platforms. Below
are some of the biggest integrations for each email package.
Constant Contact
- WordPress, Facebook, Hootsuite, Salesforce, Outlook, Quickbooks, as well as it’s
own social media marketing, events, and surveys.
MailChimp
- WordPress, Facebook,Twitter, Salesforce, Magento, Google Analytics, Eventbrite,
SurveyMonkey, and all 9 CRM software solutions.
Preferred:
Social media integration is necessary for Alan’s, and both packages offer
integration on all social platforms.Therefore, Google Analytics made the biggest
impact when choosing the best integrations package.
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13. Customer Support
Constant Contact
- 7 day a week phone, chat, and email support
- Training and classes offered nationwide and in-person
- Recorded webinars, tutorials, step-by-step guides
- Community forums
MailChimp
- 24 hour chat and email support Monday through Friday
- Email support during weekends
- Video tutorials
- MailChimp glossary
Preferred:
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14. Results
Either Constant Contact or MailChimp would be a suitable email tool
for Alan’s. However, in my opinion, MailChimp is more suitable for
Alan’s business goals and email needs.
According to the previous analysis, MailChimp has better
segmentation capabilities, reporting capabilities, prices, user interface,
and integration capabilities.The one drawback to using MailChimp is
customer support.
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