Mailchimp vs. Aweber

I have never used mailChimp, but I can guarantee you Aweber is better. (from what i have heard) It's arguably the most proffessional autoresponder out there at the moment.

I used Mailchimp because it was free. They allow you quite a few subscribers and emails before you have to start paying.

What I liked:

~ It is free.
~ The chimp is very cute and makes comments to you when you log in, do your work etc.
~ Customer service when I needed it was very good.

What I did not like:

~ Interface is very awkward.
~ It was difficult to set up a number of auto responders because the system is so bulky.
~ Some of my emails went to junk mail.
~ From what I understand they do not want MailChimp emails to include affiliate links.
~ Site is in my opinion poorly organized (sorry MailChimp).


I switched to Aweber

What I like

~ Very easy to use system
~ Easy to set up multiple responders
~ Excellent customer service
~ $1 for the first month - sweet
~ So easy to make Pop Overs etc. I am technically challenged but I made a Pop Over and put that puppy on my site in minutes
~ Well organized. Streamlined. I can find what I need in minutes.
~ So far all from my auto responder has made it to my inbox
~ It saves a rough draft of my work in case I lose anything.

What I don't Like

~ $20 a month
~ I have to save each message a few times before it saves (glitchy)
~ The links from Amazon come up as invalid even though they work.

Overall thoughts. I have totally stepped up my game by switching to Aweber. Easy to use interface and I am making mailing lists for all my sites now. I love it!

Recommendation. Switching from one auto responder is a bit** People have to re-opt in. You have to copy all your material over. I really appreciate Mailchimps freebie but it held me back.

Go with Aweber from the Start!

You can NEVER go wrong with Aweber. Tried everything out there, and nothing else even comes close.

I have aweber and I love it. It is easy to use and affordable for the most part.

So Aweber, thank for suggestions

I was recently holding a seminar on list building / management. Mail Chimp server went down during us using it. Very embarrassing. Lot's of signup bugs. Never again!

Aweber all the way for me!

I use mailchimp...have accounts with getresponse and aweber and I have to say that I personally like mailchimp better. I have never had a problem with having content sent to junk folders and to be perfectly honest, mailchimp manages mail for several big name corporations.

That said, mailchimp is not a good idea if you promote affiliate marketing products but is perfect if you sell things yourself.

The possible reason why one of the reviewers found some of their emails in spam folders was because mailchimp gives preference (in relation to their email relayers) to lists that are responsive. What I mean by this is that if your list has good open rates in relation to the industry, you will get rotated in better mail servers. That is my understanding at least.

I prefer mailchimp over getresponse (which I generally don't like but don't want to bother migrating a list over) and slightly over aweber (I don't do affiliate marketing via email though).

I'm a newbie to the forum, but I love this place already.
Thanks a bunch for all of the feedback everyone.

I knew that it didn't handle affiliate links - which was OK since I'm setting this up for a client with physical product, but then it dawned on me if I add an info product as a bonus, and added affiliates to THAT, then I can't even sell my own damn product to my own list! *shudders*

No wonder everyone (including me) has always used AWeber. Turns out the grass isn't always greener on the other side now is it? Bad Monkey! Good Warriors

I've seen a large majority who used mailchimp say NOT to use it and usually their stories were full of frustration and hateful words, so I would say, nope, just don't do it.

On a side note, I just LOVE MailChimp's frontend design. One of the most appealing designs I've seen this year.
To add to the discussion, I use GR and they're pretty awesome as well.

Funny...not a single comment about DirtCheap Autoresponder. (Hey, it's only like $35 bucks and seems to work pretty darn well.)

Aweber or GetResponse. For the price they charge, they are by far the best options available.

I agree Aweber all the way! Go with the best to be the best ..... Enough said!

I enjoy mailchimp, but I have heard some things about them not being so affiliate friendly as of late? Seems more and more companies are going this way.

Read both company's terms of service contracts and you'll see just based on that alone that Aweber is far superior.

I tested a large batch of e-mails using MailChimp, Aweber, Getresponse, 1SC, and Auto Responder Plus and I was astounded at how many of MailChimp's e-mails were not delivered compared to the other companies (I'm still in the middle of testing Imnica mail, but so far the results are encouraging). Please note that Auto Response Plus is not a 3rd party service but software that you host.

I never recommend MailChimp, for any reason, to any marketer that asks. If you're looking for a solid autoresponder for a great price, it's pretty hard to beat Imnica mail. I can say that even though I've been using Aweber for ten years.

RoD

Let me put this myth to rest. I like Aweber and still use them, but they are not the #1 autoresponder service. There are other services that dwarf them. And despite what their PR campaigns tell you, they don't have the best delivery rates either. Nobody does and here's why:

Delivery rates are in a constant state of flux with tons of variables to consider, many of which are outside the control of any AR company. For example, they have zero control over what servers your e-mail has to go through once your e-mail or broadcast gets sent from their servers. They also have zero control over people's desktop spam filters or their hosting company's spam filters OR their ISP's spam filters. And if Yahoo, AOL, or Comcast decides to block their e-mails, there's only so much they can do.

Of course, all AR companies have this issue. If you host your own solution, same issues apply.

Anyone who states they have the best delivery rates or even 99% delivery rates are not being 100% honest with you. Having written all this, I still use Aweber for some of my niche sites and think they are a good company. But the best? My answer to that question is, "the best in what?" Every business has different needs, the term "best" is subjective at best.

RoD

aweber for all of my niche sites now. mailchimp was cute, but the no aff lnks turned out to be a dealbreaker.