Instantly vs Mailchimp: Cold Email Tools Face-off 2024
This article compares Instantly.ai and Mailchimp to help you choose the best tool for cold outreach campaigns. We aim to provide a detailed comparison of how each tool performs in this specific feature, although both tools offer broader functionalities.
The motivation for this comparison is to assist you in selecting tools that save time on repetitive tasks, crucial for efficiency. Bardeen, a task copilot powered by AI, exemplifies such a tool, automating actions across apps and tabs to save you time with a no-code solution.
Campaign Creation - Simplifying or Customizing Your Outreach
When comparing Instantly.ai and Mailchimp for campaign creation, Instantly.ai's simplicity is evident but may limit users needing advanced features.
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Instantly.ai sticks to linear sequences which may be perfect for straightforward email campaigns. Mailchimp, however, provides a more versatile toolkit, featuring a drag-and-drop builder and a vast array of templates suitable for various purposes, from marketing blasts to cold outreach.
For users who prioritize ease of use and quick setup, Instantly.ai could be the better choice. However, for those who need more customizable options and elaborate campaign structures, Mailchimp's robust features and flexibility might be more advantageous.
If you're looking to enhance your campaigns with personalized touches, consider using Bardeen's AI-driven automation to enrich your lead data and improve response rates.
Instantly.ai
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Instantly.ai provides a straightforward approach to creating email sequences for sales outreach campaigns. The platform focuses on simplicity, allowing users to set up linear sequences without the complexity of conditional branching or forking.
Key features of Instantly.ai's sequence creation:
- Linear sequence structure: Steps are arranged in a single, straightforward path
- Streamlined setup: Quickly add steps and variants to the sequence
- Customizable subject and content: Tailor each step to the specific campaign
- Preview functionality: Review and refine the sequence before launching
Reddit users have shared positive feedback on combining Instantly.ai with other tools for improved campaign results:
👍 "combine this with instantly.ai for our results" - r/sales
Mailchimp
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Mailchimp, a popular email marketing platform, provides a user-friendly interface for creating and sending email campaigns. While originally designed for marketing emails, some users leverage Mailchimp for cold outreach as well.
Key features of Mailchimp's campaign creation:
- Drag-and-drop email builder: Easily create and format emails using simple, intuitive tools
- Extensive template library: Choose from a wide range of pre-designed templates for various purposes and industries
- Branded templates: Maintain brand consistency with custom-designed email templates
- Responsive design: Ensure emails look great on any device with mobile-optimized templates
While Mailchimp may lack some of the advanced automation and personalization features found in dedicated sales engagement platforms, its ease of use and robust email design capabilities make it a viable option for those looking to send well-crafted cold emails at scale.
Deliverability - Boosting Email Reach and Avoiding Spam Filters
Instantly.ai provides a more robust solution for cold outreach with its integrated email warming features, making it superior for those needing to establish or improve their email deliverability quickly.
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Mailchimp, known for its strong email deliverability due to compliance with best practices, lacks email warming services, which are critical for cold outreach campaigns.
For users focused on nurturing existing relationships or subscribers, Mailchimp excels with its analytics and domain authentication tools, but for initiating cold contacts, Instantly.ai's proactive deliverability tools, including simulated email opens and reads, offer a distinct advantage. Consider integrating Bardeen to further enhance your campaign's efficiency by automating personalization and follow-up tasks.
Instantly.ai
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Instantly.ai offers a comprehensive set of features to improve email deliverability and avoid spam filters when sending cold outreach campaigns. The platform focuses on email warming to establish a positive sending reputation for your inboxes.
- Built-in email warming: Instantly.ai's most basic package includes unlimited email warming to prepare your inboxes for outreach.
- Simulate engagement: The warming service can simulate opens and reads with your connected inboxes to boost reputation.
- Custom tracking domains: Set up custom tracking domains to further improve deliverability and tracking.
- Manage multiple inboxes: Easily connect and warm up multiple inboxes from the Instantly.ai dashboard.
However, user reviews on Reddit reveal mixed sentiments about the effectiveness of Instantly.ai's deliverability features:
👎 "email warmup is just a claim and did not work" - r/Emailmarketing
👎 "emails going to spam in Yahoo/AOL domains despite warm-up" - r/Emailmarketing
Mailchimp
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Mailchimp has a strong reputation for email deliverability rates, thanks to its compliance with best email sending practices. The platform provides tools and features to help users maintain high deliverability and avoid spam filters.
- Domain verification and authentication: Mailchimp allows users to verify and authenticate their email domains, which helps establish trust and improves deliverability.
- Compliance with best practices: The platform adheres to industry standards and best practices for email marketing, reducing the risk of emails being flagged as spam.
- Monitoring and reporting: Mailchimp provides detailed analytics and reporting on email performance, including open rates, click rates, and unsubscribe rates, allowing users to monitor and optimize their campaigns.
However, it's important to note that Mailchimp does not offer email warming services, making it less suitable for cold outreach campaigns. The platform is best used for engaging with existing subscribers and sending warm outreach emails to maintain high deliverability rates.
Personalization - Tailoring Emails for Individual Leads
Instantly.ai provides a more interactive and flexible approach to email customization compared to Mailchimp.
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This platform allows users to start with pre-made templates or design their own from scratch, insert dynamic placeholders for personal data, and directly see the effects with a live preview feature. Additionally, Instantly.ai supports adding rich content such as links, emoticons, and images, and offers advanced email settings like tracking and daily limits.
On the other hand, Mailchimp focuses on utilizing custom fields and merge tags for personalization, which are powerful but may require a bit more initial setup and familiarity with the platform's tagging system to fully leverage.
For users looking for an intuitive, hands-on approach with real-time adjustments and rich content integration, Instantly.ai could be more beneficial. If you need a more traditional, robust system that revolves around extensive use of merge tags and pre-defined fields, Mailchimp's methodical approach might be preferable. To further enhance personalization and efficiency in your email campaigns, consider using Bardeen's automation capabilities.
Instantly.ai
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Instantly.ai's campaign function offers robust email customization options, allowing users to personalize their outreach at scale:
- Flexible templating: Start with pre-made templates or create your own from scratch
- Dynamic placeholders: Insert variables like {{accountSignature}} to auto-populate personalized information
- Live preview: See how your email will look with the "Preview" button before sending
- Rich content: Easily add links, emoticons, and images to your emails
- Advanced settings: Control email tracking, daily sending limits, and more
Mailchimp
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Mailchimp provides a range of personalization options to tailor emails to individual leads. By leveraging custom fields and merge tags, you can create targeted, personalized content that resonates with your audience.
- Audience fields: Manage the fields available to your audience's signup forms. These fields can be used to personalize content and segment your audience based on their attributes.
- Merge tags: Insert dynamic content into your emails using merge tags. These tags pull in personalized information for each recipient, such as their name, email address, or custom field values.
- Custom fields: Create your own custom fields to store additional data about your contacts. This allows for more granular personalization based on the specific interests or characteristics of each lead.
- Conditional content: Use merge tags to display different content based on a recipient's data. For example, you can show different product recommendations or offers based on a lead's previous purchases or preferences.
AI Features - Boosting Email Content Creation Efficiency
Mailchimp holds a clear edge over Instantly.ai by incorporating AI to enhance email content creation directly within its sequences feature.
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Mailchimp's AI capabilities allow users to generate diverse types of content, such as full paragraphs, which can be customized to fit different marketing needs. In contrast, Instantly.ai does not provide any AI features for crafting content or managing sequences, which significantly limits its usability for teams looking to leverage AI for personalized communications.
To further boost your email strategy, consider using Bardeen to automate and personalize email tasks, making your outreach efforts more effective and less time-consuming.
For businesses prioritizing sophisticated, AI-driven email campaigns, Mailchimp's integration of AI tools offers a substantial advantage by saving time and creating more targeted and engaging content.
Instantly.ai
Instantly.ai does not appear to offer any AI-powered features for creating or managing sales sequences. Despite the company's name suggesting quick, automated solutions, there is no evidence of AI being leveraged to generate personalized content or optimize sequences based on lead data.
Key observations:
- No mention of AI-driven sentence generation
- Lack of custom signal integration for lead-specific personalization
- Domain name does not reflect actual product capabilities
Mailchimp
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Mailchimp's Sequences feature incorporates AI to help users write more effective email content. The AI-powered content generator can create paragraphs based on a selected content type, such as a product description or a special offer announcement.
Key aspects of the AI content generation in Mailchimp Sequences:
- Content Type Selection: Users can choose from various content types, such as paragraphs, bullet points, or listicles, to suit their specific email marketing needs.
- Customization Options: The generated content can be further customized and refined by the user to ensure it aligns with their brand voice and messaging.
- Time-Saving: By leveraging AI to generate email content, marketers can save time and focus on other aspects of their campaigns.
Native Enrichment - Improving Lead Management with Data
When comparing Instantly.ai and Mailchimp regarding their native enrichment features for lead management, Instantly.ai offers a marginal advantage.
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Instantly.ai allows users to upload their own lists for enrichment, albeit without a native database. This feature supports basic enrichment by utilizing external data users provide. In contrast, Mailchimp does not provide any native enrichment capabilities, requiring users to rely solely on integrations with external tools for lead data enrichment.
For users seeking an integrated tool that minimizes dependence on external resources for lead enrichment, Instantly.ai is the preferable option. However, for those who already rely on or prefer comprehensive external tools for lead management, Mailchimp’s reliance on integrations might not be a disadvantage.
For enhancing lead management workflows and reducing manual tasks, consider using Bardeen to automate the gathering of lead information from multiple sources, such as LinkedIn and company websites.
Instantly.ai
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Instantly provides a Lead Finder feature to help users find relevant leads, although it does not offer a native enrichment database. The Lead Finder allows users to search for leads based on various criteria such as job title, location, industry, company size, and more.
Key aspects of Instantly's lead enrichment capabilities:
- Upload lists for enrichment: Users can upload their own lists of leads to enrich their information within the platform.
- No native enrichment database: Instantly does not provide a built-in database for lead enrichment, relying on user-uploaded lists.
- Detailed search filters: The Lead Finder offers a wide range of search filters to help users find the most relevant leads for their campaigns.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp, as a sales engagement tool, does not offer native enrichment capabilities. This means that users need to rely on integrations with external tools to gather additional data on their leads, such as buyer signals from other sources.
While Mailchimp provides a robust platform for email marketing and automation, the lack of built-in lead enrichment features may be a drawback for some users who require a more comprehensive view of their prospects. To access this functionality, users will need to set up and manage integrations with third-party services.
It's important to consider the additional effort and potential costs associated with using external tools for lead enrichment when evaluating Mailchimp as a sales engagement solution. Users should assess their specific needs and determine if the benefits of Mailchimp's core features outweigh the absence of native enrichment capabilities.
Social Automation - Automating Cross-Posting and Ads Management
When comparing Instantly.ai and Mailchimp regarding their social automation capabilities, Instantly.ai falls short as it lacks built-in tools for automating interactions on platforms like LinkedIn, requiring the use of additional tools such as Dripify or Hey Alfred.
Mailchimp, on the other hand, while allowing for social media integration, also does not support lead enrichment via social platforms; it focuses more on cross-posting and ads management.
Users needing comprehensive social media automation and lead enrichment might find both platforms lacking. However, for those primarily focused on email marketing but looking to extend their reach through basic social media posts and ads, Mailchimp provides more integrated options.
If you need to enrich and automate your social media interactions effectively, consider using Bardeen to personalize and automate social media tasks alongside your main sales platform.
Instantly.ai
While Instantly provides a range of automation features for email outreach, it currently does not offer built-in functionality for automating social media engagement, such as LinkedIn outreach. To automate social media outreach in addition to email, users would need to use a separate, dedicated tool like Dripify or Hey Alfred alongside Instantly.
This means that users looking to streamline both their email and social media outreach within a single platform may find Instantly's social automation capabilities lacking compared to other all-in-one sales engagement tools. However, for teams primarily focused on email outreach, Instantly remains a strong choice.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp, as a sales engagement tool, offers social media integration primarily for cross-posting and ads management. However, it does not provide the ability to enrich leads using social media data, which could be a limitation for some users.
Key aspects of Mailchimp's social media automation:
- Cross-posting: Share content across multiple social media platforms simultaneously
- Ads management: Create and manage social media ads within the Mailchimp platform
- Limited lead enrichment: Unable to gather additional lead information from social media profiles
Pricing and Plan Flexibility - Meeting Varied Business Needs
When comparing Instantly.ai and Mailchimp in terms of pricing and plan flexibility, both platforms offer a variety of options tailored to different business needs, but there are notable differences in their structures and features.
Instantly.ai provides a simple, scalable pricing model based on email volume, starting at $30 for 5,000 emails monthly and going up to $286 for 500,000 emails. All plans include unlimited email accounts and warmup emails, with no per-seat pricing, making it ideal for teams of any size. Additionally, there's a 14-day free trial available for all plans without the need to talk to a salesperson.
Mailchimp, on the other hand, offers a free tier and several paid options that increase in functionality and support with each tier. Their pricing is primarily based on the number of contacts and the features available at each level, such as A/B testing, automation, and advanced segmentation, which are only included in higher tiers. Mailchimp's model also includes per-seat pricing, which may add additional costs for larger teams.
For businesses looking for a straightforward, scalable solution without the complexities of per-seat pricing, Instantly.ai might be the more beneficial choice. However, Mailchimp's robust free tier and advanced features available in higher tiers could be more suitable for businesses needing extensive marketing tools and contact management. For automating your email workflows efficiently and enhancing your productivity, consider using Bardeen.
Instantly.ai
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Instantly provides straightforward pricing plans designed to meet the needs of various businesses. The pricing model is based on the number of emails sent per month, with plans starting at $30 per month for the Growth plan and scaling up to $286.3 per month for the Light Speed plan.
- Flexible billing options: Customers can choose between monthly or annual billing, with a 20% discount for annual subscriptions.
- 14-day free trial: All plans come with a 14-day free trial, allowing potential customers to test the product before committing to a paid subscription.
- No per-seat pricing: Plans are priced based on email volume rather than the number of users, making it cost-effective for teams of any size.
- Unlimited email accounts and warmup emails: All plans include unlimited email accounts and warmup emails, helping to prevent emails from being marked as spam.
- Scalable plans: The Growth plan supports up to 5,000 emails per month for $30, while the Light Speed plan accommodates up to 500,000 emails per month for $286.3.
- No sales call required: Customers can sign up for a plan and start using the product without the need for a sales call.
Mailchimp
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Mailchimp provides a range of pricing options to suit different business needs and budgets. Their plans are billed monthly, with the ability to upgrade or downgrade as needed.
- Free plan: Ideal for businesses just starting out, offering basic features for up to 1,000 contacts.
- Essentials plan: At $13/month, this plan includes testing and scheduling features for up to 5,000 contacts and 3 users.
- Standard plan: For $20/month, users get additional personalization, optimization, and automation tools for up to 6,000 contacts and 5 users.
- Premium plan: At $350/month, this plan offers unlimited contacts, users, and advanced features like dedicated onboarding and priority support.
All paid plans come with a 30-day free trial, allowing users to test the features before committing. The pricing model is based on the number of contacts and email sends, with overages applied if limits are exceeded.
Instantly.ai
Mailchimp
Instantly.ai
Mailchimp
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Mailchimp
Which is Best for Effective Email Campaigns?
Instantly.ai and Mailchimp offer different strengths for managing email campaigns. Instantly.ai is great for straightforward, linear email sequences. It's easy to use and set up, which is perfect for beginners or those who prefer simplicity. Mailchimp, however, offers a robust set of tools including a drag-and-drop builder and extensive template library, which is ideal for those needing more customization and variety.
If you need to quickly set up campaigns without much customization, Instantly.ai is a good choice. For more complex and tailored campaigns, Mailchimp's flexibility and extensive features make it the better option.