5 Reasons You Should NOT Switch From MailChimp To ConvertKit

Monetize Your List Take Yourself Pro


Yep, you read that headline right.

ConvertKit's not for everyone. We're getting hundreds of new customers each week—which we love—but some of them aren't a great fit for our product. And since we want everyone to have a great experience, there are some people that shouldn't sign up in the first place.

1. You only want to send beautiful email templates

We're pretty opinionated here at ConvertKit. We ran a bunch of tests and found that simple emails that look like they were written by a human perform better than fancy template emails.

Because of that we don't have a fancy drag-and-drop template building like MailChimp. If that's important to you, then stick with MailChimp.

But if you want to get better engagement and send emails like the top bloggers, I highly recommend using a simpler template. All the pros are doing it.

2. You aren't willing to invest in your blog and audience in order to see it grow

If $29/month for ConvertKit's base plan seems expensive to you, then you shouldn't sign up. Stick with MailChimp's free plan. Our mission is to help bloggers turn their passion into a full-time living. Although we've explored the value behind both free and paid plans, not everyone wants to put in the level of work and commitment required to make a paid plan pay off. That's fine, it just means that you should use a different email tool to reach your audience.

That way we can save our energy and attention for those that are willing to make the investment in their business.

3. You really like monkeys

MailChimp has an amazing brand. Unfortunately we don't have a cool monkey mascot. We wish we did. But we can't have a better product and a better mascot. So we chose to focus on the product.

There is some talk of creating a ConvertKitty, but that just seems a little odd. Perhaps you can help us out by sending in some drawings of what a cute ConvertKitty would look like.

4. You don't sell products

A huge part of the value in ConvertKit is in tracking the exact interests and purchases of your audience through tags. If you just send to one giant list in MailChimp then you won't value that. So don't switch.

But if you have a few products and want to track who exactly buys each one then you need tags. Seriously, you'll be surprised that you lived without them for this long. With tagging you'll make sure you never pitch a product to someone who has already bought it again.

Your audience will love you for it.

5. You're managing multiple distinct audiences

MailChimp is a list centric provider, whereas ConvertKit is subscriber centric. In most cases ConvertKit's model is far better (no duplicate subscribers). The one time it isn't is if you are running multiple distinct businesses out of the same account. In MailChimp you can do that with lists—which are 100% separate.

In ConvertKit it would blend the two lists. You can keep it organized with tags and segments, but it's not completely separate. For that you would need two different ConvertKit accounts.

So there you have it. 5 reasons you should stay with MailChimp. If these apply to you, we'd prefer you not sign up for ConvertKit. We've got an amazing group of customers and in order to serve them better we don't want customers who aren't a good fit.

But if you're a professional blogger (or on the path to becoming one) and none of the above apply to you, we'd love to have you.

Nathan Barry

In previous careers Nathan has been a designer, author, and blogger. After learning the power of email marketing he gave up a successful blogging career to build ConvertKit. Outside of work Nathan spends his time playing soccer, woodworking, and chasing after his two little boys.

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