If you’ve heard the hype about the new email marketing platform Flodesk, you’re probably asking yourself: Flodesk vs Mailchimp – which is is the best option for email marketing in 2022?

Mailchimp has long been an email marketing favourite amongst entrepreneurs and small business owners online. It’s affordability and analytic capabilities have made it a popular choice for years. 

But there’s a new email marketing service that’s making waves – Flodesk. Its beautiful designs and easy workflows have quickly garnered it a cult following. It’s an affordable option that rivals mailchimp in some of its pricing. 

So, Flodesk vs Mailchimp: which is best for email marketing? 

Note: this blogpost contains affiliate links. This means that when you make a purchase through a link, I will make a commission at no extra cost to you. I am very selective when using affiliate links and only ever use them to recommend products that I truly love.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed…

I’ve totally been there. Googling all of the email marketing tools out there, trying to work out where you should start. 

Don’t worry I’m here to help!

I’ve used both Mailchimp and Flodesk for email marketing, so I can give you a pretty clear idea of the pros and cons of both and which platform I prefer.

Flodesk vs Mailchimp in Short

If you’re just looking for the headline – the best email marketing tool, in my opinion, is Flodesk. 

I’ve been blown away since moving over to Flodesk and have finally been making headway with my email list, thanks to their easy to use templates. The complexity of Mailchimp always put me off and, as a result, I didn’t spend a lot of time building my email list. 

Ultimately, I’m so glad I moved to Flodesk and I definitely won’t be going back to Mailchimp any time soon! 

If you want to know a little bit more before making a decision, I’ve got you covered. In this blogpost I’m breaking it down step by step, so you can pick the email marketing tool that’s right for you.

Mailchimp Overview

Mailchimp has been on the scene much longer than Flodesk. This means it’s had some more time to perfect certain things. 

As the company has grown, it’s started to diversify its offerings. This now includes website hosting and e-commerce solutions. As a well-established and well-used brand, it’s likely to keep growing and evolving over time. 

Originally designed for professional marketers, Mailchimp is known for its steep learning curve. In many cases it requires coding knowledge and its clunky design doesn’t make for the best user experience. As a result, those starting out in email marketing often find it incredibly difficult to use. It can take a lot of time to learn how to use the platform for optimum results, which often isn’t an appealing thought for busy entrepreneurs who want to get their business off the ground. 

However, the fact that it was intended for professional marketers does mean it has some pretty impressive capabilities. It offers advanced analytics, as well as A/B testing.

Pros of Mailchimp:

• Forever free pricing up to 2,000 email subscribers
• Advanced analytics reporting 
• Great integrations of other apps
• You can import your own templates
• Offer A/B testing
• Advanced options 

Cons of Mailchimp:

• Prices can increase dramatically as your subscriber list grows
• Requires advanced coding to improve the look of emails and forms
• Mailchimp logo included on emails (if you have under 2,000 subscribers)
• Has a steeper learning curve
• Not user friendly

Flodesk Overview

Flodesk are the new kid on the email marketing block. And they’ve been making some serious waves since they arrived.

Flodesk have created a completely new offering when it comes to email marketing. They focus on beautiful designs that are incredibly easy to use. Great for beginners, their user experience is simple and intuitive with stunning templates. 

Whilst Flodesk are relatively new, they still offer a great service that rivals Mailchimp. They also seem to keep improving and have already introduced new features since their conception.

Pros of Flodesk:

• Simple and affordable fixed pricing structure (not dependent on number of subscribers)
• Affiliate link friendly
• Visually beautiful template designs 
• Easy to use
• Free trial for new users
• Intuitive and beginner friendly
• Great automation flows

Cons of Flodesk:

• Don’t currently offer A/B testing
• Limited integrations so far 
• Templates can make your emails look similar to other users

Design: Flodesk vs Mailchimp

When it comes to aesthetically pleasing designs, there’s a clear winner – Flodesk.

They have a whole library of stunning email marketing templates ready for you to use. If you’re looking for something super professional (and super beautiful!), this is the place to be. This is probably why a lot of creative entrepreneurs are making the switch to Flodesk from their other email marketing providers. 

Flodesk also makes it really easy to add your own fonts and colour schemes, so you can make sure your emails are on-brand every single time. 

If templates aren’t your thing and you prefer a little more creative freedom, don’t worry. It’s also super easy to build your own designs with their simple drag and drop system. 

When it comes to design, Mailchimp really doesn’t compare. If you want something more professional or jazzy, you’ll have to do some coding. This is:

1. Time consuming, and 
2. Not within many people’s abilities 

Mailchimp does have a vast library of templates but if you want access to them, you’ll have to join one of their more premium plans. And we’ll see in just a minute that these can get pretty expensive pretty quickly! If you’re just starting out or are a small business, then you’re unlikely to be able to access the templates that they do offer!

User Experience: Flodesk vs Mailchimp

Once again, Flodesk pips Mailchimp to the post with their user experience. It’s a very simple and intuitive platform that’s easy to use straight out of the gate. 

Mailchimp can be a little more confusing and definitely has a steeper learning curve for beginners. 

One of my favourite things about Flodesk is the ‘workflow’ feature. This allows you to easily set up a nurture email sequence, once a subscriber has opted in to your newsletter or one of your lead magnets. 

Whilst this might sound complicated, Flodesk makes it super easy. I promise you’ll feel like an email marketing pro in no time! 

Mailchimp was originally designed for marketing professionals, not solopreneurs and small business owners. As a result, it assumes a pretty high level of understanding! The learning curve for Mailchimp is notoriously steep (a little like WordPress in the blogging world!). It’s clunky and difficult to use in many instances, often as a result of the sheer variety of tools. It takes much more time and patience to get Mailchimp right. This can be pretty frustrating and incredibly time-consuming at the beginning.

Price: Flodesk vs Mailchimp

The best option for pricing is going to depend heavily on the number of subscribers you have. 

Mailchimp offers a completely free option, which is available until you hit 2,000 subscribers. 

Once you get 2,000 subscribers, you have to join one of their paid plans. 

Now, if you’re using lead magnets well in your business, you’re likely to hit 2,000 subscribers relatively quickly and will be forced to move over to a paid plan. These can be incredibly pricey. The essentials plan starts at $78.99 per month. And the premium plan starts at $299 per month! 

It’s also worth bearing in mind that you won’t get access to all of the tools in the free option! 

Flodesk on the other hand doesn’t offer a free option (although they do offer a one month free trial so you can test it out!). Instead they offer a fixed price. This means you’ll pay the same amount no matter how big your subscriber list grows.

This is something that really appealed to me as I was growing my business. I didn’t want to be penalised for my growth and have to increase my email marketing costs. With Flodesk – I don’t have to. 

And this price is very affordable! In fact, if you use my link, you can get 50% off. This means you’ll be paying $19 per month. That’s significantly less than the essentials plan at Mailchimp! And Flodesk won’t charge you more for more subscribers.

Click here to get 50% of your Flodesk subscription!

A/B Testing

If there’s one area that Mailchimp does beat Flodesk, it’s A/B testing. Although it’s important to note that this isn’t available in the free version! 

A/B testing means that you can send two different versions of the same email to see which one performs better. This can be really useful for perfecting your email marketing strategy. 

Flodesk doesn’t currently offer this, which is a little disappointing. 

However, they do seem to be constantly improving and adding new features, so I’m quite hopeful that A/B testing will be possible one day – fingers crossed!

Landing Pages

Both Mailchimp and Flodesk offer great options for Landing Pages. These are particularly great if you’re wanting to build an email list but don’t currently have a website. You can direct people from ads or social media to your landing page, where they can download an opt-in freebie and sign up to your mailing list. 

The only downside to Flodesk is that it doesn’t allow you to use a custom domain for the URL. You’ll have to use whatever one is provided for you.

Customer Service Support

I’ve never had too much interaction with either customer support teams, so can’t give much personal advice on this one. I’ve heard pretty bad things about Mailchimp but, again, I can’t personally comment on this. 

I’m yet to hear anything about the customer support at Flodesk. And haven’t had to use it myself yet as everything has run smoothly. I do their Flodesk Insiders Facebook group very useful in learning about email marketing though! 

The reason that I’ve never had to contact customer support is that they have a lot of helpful articles. These walk you through everything step-by-step and are super useful when you’re first starting out.

Integrations: Flodesk vs Mailchimp

Integrations are certainly possible through Flodesk but it’s important to note that you can’t integrate directly. You have to use a tool called Zapier. The one exception to this is Shopfiy, which you can link directly to Flodesk.

Using Zapier isn’t too bothersome however, and it does offer over 3,000 apps for integration, including (but not limited to):

• Kajabi
• ClickFunnels
• Google Sheets
• Squarespace
• WooCommerce
• Stripe
• Paypal
• WordPress
• Wix CRM
• Podia
• Thinkific
• Teachable
• Leadpages

It’s important to note that Flodesk doesn’t currently integrate with Squarespace Commerce. So, if that’s a big part of your business, you might be better off using Mailchimp for the time being. 

The integration options on Mailchimp are incredibly vast. You’ll likely be able to integrate whatever app you like. Here are some of the most popular options for integration:

• Patreon
• Typeform
• SurveyMonkey
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• WordPress
• Zendesk
• Stripe
• Squarespace Commerce

Analytics: Flodesk vs Mailchimp

You could probably guess that Mailchimp offers superior analytics. I would argue however that, for most small businesses and entrepreneurs, most of these analytics aren’t necessary. They can be quite complicated and, in reality, you’re unlikely to spend too much time going through each one trying to understand it. 

Flodesk offers a much smaller range of analytics. So, if that’s something that’s really important to you, it might not be the right option. However, I find that I actually use the analytics on Flodesk much more (as I find them less overwhelming!).

They break things down into simple headlines, letting you know exactly what’s going on, without overwhelming you. 

You can easily see:

• Open rate
• Click rate
• Where the majority of your emails were viewed e.g. desktop or phone
• Deliverability 
• Unique opens
• Unique clicks

In my opinion, this is plenty of feedback to understand what’s working within your email marketing. I’ve found that I’m able to adjust my email marketing strategy well using this information.

FEATURE	FLODESK	MAILCHIMP
Integrations	yes via Zapier	yes
Free Option	30 day free trial	free up to 2,000 subscribers
Price	$19/month using discount link	essentials plan starts at $78.99
A/B Testing	yes	yes
Landing Pages	yes	yes
Templates	yes	included in more premium packages
User Experience	simple & intuitive	clunky with steep learning curve

Is it Easy to Move from Mailchimp to Flodesk?

Yes!

If you’re already using Mailchimp, you might be wondering if it’s just easier to stick with it. Swapping from one platform to the other can be difficult and time consuming. 

Moving from Mailchimp to Flodesk is actually very easy! 

It just takes 4 simple steps:

1. Export your list from Mailchimp
2. Upload the .CSV file to Flodesk
3. Match the data from the .CSV file to Flodesk
4. Add your upload to a segment in Flodesk.

You can find a simple video tutorial here, which shows you exactly how to move from Mailchimp to Flodesk, step-by-step:

How to Move from Mailchimp to Flodesk: Video Tutorial

Who is Flodesk Not For?

If you’re a large corporation or huge digital marketing agency, Flodesk might not be for you. You might find the tools too simplistic and want more control over the back end of things. 

But if you’re an entrepreneur, solopreneur, small business owner, coach, blogger, or freelancer, Flodesk is probably the best option for you!

What Next?

For more entrepreneurial and business resources, check out my resources page! It includes some great book recommendations, as well some freebies and sweet deals!