iContact vs. Mad Mimi

iContact is a great option for small businesses. It doesn't have enough features to create the demands of a large corporation. Of course the price goes up exponentially with more subscribers, which would also make it beneficial for small businesses. If you have too many lists to add people to it can get a little crazy too.

Incentivized

It's ideal for the new to email campaign/SMB user as they take great pains to ensure your campaign is ready for success. It's also ideal for those who are used to using the 'Goliaths' of email campaigns as the difference is night and day, in my opinion. Mad Mimi does exactly what we needed done to engage just the right audience with proven, scalable results. It's great software, but it's also the value of the team at Mad Mimi that one gets as a customer.

Incentivized

• Customer service is wonderful! They are always helpful, guiding and available for any odd question, even if those questions are training for a newbie to the email world.
• Building forms for data collection and the code generator the for the site is very easy.
• Ensuring double opt-in is extremely straightforward.
• Including unsubscribe on every message automatically means we never have to worry about CAN-SPAM.

Incentivized

• Very easy to upload pictures and drop them into an email I am creating.
• Easy to create links within emails to web hosted documents or websites or videos.
• Easy to see who has read what, who has engaged with what emails, who has unsubscribed, so I know exactly how to follow up with people.
• Easy to upload new contacts, in a batch or one at a time.

Incentivized

• Every time you edit or sometimes open an email it brings it to the top of the list. I would prefer my email to go to the top only after I send it out to my subscribers.
• When I add a new contact I sometimes copy and paste the email. This is not allowed sometimes and I have to manually type the email in.
• LinkedIn will not allow you to add pictures anymore when sending emails out.

Incentivized

• The reporting features are pretty basic. I often feel like I need to switch email providers in order to excel ahead of competition.
• The drag and drop tool is easy to use but very limited. It's really difficult to be creative with columns and content.
• The entire tool itself is pretty basic. Not wow'd by any features.

After 4 years of using iContact we finally cut the cord. It was hard to justify staying with them when it seemed like they had some of the most outdated software in the industry, some of the worst deliverability, and were in general extremely lacking in customization. They are a decent ESP for a great price point, so if that is your main concern it may be worth it, but if you want to have your emails you are paying for hit inboxes (not spam folders) then look into someone else that guarantees great deliverability.

Incentivized

Pretty simple, I know I'm getting what I pay for and a little more. Although simple and easy for the new user; a more seasoned marketer can still get the most from MadMimi. Especially if the primary purpose is to generate strong brand loyalty with effective communication that integrates your various outlets: MadMimi makes it easy for your customer to pick-up what the business owner wants to relay.

I rate iContact as an easy to use program due to its user friendly dashboard and user interface. Most companies of small to medium size do not have a dedicated marketer, therefore it is someone multitasking who may or may not have this kind of experience. iContact makes it relatively simple and can actually expand one's knowledge in the area of business promotion.

Incentivized

I find it very easy to use just like my colleagues too. The learning curve is straight forward.

Incentivized

iContact is regularly up and running. Only once has it been unavailable for maintenance, which is to be expected and even desired for optimal performance when needed.

They have always been responsive to any issues or concerns that have arisen with our account. Our customer account manager participates in our monthly county-wide communicators meetings via telephone to ensure that we are getting the most from the service. He also analyzes our lists to help us weed out inactive contacts.

Incentivized

My issues are usually quickly resolved and their support staffs are very knowledgeable on the software generally

Incentivized

The templates are difficult to customize, and they don't render well in email platforms

i wouldn't be using it if i wasn't satisfied. time is money

We selected iContact because it was available at the time, and in our price range. I inherited it at the school. If it had been the program it is now back then, I would not have chosen it. At the moment, we are too busy to fully vet another program, so we are stuck with this one. It does get the job done. It is great for a small business with small needs, but once you start expanding and having more intricate needs, it does not compete with others like MailChimp

Incentivized

Mad Mimi is not as complex to use for preparing emails as some competitors like Mailchimp. Mad Mimi has a lot of integration for third-party apps. Unlike Mailchimp, Mad Mimi is more suitable for our e-marketing strategy. Mad Mimi does not offer free trial whereas Mailchimp does offer a test service for 1000 emails. Mailchimp has more functionalities, for instance, the A/B testing which is lacking in Mad Mimi but is very effective in Mailchimp. The email template from Mad Mimi is not as responsive as the one of Mailchimp but when it comes to overall usage, Mad Mimi can do basically what Mailchimp can do. Mailchimp has more functionality in autoresponder usage than Mad Mimi. We chose Mad Mimi because it is cheaper.

Incentivized

iContact stays the same with the number of users added or taken away. It certainly remains reliable despite increased usage, and so, can be considered scaleable in that aspect.

• Increased Employee Efficiency - once a template is created, it is very easy to edit the content within the template with minimal or no assistance from developers.
• Domain Reputation - if you aren't careful, it is very easy to hurt your domain reputation when using iContact. Make sure the person in charge of email marketing knows the risks of email marketing or is willing to closely work with iContact's customer service to follow best practices.
• Increased Lead Conversion - through the use of automated email functionality, you can stay in the forefront of your customer's minds. This increases conversions by reminding customers that you are there to provide the goods or services that they may need periodically or in the future.

• I've spent 3 years creating blog posts, and it is only now encompassing the breath that allows me to draw upon this pieces as a reusable resource, but now this is happening.
• I preferred the Mad Mimi platform to Mail Chimp, and I suspect it continues to offer advantages. I felt Mad Mimi did themselves a disservice by failing to support their free subscriber service to the same extent that Mail Chimp does. When one's mail list gets sufficiently large, then it does pay to pay them, but not in the context I was using it.
• It seems that Mad Mimi is targeting direct marketing purposes, as this is a use where ROI is more easily measured.

Incentivized