
If you run an e-commerce store, then you’ll want to leverage email marketing. If you didn’t know, emails are the most affordable and the most effective form of marketing you can do.
So if you don’t currently have a source for email marketing, it’s time to get one.
Currently, two software applications dominate the e-commerce landscape for email marketing. They are Privy and Mailchimp, respectively, and they’re both fantastic.
Yet, it can be unclear which you should choose for your online business.
That’s why we’re here to pit Privy vs. Mailchimp in a head-to-head comparison. We’ll closely examine the pros and cons of each platform, so stay tuned to learn more.
Why is Email Marketing So Effective?
You may still not know why you should use email marketing for your business. You might already have a successful marketing strategy in place, so why change?
Well, the great thing about email marketing is how inexpensive it is. Building and using an email list is something that anyone can do. When you use an app like Mailchimp or Privy, you add a ton of capabilities to your repertoire.
Here’s a shortlist of benefits that you’ll enjoy from utilizing email marketing:
- With a squeeze page, you can reach an audience that’s already engaged with your brand
- You can deliver targeted messages to customers that show interest in your products
- Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to drive your revenue
- It’s effortless to get started
These are just a few of the benefits involved with email marketing. It’s a strategy that every business owner needs to incorporate in one form or another. So if you’re an e-commerce store owner, you owe it to yourself to use email marketing. Now, let’s move on to which email marketing software application is the best.
Mailchimp for Email Marketing

Mailchimp is one of the most popular applications for email marketing. It boasts an advanced yet very intuitive marketing platform. With Mailchimp, you can bring your marketing channels and audience data together in one place. You can build robust emails, social ads, landing pages, postcards, and more.
The audience management tools will help you reach the right crowd. That way, you won’t waste your time marketing to customers that aren’t interested in what you do.
Automation is an enormous appeal that Mailchimp offers. You’re able to automate messages that customers will see at critical moments.
An example would be automating a welcome email for every new user that signs up.
Mailchimp allows you to automate the scheduling for your emails as well. That means you won’t have to stay on top of your promotions and email campaigns constantly.
Instead, all you need to do is set your schedule and let Mailchimp do the rest. Not only that but there’s even a feature for allowing Mailchimp to decide when to sell your emails.
Other essential features of Mailchimp include:
- Gathering data and analytics
- Over 250 app integrations
- Award-winning 24/7 customer support
- Easy-to-use design tools and templates
Pricing Plans for Mailchimp
Next, let’s look at what Mailchimp will cost you. Luckily, there is a free trial and a free version that you can use. Yet, the free version is quite limited in what it can do for you.
- Essentials. The starting plan is $10 per month based on 500 contacts. It nets you email templates, custom branding, A/B testing, support, and more. It’s the ideal plan for e-commerce stores that are just getting started.
- Standard. The next tier runs at $14.99 per month. It’s based on 500 contacts, just as the essentials plan. You get everything in the Essentials plan plus behavioral targeting, dynamic content, and more. It’s an excellent plan for medium-sized e-commerce stores that have been around for a while.
- Premium. Finally, they have their premium plan that runs at $299 per month. While that’s a stark upturn in price, it’s based on 10,000 contacts. This plan is best for enterprise-level e-commerce stores. You get everything in the standard plan, as well as other features. These include phone support, comparative reporting, advanced segmentation, and more.
Privy for Email Marketing

Now it’s time to take a look at what Privy has to offer. It’s a top-rated email marketing app with excellent ratings online. Thousands of users choose Privy for their email marketing, popups, SMS marketing, and more. Privy boasts a myriad of unique features, including popup displays.
Privy offers proven popup display templates that will help you convert your visitors into buyers. You can also use them to grow your email list, offer discounts, and so much more.
Privy is no stranger to automation, either. You can automate your newsletters, promotions, one-off emails, and more. You can also use automation for abanded carts.
Say that a customer gathers lots of products in their cart but then takes off without buying them. In this case, Privy lets you set up an automated email. You can follow up with the customer to see why they left their cart before buying.
Do you want to increase your average order value? Then you need to download Privy. You’ll gain access to exclusive cross-sell campaigns and free shipping bars. They will incentivize your customers to spend more when visiting your page.
Privy’s core features include:
- A straightforward campaign designer
- Hundreds of high-converting templates
- Robust audience targeting capabilities
- Real-time data analytics
- A/B testing
- Automated marketing features
- SMS marketing features
Privy’s Pricing Plans
Privy takes a unique approach to its pricing structure. They base everything on the number of contacts you have. If your store is brand-new and you have 100 contacts or less, Privy is 100% free to use.
That’s great news for new store owners that are eager to start making money online. You won’t have to spare any extra expense when getting started using email marketing.
Its free plan includes unlimited popups and flyouts. That will do a lot to help you build your email list. As you gain more contacts, you can upgrade your Privy plan accordingly.
This structure is very friendly to newcomers. You’ll increase how much you pay for Privy only as your contact list grows. That will save you from paying an expensive monthly fee and getting no value out of it.
For up to 2,000 contacts, Privy is only $30 per month. That’s an affordable rate for a considerable amount of connections.
Privy Vs. Mailchimp: A Head-To-Head Showdown

Now that you’re familiar with both applications, it’s time to start comparing the two directly. That way, we can select the clear winner and our choice for the best email marketing app. While both apps are undoubtedly the best in their respective fields, there can be only one.
Helpful Features and Tools
First, let’s compare the interface of each platform. For an email marketing app to succeed, it needs to be effortless to use.
Privy’s Features/Tools
- Popup designer
- Powerful campaign designer with hundreds of templates
- Free shipping & sign up bars
- Embedded forms
- Flyouts and banners
- Tabs and overlays
- Spin to win wheels and other fun promotions
- Cart savers
- Powerful automation tools
- Real-time data analytics
As you can see, Privy has a robust amount of helpful features. The app can do a lot to help you grow your list and increase your ticket size. In particular, its popups and flyouts are unique. Mailchimp doesn’t have features similar to these, which is a minus.
Mailchimp’s Features/Tools
- Drip campaigns
- Customer surveys
- Template management
- Image library
- Event-triggered actions
- Template management
- Dynamic content
- A/B testing
- Automation tools
- Targeted audience
- Data analytics
Mailchimp doesn’t quite have all the features that Privy does. However, it still has a considerable amount of helpful tools for email marketing. You don’t get the same amount of bang for your buck when it comes to the features of Privy.
Winner: Privy
Value for the Money
Next, let’s compare their pricing plans together. As stated before, Privy uses a unique pricing model. You’re only charged based on how many contacts that you have.
With Mailchimp, they go with a more traditional pricing model. There are beginner, standard, and premium plans. While the beginner versions are affordable, their premium version is ridiculously expensive.
Privy takes a more calculated approach to pricing. As a result, you get more value for your money. If you only have 200 email contacts, you won’t have to pay a monthly fee. As your email list begins to grow, you’ll start to pay more for Privy. It’s a great pricing model that adds a lot of value to what you pay each month.
Winner: Privy
Privy Vs. Mailchimp ( quick video )
Privy Vs. Mailchimp: Our Final Decision
So the time has come to declare a winner in this matchup. Once again, both apps are fantastic for email marketing. Yet, given everything that we’ve seen, there is a clear winner here.
Winner: Privy
We recommend Privy above all others for e-commerce email marketing campaigns. They have a fantastic pricing model as well as incredible features. If you want to build a robust email list, Privy is the way to go. Their popups and flyouts will also help you increase your ticket price. To us, Privy is the clear winner because of its affordability and effectiveness. We hope that you can use Privy to launch super successful email marketing campaigns for your Shopify store. If your interested in trying out Privy follow this link here.
For more great content to help you develop your Shopify strategies, check out the rest of the merchant posts on the site.