Is Campaign Monitor really worth it?
Campaign Monitor is an email marketing platform recognized for its advanced features and ease of use. It is an online email marketing tool that enables businesses to develop email campaigns easily with automation, deliver those campaigns using A/B testing, and monitor them using analytics and a reporting dashboard. However, many users are concerned about the platform's high price plans.
I’m also now paying £30/month for campaign monitor as well as the costs of Zapier (and possible cost increases for Wix automations) and it seems like a lot of expense for the sake of download forms and newsletter subscribers 🤦♀️
One of Campaign Monitor's main problems is its high pricing plans, which are significantly more expensive than some of its competitors. Mailchimp, for instance, offers a free plan for businesses with less than 2,000 subscribers, and its paid plans start at $9.99 per month. Similarly, Constant Contact's subscription rates start at $20 per month, which is significantly less than Campaign Monitor's basic plan.
Despite its excellent user interface, some users reported that Campaign Monitor can be hard to use. It might be difficult for the users to use the sophisticated automation features of this platform, and they may need some time to adjust to its working process and create campaigns.
In addition, there is no free trial of Campaign Monitor available—the best you’ll get is a so-called ‘free account,’ which allows you to try out everything the system can do except, importantly, send mass mailouts (you can only send emails to 5 people using the free account).
Updates in Campaign Monitor pricing
The Campaign Monitoring Plan is divided into three types: Basic, Unlimited, and Premier. The price is based on a combination of the number of subscribers and the features offered. With Unlimited or Premier plans, you can send all your emails in one go. The cheapest is the basic plan, billed at $9/month, for 500 subscribers with a limit of 2500 emails. A "pay per campaign" plan, which costs $5 per campaign and 1 cent per recipient, is also available.
| Contacts | Lite | Essentials | Premier |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $11/month | $19/month | $149/month |
| 2500 | $39/month | $59/month | $149/month |
| 5k | $68/month | $99/month | $149/month |
| 10k | $99/month | $134/month | $249/month |
| 20k | $219/month | $269/month | $499/month |
| 25k | $219/month | $269/month | $499/month |
| 50k | $349/month | $409/month | $989/month |
| 50k+ | Talk to the sales team | Talk to the sales team | Talk to the sales team |
As a matter of fact, if you first think that these prices are too high, they are!
The Basic plan costs $9 monthly for 500 contacts and includes basic email marketing features such as email design tools, basic automation workflows, and reporting. The Unlimited plan costs $29 per month for 500 contacts and includes all the Basic plan features, along with additional features such as unlimited emails and advanced automation workflows.
The Premier plan costs $149 per month for 500 contacts and includes all the Unlimited plan features, along with advanced features such as email previews, A/B testing, and advanced reporting. Finally, the Custom plan is designed for businesses with specific needs and requires a custom quote.
Verdict
While Campaign Monitor has advantages, for many small businesses, such advanced automation features and detailed reports may not be worth the extra costs associated with a Platform's high pricing plans or limited feature set for its basic plan. In addition, some users may have a problem with this platform's difficult user interface and its lack of flexibility in terms of refund policy. Apart from this, the tool offers two pricing structures: contact-based pricing and pay-per-campaign pricing.
Campaign Monitor’s key strength lies in the quality, flexibility, and robustness of its templates. However, the product is extremely expensive compared to its key marketing competitors.
Before committing to the plan, businesses must carefully consider their email marketing needs and examine whether Campaign Monitor is comparable to competitors.
