Squarespace Campaigns vs Mailchimp: Which Platform Is Best for Your Email?
Squarespace vs. Mailchimp: How to Decide?
Creating a mailing list and sending out newsletters is a great way to keep your clients and audience engaged with you long-term. You can tell them about new products, turn blogs into a weekly lesson, and offer discounts on services. But, how do you start collecting those emails and creating a thriving email list?
Squarespace as a web platform currently offers four connection options. (You could connect outside services with custom code, but that gets complex.) This article will go into detail about the differences between the easiest three: connecting Squarespace Email Campaigns, connecting Mailchimp, and connecting Google Drive. The fourth option is connecting Zapier or using custom code for more options, which we won’t get into.
First up, how to add the newsletter block itself.
When building a page in Squarespace, from the page builder, you have the option to select “Newsletter” and then you’ll get something that looks like the below:
We’ll look at the “Post-Submit” tab in a future article, so check that out soon!
When you click “Apply,” you’ll have a newsletter block on your page, hooray! See below what it will ultimately look like.
You can change the heading, sub-heading, disclaimer text, and even what the button says. You can also choose to have a name or choose to only collect the email. The newsletter block below is live, so give it a try and check out my newsletter! I also have an “Automation” triggered, which you can see in the above as well, but we’ll get into that in a future post.
Here’s what that block looks like:
Great, I have a newsletter block. Now, what’s the difference between the three connection / storage options?
There are technically four options to connect Squarespace newsletter blocks. Squarespace calls this “Storage” because technically it is searching for a place to put the emails.
Four Squarespace site storage / connection options:
Squarespace Email Campaigns
Mailchimp
Zapier
Google Drive
For the purposes of this article, we won’t be talking about Zapier. That’s an advanced feature that requires a bit of technical knowledge. There are also other great resources out there about connecting Zapier.
Connecting Google Drive
If you’re not fully ready to commit to any system yet, you can simply connect Google Drive to connect emails. This will require you to have a Google Drive to connect to. For that option, simple select “Google Drive” on the “Storage” tab. The screen will prompt you to login to the account that you would like to connect, and it will create a Google Sheets for you! This is the easiest option, but doesn’t have any features other than collecting emails for you.
Now, the difference between Mailchimp and Squarespace Email Campaigns.
You’ve probably heard a lot about Mailchimp. They are the current industry giant when it comes to creating email campaigns. They have a LOT of power and functionality, but then again, you have to have a separate login and it doesn’t connect directly to Squarespace. The only thing that truly connects is the emails that you collect when users sign up. However, it is free up through a certain user amount! That’s definitely the main reason why a lot of people love Mailchimp.
Squarespace might not be free, but it does hook up directly with your site. So, that means you can automatically import blogs, products, and more directly into your email campaigns, without having to copy + paste text, links, or images!
Here’s a quick reference in handy chart form, detailing some of the differences between the two:
| platform | cost | automation | list segmentation | other features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | Free up to 2,000 subscribers (only one audience) | drip campaigns, welcome emails, and more | advanced - segment lists by location, behavior, etc | behavioral targeting, custom domains |
| Squarespace | $7/mo ($5/mo annually) | 6 great basic options | none | integrates with your Squarespace site |
Mailchimp: Pros and Cons
In my opinion, the largest con of Mailchimp is that it lacks integration. Although the actual user email addresses get automatically added to your Mailchimp account when users sign up on your site, that’s where the integration ends. You have to manually add blog updates, product updates, and links. Not Squarespace; all of those items are directly imported when you are working within the platform.
I would say there are two huge pros for Mailchimp. The first pro is that it’s free up to 2,000 subscribers. That is a large number, and most of my small businesses clients never even get near that, so it’s free for a while.
The second pro is the intense functionality that Mailchimp offers. Drip campaigns, mailing list segmentation, auto emails, marketing channels, a CRM - all of these items are at your fingertips with this email giant.
However, if all of the words I said above are leaving you scratching your head, then your business might not need all of those bells and whistles. If your ultimate goal is to send out a clean, monthly email and spend less than an hour on it, then Mailchimp might be too large.
Squarespace Email Campaigns: Pros and Cons
Obviously the largest cons to Squarespace Email Campaigns correlates with Mailchimp’s pros above: it’s not free, and it doesn’t have as many features or analytics. Mailchimp’s core business is email campaigns, so it makes sense that it has more to offer. Squarespace of course is a web building platform, so it’s awesome that they even add a basic email product.
Automation
They have six automation options, depending on whether you want regular automation or commerce. This is plenty for most folks:
The main pro for Squarespace that seals the deal from my perspective is that you can add a blog, product, or page link directly from the platform. You don’t have to find and seek links, you don’t have to re-copy all of that information. You simply utilize the toolbar to tell Squarespace which items you want in your email, and then it adds the image, title, and excerpt right there!
Adding a blog (click to view larger).
Which do I use for Bold August Design Studio?
If it’s not obvious from this post, I am a huge fan of Squarespace Email Campaigns. I think they’ve created an easy, on-site solution for email marketing that prevents me from having to create an entire other account with another platform. You can subscribe to my newsletter for all things Squarespace, tips & tricks, and freebies and coupons!
