Hey John - 

I was in the middle of typing this out and my computer crashed

I hope this is the right place in the forum to post this.  I'd really appreciate your feedback on this, as I know you've always strongly recommended Aweber.

This is the first time since starting my mailing list & beginning your courses, that I'm thinking to switch over to Aweber from Mailchimp.  I was originally gonna go with Aweber anyway but was told that one of the benefits of using Mailchimp is that it has the ability to do Facebook retargeting, and I think maybe a few other options that would make running FB ads easier and more targeted for getting new fans.  That said, I don't believe I ever even used those options anyway.  I didn't actually start to experiment with FB ads in-depth til 2020.

I do think it's great that Mailchimp integrates with FB ads seamlessly, so it automatically can pull up my mailing list without me having to export subscribers when I'm creating audiences.  I don't know if Aweber has that option or not.

Here's why I'm thinking to move over to Aweber.  This past week I was going to set up an automation using the email series from your "win your fans back" re-engagement training...and then inside Mailchimp, I realized, I can no longer create a series of multiple emails with triggers, etc...

Mailchimp has a new pricing plan, and I'd have to upgrade to their $80 a month standard plan to be able to create an automation with multiple emails in it with rules, etc... that's $30 more per month than what I'm currently paying.  I guess this slipped past me since this whole last year I was only sending out live broadcasts anyway.

I went over to Aweber to look at their pricing, and I see that their pro plan is $49 monthly for the same amount of subscribers I already have...that's $30 less than what Mailchimp charges monthly. 

So, I was thinking, what extra features does Mailchimp have that Aweber doesn't?  I spoke to support at both Mailchimp & Aweber.

So, I'm just quoting what Mailchimp said to me here:

"the Standard plan comes with Predicted Demographics, custom coded templates, Google remarketing ads/Facebook retargeting ads, send-time optimization, and other features. That's in addition to the features that are part of every plan like A/B testing and ecommerce integrations." 

And this is what Aweber said to me after I told them what Mailchimp said:

"We do have hundreds of templates that you can use and customize. We also have an in-house design team that can create a custom coded template if you would like. We do also have split tests available on our AWeber Pro plan where you can test your content to see which performs better. You can split test subject lines, the body of the messages, send times, etc. We don't have predicted demographics, but if we collect the IP address from when the subscriber sign up, we can give a location based on their IP address. We don't have a feature for Google or Facebook retargeting ads."

So, that's where I left off...and I'm sitting here thinking to myself, are the differences between these two platforms worth me paying an extra $30 a month at Mailchimp?  

I know you've been with Aweber since you started email marketing.  I don't really want to make a switch, but why should I pay an extra $30 a month that I don't need to spend if Aweber has everything I could need to build a mailing list effectively?  Aweber said they would migrate everything over for me if I did switch, so that would be nice - I'm hoping their migration includes segments and tags...

It seems to me that the biggest difference is in predicted demographics and retargeting ads for FB and Google.

I'd really love to know your take on this... is it possible that I'm missing something else that is causing Mailchimp to be so much pricier?  Aweber actually has phone support too, which MC does not.  But Mailchimp did mail me a knitted monkey winter hat that looked like a grandma made it by hand...but aside from that...I dunno why else I should stay.

Any feedback would be awesome thank you!

Paul