Let’s start with a little honesty. We have known about Campaign Monitor for some time. While researching, we even referred to some of their blogs in the early days to gain industry perspectives. Divulging this information is uncommon, but we believe in credit when credit is due. Campaign Monitor isn't a bad solution for the features they offer. However, there are some substantial limitations that most growing small businesses cannot ignore. Let’s get into the details to help you, as it did us, learn how Tarvent differs from Campaign Monitor.
How does pricing compare?
Tarvent is different. We offer a single plan level, the “Everything Plan.” As the name implies, you get every feature without limits.
Currently, Campaign Monitor offers 3 plan levels: Lite, Essentials, and Premier. You gain access to more features as you move up in your plan level. This is typical of several Email marketing platforms.
Who is Tarvent and Campaign Monitor best suited for?
To begin with, Campaign Monitor is a speedy email marketing platform that is missing many basic features. Based on their current offering, Campaign Monitor is well-suited for small businesses just getting started in email marketing and have never been exposed to it before. There are two big challenges: price and feature set. Small businesses will quickly outgrow the platform and be forced to switch platforms.
While we know we’re biased, we believe Tarvent is the better option, regardless of your marketing skill level or company size. You get a platform you’ll never outgrow at a price comparable to many inexpensive platforms but with enterprise features.
Campaign management
Campaign editor in Tarvent
Content management with flexibility and ease of use is simply a must. However, it seems that with flexibility comes required technical skills. Luckily, Tarvent offers flexibility that even the most savvy marketers love, while Campaign Monitor focuses on the basics. The best part is that no technical skills are required, but definitely can be used.
| Tarvent |
Campaign Monitor |
| Send a campaign to an unlimited number of groups and segments within your audience |
Campaigns can be sent to multiple lists (audiences) or segments, causing duplicate emails to the same recipient. |
| From name and email address can be pulled from a contacts profile. |
Basic personalization support with no logic or data formatting |
| From domain enforces verification to adhere to new Gmail and Yahoo rules for the best deliverability |
Supported, but difficult to configure with limited options |
| Subject line supports personalization, conditional content logic, and emojis |
Limited personalization support and no conditional content support. |
| AI-powered content generation for subject lines, preheader, and email content |
No AI-generation content support for subject line or preheader |
| Inbox preview to see what how your email looks in Gmail, Outlook, and iCloud Mail. |
No inbox preview |
| Custom header support for external system integration |
No custom header support |
| Operational email support allowing you to send emails to unsubscribed contacts when the email is about business operation changes. |
No operational email support |
| Auto-resend rules tell Tarvent to try resending an email if specific bounce types occur, such as a block. |
No manageable rety rules |
| Track replies in Tarvent as well as via email forwarded to a specified email address |
No support for email forwarding. Reply emails go directly to configured email address so no out-of-office or other junk replies can be filtered out. |
| Social media share configuration so your emails are shared using image and descriptions you specify |
Basic social share support, no support to control how the share looks in the feed. |
| Support for drag-and-drop, code, and AMP-based email designers |
No AMP support |
| Drag-and-drop editor has extensive styling options and editing controls including wizard-based personalization and conditional content logic generation so you never have to remember syntax. |
Minimal design control. Everyone's emails look very similar. Rudimentary conditional content control. |
| Campaign testing with support for custom profiles, multiple email address, and more to see exactly what will be sent each contact based on their profile. |
Limited campaign testing tool cannot provide a custom profile to meet specific testing needs. |
| Link checker verifies are your campaign links are working before you send. |
No link checker provided. |
| Campaign previewer to see your email on desktop, tablet, and mobile in landscape and portrait mode with custom profile support. |
Basic preview only |
| Show more |
Template management
Template editor in Tarvent
Templates are the way to go when creating email campaigns with consistent branding, layout, and styling. They save time, ensure consistency, and help you be more efficient with less chance of errors. While both platforms allow for custom templates, Tarvent again stands out as the clear leader with advanced control over every aspect of your template.
| Tarvent |
Campaign Monitor |
| Drag-and-drop, HTML code, plain text, and AMP support |
No AMP template support, very limited template options for all supported formats. |
| Set specific areas of the template as read-only so they cannot be changed within a campaign or Journey email using the template. |
No read-only or lock-down support |
| Feature-rich code editor with color coding, collapsible code sections, and wizard-based tools to insert personalization, conditional content logic, and data formatting. |
Basic code editor with no conditional content wizard or data formatting options. You need to read their guides to learn syntax. |
| Template testing with support for multiple email address, and more to see how the template renders in your various email clients |
No template testing tools provided. |
| Link checker verifies are your template links are working before you send. |
No link checker provided. |
| Template previewer to see your email on desktop, tablet, and mobile in landscape and portrait mode. |
Elementary preview only |
| Show more |
Automation
Journey editor in Tarvent
There cannot be enough said about the power of a robust automation solution. Never missing an opportunity, reacting at the perfect time, and ensuring your contact's experience is perfectly curated can be enabled using Tarvent's incredibly feature-rich automation engine. Meanwhile, Campaign Monitor "technically" checks the feature box by offering automation; their platform simply doesn’t compete.
| Tarvent |
Campaign Monitor |
| Create journeys based on previous journeys, standard journey templates, or from scratch. |
Fewer standard journey templates and no ability to copy an existing journey (automation) |
| Unlimited entry triggers can be created to control how contacts enter the journey. |
Only one entry trigger per journey supported |
| Unlimited exit triggers to remove a contact from a journey when specific conditions are met or events occur |
No exit trigger support |
| 16+ journey actions can be performed |
Only two actions supported |
| 9+ journey flow controls are supported, including more advanced engagement splits, decision splits, and more. |
Only two rules (flow controls) are supported |
| Split flow controls support up to 10 different paths |
Limited to true/false paths based on email or shopping activity only, with no profile support. |
| Ability to add step conditions allowing a step to be performed only if conditions are met. Otherwise, the contact skips the step and moves on the next stop. |
No step conditions supported |
| True multivariate email testing allowed multiple variations to be automatically tested, with the winning varioation going to future journey contacts. |
No multivariate or A/B testing support |
| Create goals and conversions either globally to the journey or at a specific point in the journey to better track progress of each contact. |
No support for goals and conversions. |
| Ability to allow contacts to enter a journey multiple times simultaneously. |
No support for contacts to be in a journey more than once simultaneously. |
| Flow report shows the most popular path as well as the conversion and attrition rate for each step in the journey to quickly identify areas of improvement. |
No flow reporting supported |
| Detailed reporting for the overall journey as well as robust campaign-level reporting for each email sent within a journey. |
Only basic reporting provided. |
| Show more |
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Landing pages
Landing page editor in Tarvent
Growing your audience base is a primary goal of many marketers. Landing pages enable you to optimize your lead acquisition and even lead retention by effectively pairing ads and landing pages to collect your prospect's information and permission to communicate with them using the marketing channel with the highest ROI, email marketing.
| Tarvent |
Mailchimp |
| Ability to create landing pages from standard templates, previously created landing pages, or from scratch. |
No landing page support, just sign-up pages that are synonymous with landing pages |
| Extensive page customization including SEO tags, favicon, page width, and more. |
No landing page support |
| Multiple Calls-to-Action (CTAs) supported aand allowed on a single page including forms, buttons, and image links. |
No landing page support |
| Support for personalization and conditional content |
No landing page support |
| Ability to display an inline confirmation message, dialog-based confirmation message, a completely customizable confirmation page, or navigate to an external confirmation page. |
No landing page support |
| Ability to preview your landing page on mobile, tablet, or desktop in landscape or portrait mode from your browser. |
No landing page support |
| Ability to add sent a notification emails, including form data, so you know when someone has submitted the form |
No landing page support |
| Journey integration when specific landing page-related events occur. |
No landing page support |
| Detailed reporting for each form or other CTA, as well as page-level reporting |
No landing page support |
| Show more |
Surveys
Survey editor in Tarvent
Have you ever heard that the most intelligent people ask more questions and talk less? Surveys are our way of providing you with the tools you need to ask questions and give your customers a voice. Learn what your customers like about your products or services. Even better, learn what you can improve to gain even more customers. Like many other platform areas, surveys are not supported by Campaign Monitor, while Tarvent's well-planned intuitive interface leaves little desired that isn't currently supported.
| Tarvent |
Campaign Monitor |
| Ability to create surveys from standard templates, previously created surveys, or from scratch. |
No survey support |
| Extensive page customization including SEO tags, favicon, page width, and more. |
No survey support |
| 9+ question types including matrix-style questions, birthday, and more. |
No survey support |
| Optionally map survey questions to audience data fields allowing known contact’s profiles to be updated and unknown contacts to be added. |
No survey support |
| Ability to display an inline confirmation message, dialog-based confirmation message, a completely customizable confirmation page, or navigate to an external confirmation page. |
No survey support |
| Ability to preview your survey on mobile, tablet, or desktop in landscape or portrait mode from your browser. |
No survey support |
| Ability to add sent a notification emails, including form data, so you know when someone has submitted the form |
No survey support |
| Complete control over every aspect that interacts with the visitor for consistant branding and customer experience. |
No survey support |
| Journey integration when specific survey-related events occur. |
No survey support |
| Detailed reporting including page bounces, partial/complete submissions, and question and answer-level reporting details |
No survey support |
| Show more |
Digital asset management
Image library in Tarvent
Whether you have been in email marketing for a short period or years, managing all the images, files, and related content can be challenging. Tarvent's library gives you the organizational tools to organize your digital assets into folders, using tags and more.
| Tarvent |
Campaign Monitor |
| List and folder view with support for multiple folder levels |
Can only view images in various editors, no central management |
| Tagging support enabling view filtering for all assets with specific tags. |
No tag support |
| Store images, PDFs, content blocks, and more |
Limited only to images and files, no reusable content blocks |
| Content blocks allow for standardized reusable content such as email footers, page headers, and more. |
No concept of content blocks supported |
| Ability to search for a file based on the system-generated URL, which is helpful when working with code-your-own templates. |
Minimal search options |
| Ability to overwrite existing images and files with newer versions so templates, campaigns, and other items don’t have to be updated when a new version of a file is uploaded. This works with images for emails that have already been sent too! |
No overwrite support provided |
Transactional email
Transaction code generator in Tarvent
Have you ever forgotten a password or ordered a product online? Those emails you receive are considered transactional emails and are instrumental in promptly providing your customers and prospects with the information they request. Tarvent's transactional email platform allows you to send emails from any third-party application, whether web-based, mobile, or desktop application or an internal application behind firewalls. Let the marketing team manage the look and feel of the email. At the same time, developers provide the transactional data your contacts need.
| Tarvent |
Campaign Monitor |
| Integrated transactional email support |
Must pick between smart or classic. Limitations with each option. |
| Extensive integration with templates allowing the same functionality as campaigns but with transactional email |
Limited template support, must use smart |
| Drag-and-drop template and code-your-own editors |
Limited template support, must use smart |
| Data formatters provide extensive formatting options for your data, including defaults if data is missing |
No support |
| Wizards assist in inserting transactional data variables, conditional content, and data formatting options |
No support |
| Suppression list support for both transactional and marketing emails managed at the account level |
No support |
| Form-based code generator and testing tools, which support every option, allowing developers to send their first email in minutes with no need for documentation review. |
No support |
| Extensive reporting based on your custom-defined email types, sender domain, recipient domain, custom meta data, tags, and more. |
Very basic reporting |
| Customizable auto-rety rules to handle bounce issues that should be retried, such as temporary blocks. |
No support |
| SMTP support with every feature supported with our API-based option. |
Must use "classic", which doesn’t support templates, requires several custom headers. |
| Show more |
Reporting
Edit contact screen in Tarvent
Some marketers view reporting as the ultimate tool to determine whether their marketing efforts are working. We're pretty sure the strongest believers of reporting have used Tarvent, demanded more, and delivered. We leave no rock unturned, no question unanswered, and more importantly, provide every bit of data in a way that isn't overwhelming to the novice, as well as not aggravating to the pro marketing that needs immense data immediately. Our reporting aims always to provide the most precise picture so you can make the most informed decisions.
| Tarvent |
Campaign Monitor |
| Extensive reporting leaving no question unanswered with every detail available online or via exports. |
Limited detailed reporting, not sufficient for experienced marketings. |
| Report center providing access to all reports in a single location |
No concept of a report center |
| Report-only user support allowing executives a simple-to-use Tarvent interface that is limited to just the reports |
No report-only access |
| Custom reports developed by Tarvent based on your specific needs. You control distribution and if the report should run while we take care of the data preparation and security for Personal Indentifiable Information (PII). |
No custom reporting options |
Conclusion
Tarvent’s robust set of features is hard to beat. While Campaign Monitor offers a zippy interface with a basic design, it lacks many features other competitors offer, including Tarvent.
With Tarvent, regardless of your marketing skills, company size, or requirements, you will have everything you need to get the most out of your marketing efforts.
While we didn’t touch on security, our API, or many other aspects of these two platforms, rest assured that our granular security lets you control who has access and what they can do. Our security also protects Personal Identifiable Information (PII) through various means. Lastly, our GraphQL-based API gives you every capability our platform offers because our platform uses the same API you can access for your needs.
While Tarvent's features are extensive, we provide an intuitive platform where novice and advanced marketers can be productive without getting lost. As you learn, you can discover the never-ending number of features Tarvent delivers, giving you the ultimate control over every touchpoint made with your contacts.
TL;DR
Too much to read? We get it. We wanted to be thorough, almost to a fault.
The bottom line is that while Campaign Monitor checks the boxes for having desired functionality, the functionality is lacking even some of the industry-standard basics.
While it’s fair to say that Tarvent is a much more feature-rich platform, we also feel the target marketing for each is very different. If you’re a very small business that doesn’t do a lot of email marketing, Campaign Monitor may work. However, if you plan to grow your business using the most effective marketing channel with the highest ROI, Tarvent is your platform!
To be fair, Campaign Monitor does offer features that are not currently supported by Tarvent. We’re a growing brand that will soon have many missing features but with extensive functionality that will surpass their current features.
Tarvent is inexpensive, has a single "Everything plan," and affords you some obvious add-ons as you dive deeper into marketing. By inexpensive, we’re talking about $25/mo compared to Campaign Monitor’s $149/mo plan, which still doesn’t offer what Tarvent does.
If you want bells, whistles, and cool stuff that makes you a marketing rockstar, Tarvent is perfect for you!
If you would like to know more about the differences between Tarvent and MailChimp, we have a few options for you:
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