“We use Mailchimp – isn’t that enough?”
We often hear this question when marketing processes in medium-sized companies grow – and suddenly no longer just about newsletters. It’s about leads, sales follow-ups, events, segmentations and automated journeys across multiple channels. However, not all marketing automation is the same. And this is exactly where the difference lies.
In this article, we’ll compare Dynamics 365 Marketing Automation (Customer Insights – Journeys) to Mailchimp, one of the most well-known email marketing tools in the world—and show which tool really fits your needs and strategic goals.
Two tools – different scopes
Mailchimp
Strengths as a newsletter tool with automation features:
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Intuitive interface, ideal for getting started
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Automations based on email triggers
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Segmentations, A/B testing, simple landing pages
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Attractively priced for small businesses
Typical use case:
“We send out regular email newsletters and simply want to manage new subscribers.”
What Mailchimp delivers: Clean email campaigns, visual editing, simple automations.
Dynamics 365 Marketing Automation
Strengths as a comprehensive marketing & sales orchestration:
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Fully integrated customer journeys (email, SMS, events, forms, triggers)
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Real-time tracking of reactions – connected to CRM processes
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Targeted lead nurturing processes for complex B2B sales cycles
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Native connection to Power BI, Teams, Outlook, Sales & Copilot AI
Typical use case:
“Our customers go through long decision-making processes – we have to accompany them individually for weeks and then hand them over to sales.”
What Dynamics delivers: Customized journeys, qualification with lead scoring, handover to sales with context and history.
Important Difference: Email vs. Customer Journey
Mailchimp is a strong tool to get you started – but if you take the next step, you’ll quickly notice:
Email is just one channel. Marketing is a process.
With Dynamics 365 CI – Journeys, you can orchestrate all steps around your customer:
✅ Visitor fills out form
✅ Automatic scoring & segmentation
✅ Relevant content – automated & cross-channel
✅ Sales handover with complete history
✅ Reporting in Power BI
With Mailchimp, many of these steps remain separate in tools – or simply don’t take place.
Comparison at a glance
| Function | Mailchimp | Dynamics 365 Marketing |
|---|---|---|
| Email campaigns | ✅ Very strong | ✅ Integrated with Journeys |
| Lead Scoring & Segmentation | ❌ Restricted | ✅ Dynamic & CRM-supported |
| Sales handover & follow-up | ❌ Only via workarounds | ✅ Seamless in Sales module |
| Multi-channel communication (SMS, events, teams) | ❌ Only through third-party providers | ✅ Natively possible |
| Integration with BI & AI | ❌ Hardly any | ✅ Power BI & Copilot integrated |
| Data Protection/GDPR Control | ✅ Standard features | ✅ Granular & Configurable |
Conclusion
Mailchimp is great for:
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Small businesses that primarily send email campaigns
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Marketing teams without deep IT/CRM connection
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First automation processes with manageable goals
Dynamics 365 Marketing Automation is a better choice if:
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Email is just one channel of many
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Marketing should be closely interlinked with Sales, BI & Events
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Customer experiences are systematically managed over weeks
Our recommendation
If you use Mailchimp and notice:
“We’re reaching our limits – we really want to develop, segment, and hand over leads to sales,” … should check out Dynamics 365 Customer Insights. Not as a replacement for a newsletter, but as a platform for structured, scalable marketing.
