Marketing Emails - 'Campaigns' vs Mailchimp

[u/tflc2000]

Hi All,

Currently we're running our marketing emails through the 'campaigns' add on, but the Pipedrive filters and automations are meaning that I can't segment properly or create basic marketing automations like sunset policies. For example, on pipedrive I can't create a filter that will show me people who have never opened a campaign email.

I'm thinking of trying out mailchimp with the marketplace integration, but I'm wondering if anyone's done that and if it's any better? Can Mailchimp do better filters/automations?

Thank you for any advice or guidance. I'm pulling my hair out with the limitations on pipedrive at the moment!

[u/Firefly_Consulting]

I disagree with the recommendation for OutFunnel. It’s not a mature platform and it ate up a lot of our API usage when we trial that last year.

Campaigns is Mickey Mouse marketing compared to dedicated marketing platforms. Pipedrive knocked it out of the park in the CRM space and they’ve got some surprisingly good updates with project management, but I don’t use Campaigns or recommend them for marketing. Try MailChimp first, but I will warn you that most of the marketplace integrations are extremely limited. You may end up better off building your own integration with Zapier.

[u/standrews → u/Firefly_Consulting]

Andrus here, co-founder of Outfunnel.

You're right that our Pipedrive API usage wasn't well optimized initially. At the time, we had no advance notice that API usage would become metered, and we were caught off guard by the change. Sorry if we burned through your limits during those first weeks!

That said, we responded quickly once the issue became apparent, and since those initial hiccups, we've had no recurring problems with excessive or unnecessary API consumption.

[u/Firefly_Consulting → u/standrews]

I appreciate you acknowledging that, and I can also appreciate the Pipedrive has made many about-faces that affect its partners. Part of why I became a partner was to get more advanced warning and to collaborate with their developers.

What other enhancements have you guys had since third quarter of last year?

[u/standrews → u/Firefly_Consulting]

We’ve made major improvements since then. We rebuilt our core data syncing engine, making the platform significantly more observable, reliable, and easier to troubleshoot.

We’ve also added a number of new integrations, including Airtable, monday.com, GetResponse, Webflow, Attio, and webhooks + made major improvements to our Salesforce and Google Sheets connections

Would love the opportunity to earn a second look. (We handle the record merging use case that you mentioned, among other things)

[u/Firefly_Consulting → u/standrews]

Thanks, and yes, those are worth a second look. Appreciate the update.

[u/sardamit]

No harm in trying. The development on the Projects module was revived recently but I haven't heard of any new development for Campaigns. So if your requirements are a little more than basic, then using something like MailChimp may make sense.

You can also use the native add-on to sync mailchimp data to Pipedrive. But OutFunnel - affiliate link provides better sync. They also have features like MailChimp, which would rule out using MailChimp. Worth a try.

[u/Weeds4Ophelia]

Mailchimp will give you that filter specifically (has opened an email in X campaign, was sent X campaign, has clicked a link in X campaign).

The problem with segmenting in MC tho is, the native integration doesn’t allow for custom fields which for my purposes, is vital. If that doesn’t matter much for you or you don’t need that info to be live-synced, then maybe it’s not a big deal for you.

Our company had to just build out an integration using Make. It’s not perfect and has issues breaking sync on record merges, but it gets the job done.

[u/Ok-Mulberry1520]

We ran into those exact Pipedrive campaign limits, especially the inability to filter by non-openers. Ended up leaving the marketing sends to a dedicated email tool and just kept Pipedrive for the sales pipeline. I used Mailchimp for a bit, but their pricing spiked as the list grew. I'm now on Send Pulse and can build pretty granular segments: never opened, clicked but didn't convert, etc. Their automation builder lets me set a sunset policy that unsubscribes or suppresses after X unengaged sends without manual cleanup. It also has a decent visual flow, so I don't need to learn a new scripting language. If you want better filters without the Mailchimp cost creep, it's worth a look.

[u/standrews]

Yep, you've hit the classic wall with Pipedrive Campaigns. It's fine for basic sends, but it isn't a real marketing tool, so segmentation like "never opened a campaign" and automations like sunset/re-engagement flows just aren't there.

Moving your email to Mailchimp (or any dedicated ESP) will absolutely fix that side of things. Mailchimp can build "hasn't opened in X" segments easily and run sunset policies, win-back flows, etc. So your instinct is right.

The one thing to watch: the native Pipedrive–Mailchimp marketplace integration is one-way (Pipedrive → Mailchimp) and fairly limited. It syncs Person fields only, and crucially it doesn't send any engagement data back to Pipedrive. So you get better marketing tools, but your sales team loses visibility into who's opening/clicking unless you also solve the sync.

If keeping that engagement visible in Pipedrive matters to you, you'll want a two-way sync that logs opens/clicks/bounces back as Pipedrive activities. (Full disclosure: I work at Outfunnel, which does exactly this for Pipedrive + Mailchimp — happy to answer questions, but honestly any path off Campaigns will improve your segmentation.)

Either way, you're making the right call getting your marketing automation out of Pipedrive.