Convertkit vs. Flodesk: Why I Changed Email Marketing
Note: After 3 years with Flodesk, I have seen then moved to Active Campaign, which is more aligned with my new goals in 2023. You can read more about it here.
It’s official. I said goodbye to Convertkit and hello to Flodesk. Want to know why? Keep on reading…
HOW I STARTED WRITING NEWSLETTERS FOR MY WELLNESS BUSINESS WITH MAILCHIMP
I began creating newsletters back in 2009 for my spa business, using Mailchimp. I enjoyed my monthly ritual of sharing our business's promotions and events and a little bit about my ponderings. Over the years, I had grown our list to more than 1000 members. We moved location twice, so keeping the connection with our clients has proven to be instrumental to our business's successful continuation.
DISCOVERING THE WORLD OF "EMAIL FUNNELS" AND "LEAD MAGNETS"
I moved to Istanbul 4 years ago, sold my business after a year, and started this current business from scratch with a different concept. I played a bit with email marketing, lead magnets, and funnels as I was taking online courses in digital marketing. These are the lead magnets I had created back then!
You have a free guide on your website, someone fills an online form to receive it, and enters your email database. Then the person receives a series of automated emails. The end goal is to warm them up until they are ready for your upsell-But I didn't have anything to sell at that time.
THE MAJOR DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAILCHIMP, ACTIVE CAMPAIGN, AND CONVERTKIT
Mailchimp was originally for newsletters, so I immediately saw the limitations it had in terms of email funnels. It was a long and complicated process to set up a simple email funnel in Mailchimp, and I quickly switched to Active Campaign.
Active Campaign was cheaper than Convertkit. Both interfaces are similar, but I found Active Campaign to be slightly more user-friendly than Convertkit. Then I was bored with it and moved to Convertkit.
The strength of these platforms lies in tagging your "leads" and creating customized funnels according to your followers' interests and how they interact with your content. The other side of the coin was that I could not get beautiful newsletters done in either Active Campaign or Convertkit- even after adding CSS codes in it (yes, I also invested in a course to customize my newsletters with codes!). The interfaces were sterile and "techy"-Logging in always turned me off. This is how my email looked like with Active Campaign:
The sad consequence was that I was always dreading to write newsletters, so they were irregular and inconsistent. I didn't have something to sell to create an email funnel, either. Anyway, I had a baby in the meantime, and my priority changed.
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT WITH FLODESK
After I was back from my extended maternity leave last year, I focused first on my long-term goals, overall brand strategy, and brand graphics.
Just as I was going to deploy my message, I discovered Flodesk and immediately fell in love with it. Flodesk is a happy marriage between creating beautiful newsletters and building simple email funnels- not the complex one with all the bells and whistles. For the first time, I signed up for an entire year- and I did it wholeheartedly.
My first newsletter in Flodesk:
I was so excited to finally work with a platform that had a pretty and intuitive interface, alongside clean and modern templates. I'd say that Flodesk is the Squarespace for email service. Active Campaign and Convertkit is the Wordpress of email service. The latest will be suitable for a specific type of entrepreneur, not me- at least not for now. Who knows, maybe in the future when I need more sophisticated email funnels I will go back to them?
WHAT I DID IN 5 MONTHS WITH FLODESK
Finally, after three years of trial and error with email service providers, I can say that I've sent six letters since December 2019. I've also created a free productivity and time management email course for those who are just starting out.
I have a small list of engaged readers, and since I’ve been using Flodesk, I receive sweet words from my readers each time I send it out!
It's a real treat to get on my desk once a month with my latte and write my newsletter. I have streamlined the process of writing a newsletter since 2009, so it takes me 30 minutes to do this.
CONCLUSION: WHY I RECOMMEND FLODESK
If you want to create newsletters
Flodesk has the prettiest templates and user interface, with a modern and clean look.
It’s easier and faster to create your newsletter in Flodesk than in Mailchimp.
Unlike Convertkit, you don’t need to use codes to make in on-brand with your colors.
If you want to create email funnels
It’s a more minimal and straightforward funnel compared to Convertkit and Active Campaign.
It’s easier to set up and manage than in Mailchimp, Convertkit, or Active Campaign.
You can design the emails on-brand without using coding.
If you don’t want to code, Flodesk is a no brainer.
If you care about the esthetic and want something modern and clean, Flodesk is a no brainer.
If you are not a techy person and want something easy, Flodesk is a no brainer.
If you have a tight budget
Flodesk’s price is unbeatable: You have 50% off as a beta tester with my affiliate link, which makes it 19$ / month instead of 38$. That price is the same no matter the size of your list. On top of this, when you pay annually, you get one month for free!
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