Introduction Email Marketing Software For Nonprofits
When I asked you to name an email Marketing tool, what would you say? Email Marketing Software For Nonprofits
MailChimp? Aweber? ActiveCampaign?
Like many online businesses now, email advertising has been Dominated by the identical large players for the last ten years. Which means they get encouraged very deeply and achieve a great deal of mindshare.
Now and then, however, an Underdog disrupts the market, inducing long-time users to question their loyalties.
MailerLite has done exactly that.
So today, in this short article, I will be tearing MailerLite from limb To limb to find out whether it really stands its own ground against the big boys…
…and, what’s more, whether youshould consider making the switch.
MailerLite Gains
– Uses tag-based system (called Groups)
– Powerful Segmentation using principles
– Custom Fields for innovative email personalization
– Advanced Campaign types (auto-resend, A/B, etc.. )
– Simple to Utilize email builder/template editor
– Practical Email components for example countdowns and merchandise boxes
– Intuitive Form, popup and landing page builder
– Supports Automations using visual workflows
– Offers Both digestible and comprehensive reporting
– A Fraction of the price compared to most other options
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MailerLite Disadvantages
– Strict Approval procedure
– Few email Templates accessible
– Very few Form templates available
– Can’t Create mails without leaving the visual workflow builder
– No Support for site monitoring Email Marketing Software For Nonprofits
Sign-up Procedure
Like most email advertising providers Nowadays, you will need to Go through a review process before being able to correctly use the program.
When you first register, you’ll be asked to finish your profile.
This includes information such as your company name, website, Industry, address, company size, record size and even the type of content you intend to send.
Then, you need to verify your Website (or domain name).
This remains part of the acceptance process, and MailerLite will Simply ask which email is associated to that domain in order that they can email you a verification link.
Once you’ve completed those Steps, you ought to wait it out.
The MailerLite team will review your application, check your Website, and ascertain whether you’re a good fit for their service.
(Quite simply, they are making sure you’re not a spammer/scammer)
As shown above, you’ll still be Able to use the software to make campaigns and perform with the features, but you will not be able to send anything before approved.
I had been”partially” approved within a few hours, which gave me a Temporary limit of 500 subscribers.
Here’s what the email said:
Annoying, certain.
But while these measures aren’t ideal for getting started, it Does help prevent malicious users from hurting everybody’s deliverability.
Campaigning
If you are anything like me, you’ll rely upon automations to handle The majority of your email advertising.
(We’ll get to automations shortly, do not worry.)
But whether it is a new blog post, podcast, or timely Announcement, there’s always a reason to send a more instant email.
That’s where’Campaigns’ come in.
Clicking the new’Produce Campaign’ will provide you several options.
– Regular effort: A Conventional broadcast email.
– A/B split effort: Multiple email Versions, including subject line, from name and, yes, even email content. (Woop!)
– Auto resend: Resend to readers who Do not start your broadcast email, with the option of changing the subject line and email content.
– RSS effort: Create a recurring campaign That sends fresh content to subscribers using your website’s RSS feed.
Aside from a few additional options, most of these will follow The exact same step-by-step procedure of a normal effort.
So let’s walk you through it.
As Soon as You click to create your campaign, you’ll be asked to Select a preferred editor, whether that’s the dragn’ drop, rich text or HTML.
You can change to the Templates tab and select from one of their pre-designed email templates — that will move you into the dragn’ drop editor by default.
At the time of writing, there are 21 email templates to choose From which is somewhat on the low side, but the layouts are super contemporary.
And, of course, if you’d just Like to reuse a previous email, you can click on the’Recent Emails’ tab.
For this example, I’ll choose the first template from the library.
The editor is easy to work with, Which makes viewing these templates a 5-minute job.
You can also use the cubes in the sidebar to add different Types of articles to your email, including videos, merchandise columns, and social connections.
After making your changes, just click’Done Editing’ and you’ll Be carried to the recipients’ options where you can select your classes or segments.
The advanced tab also allows one To build segment-like rules , in the event your targeting isn’t quite perfect.
Finally, before sending, then you’ll get into the’Program’ screen.
This is where you control if your broadcast email should go Out, if that’s instantly, at a set time/date, or in accordance with your subscribers time zones.
Impressive, right? Email Marketing Software For Nonprofits
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Managing Your Clients
Possessing granular control over your subscribers is arguably one of The most important facets of any email marketing program now.
Why?
Because highly personalized campaigns Are Essential if You’re looking to increase opens, clicks, and, above all, your conversions.
And while most providers allow you to”label” readers in order To target them effectively, MailerLite utilizes a slightly different strategy.
When you start up your subscriber dashboard, you’ll notice two Choices; Segments and Groups.
Segments are basically principles.
Your readers belong to a segment only when they meet the Specified rules, and will be automatically added or eliminated so.
Here is what setting up a rule looks like:
Notice the way you can even blend Principles, as well as an alternate rule when the first doesn’t exist.
Pretty smart, eh?
The following tab is for classes, and also the difference in name, These act much like your usual”tagging” system.
(MailerLite even debated Changing the name to’Tags’, but ultimately decided against it.)
Contrary to Segments, Groups are updated manually or via an Automation principle — that we will get into in a moment — and they have no value besides what you actually call them.
As you Begin to use this platform, you’ll begin to understand At which Segments and Groups are typically used, however, MailerLite delivers a hand in case you’re unsure:
Basically, groups are more of a Deliberate action on a per-subscriber basis, whereas Segments allow you to bulge multiple contributors together based on a common denominator.
A tad confusing, I’ll admit… but I feel it’s a fair trade-off For the added flexibility. In any case, they’re discretionary.
Last, the’Fields’ tab is used to personalize your email copy.
You will notice that MailerLite has Already populated this area with their own fields, such as name, company, and nation.
If You Would like to create your own custom fields, you can do this by Clicking the’Add new field’ button.
So how do they actually work?
You can either upload a CSV record of your readers along with Your custom field information in separate columns… or can simply add these fields to a types which will only apply to prospective subscribers.
Here’s a screenshot of a test area I created and added to a form:
I will not go too much into the form Stuff here because I have an entire section on this below, but this is the strategy I would recommend if you wanted to use this attribute.
Again, once you’ve gathered your custom field information from fresh Subscribers, you can pull them in to your email content and subject line.
Just click the’Personalization’ drop down and select your Customized field.
I am barely scratching the surface Of what is possible with custom fields, but it’s important to understand that this is a feature you may use.
Overall, it is fair to say MailerLite has their contributor Direction and personalization features on stage. Email Marketing Software For Nonprofits
Landing pages.
If you’re not impressed with what you’ve seen up to Now, then maybe The webpage builder will tickle your fancy.
After selecting’Landing Pages’ in the forms page, then you’ll be Able to select from 8 pre-designed templates.
Again, while the template selection Is not winning any awards, but it does offer a fantastic base to work from if, for example the majority people, you don’t have that natural eye for layout.
I went ahead and chosen the’Lead Generation’ template, however They all ultimately do the same task; collect an email address.
This time, the editor will Provide you 17 building blocks to Further build or change your landing page.
Now, I have used my fair share of Visual page builders, and it is already better than some dedicated alternatives *cough* WPBakery.
Together with the fundamental building blocks, you can use elements like Hero sections, popup buttons, testimonials and countdown timers.
No, it won’t be replacing landing Page builders like Thrive Architect or LeadPagesanytime shortly, but credit where credit due, this thing over-delivers on all 3 form types.
Form Builder Tool
Unlike some email advertising tools, MailerLite really Provides a Adequate set of form building tools.
Also, but you can also create popups and landing pages Through this same interface, so there’s a whole lot to cover here.
Let’s start with your Bog-standard embedded form.
These forms are created inside MailerLite so as to get An embed code, which you can then put on your website to show it on specific pages.
Despite starting off super fundamental, the form designer allows you To customize everything in the form style, fields, background, title, enter fields and, clearly, the button.
Form text can also be edited directly, which Provides you a Opportunity To visualize your backup in real time.
It would have been nice to have Some templates here, but as you know, there’s more to a form than simply its appearance.
Clicking the’Settings’ tab will allow you to configure how the Form functions, including adding extra fields and setting a custom success page.
(There is a GDPR compliance alternative. Sweet.)
And speaking of the success page…
…MailerLite also enables you to customize the default message, That can replace the embedded form also prevents users .
Last but surely not least, you Can assess the way your form screens on mobile by switching the toggle to responsive mode.
You won’t Have the Ability to make any design changes , but it makes Sense to check, nevertheless.
So that’s an overview of the Embedded form but like I said before, you can also create popup forms in MailerLite.
While the Vast Majority of this setup process is identical, there are A few differences I’d love to point out.
Unlike embedded forms, you can choose between a set of Templates:
While this isn’t the most In depth choice, they do provide a good base to work from and the editor is at least as easy to use with this form kind.
Clicking on the’E-commerce’ template requires me to a preview Before moving to the editor.
Here, you’ll notice there are a few new choices under form types Now around:
Contemplating paid tools such as Thrive Leads exist for ribbons and slide-in forms, it is pretty impressive to observe this level of control over popup forms.
And, like before, you can play with the styling options to get it Matched up with your own branding.
Finally, you can choose the near Behavior of your form under the’Settings’ tab.
The default option is that the X icon, but you can swap this out for A”No thanks” text option, or have .
That is where most email Marketing platforms would leave you, but MailerLite has one more trick up its sleeve.
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Reporting & Analytics
Like many tools, you’ll find a summary of your effort Statistics in the dashboard.
Here you’ll see everything from campaign open and click data, Subscriber growth, automation stats, and kind signups.
Clicking into any campaign will Give you special reporting for this effort.
This is where you’ll find a few more advanced statistics such as Unsubscribes, spam complaints, bounces, studying surroundings, email client and much more.
This should be plenty of Information for the average consumer…
…but if you really want To dig into the numbers, you can click into different areas of this report to get a more detailed breakdown.
You can find some real gems beneath These reports.
For example, the’View Email’ tab also shows a click map, so It’s possible to see your readers interacted to one another.
Reports for automations are Available under the’Automations’ tab, although I found to be less insightful than effort reports.
Here’s a Fast example:
Total, MailerLite does a Stellar job with their reporting port, and most will get the available statistics more than sufficient to fulfill their needs.
Email Automation
What is email marketing without a dashboard of automation?
For most reading this, MailerLite’s automation capabilities Could easily make or break this review.
The great news? If you have ever used a visual workflow builder, You will immediately feel at home here…
Much like the rest of MailerLite, The automations interface is simple, clean and simple to navigate — something that certainly can not be said for every email advertising software.
After setting your trigger, you can Start adding measures to your workflow.
These steps could be anything from sending an email, including a Delay, a conditional split, or an act, such as transferring a subscriber or updating their records.
Here’s a straightforward workflow I set together, where readers Are unsubscribed when they do not open my email within seven days.
There are countless Possibilities when it comes to workflow automations like this, and MailerLite should have no trouble with the vast majority of use cases.
Granted, it is not quite as Feature-rich as something like ActiveCampaign since it lacks some of the conditional components. (Split, Go To, Goal, etc.)
For example, there’s currently no automation for transferring Subscribers directly into another automation.
That being said, the Majority of these actions can Nevertheless Be achieved by moving Subscribers into different groups that trigger new automation workflows. It is just not as efficient…. yet.
Another matter of efficacy here is when generating new emails From the automation workflow builder.
After adding an email block to The workflow, you’ll be asked to put in your topic line which then appears on the block itself.
From there, clicking the’Design email’ button will fire up the Writer:
Now, you’ll be temporarily Redirected to the typical campaign creation wizard, which I covered earlier in the review.
This time, however, once you’ve established your email, clicking on the ‘Done editing’ button will guide you straight back to the automations workflow rather than the usual sending options.
Ultimately, your email will be Loaded into your automation.
A nice touch here is having a thumbnail preview of your Email inside your automation cube, so you can get an concept of what it contains at a glimpse.
While this procedure may seem like A grind on newspaper, it is actually much faster than what I’m utilized to with other email advertising tools — ActiveCampaign being a great example.
On the other hand, if you’ve come over from something such as ConvertKit where The editor is loaded within the automations builder, so you’ll likely find that this downgrade in functionality.
It is fast enough for me, Personally, however I guess it is all relative.
Before I wrap up this segment, there is one Kind of automation You won’t find in MailerLite, and that I think that it’s very important to highlight.
Site tracking.
The ability to trigger an automation (or step) based on the way Readers interact with all the pages on your site.
This kind of behavioral targeting just is not available in MailerLite right now, so if it’s something you use or plan to utilize, you may want to skip this one. Email Marketing Software For Nonprofits
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Pricing
The Price of MailerLite is one of those tools biggest Selling things, and let’s face it, we all love a good bargain.
For starters, they offer an unlimited free plan that includes All attributes (including premium) for up to 1,000 subscribers.
While there is some subtle Branding on your mails using this plan, it is still an amazing alternative for anyone starting out.
And what about the top programs?
It ends up, at around half the Price of the competition generally, MailerLite is undoubtedly among the cheapest options on the market. Additionally, if you are ready to pay yearly, you can also get a much better discount.
In Reality, I have not been able to locate anything that does exactly the Exact Same job, cheaper.
Summary
MailerLite is one of those few email marketing tools The (very crowded) sector in the last couple of years, and that’s no simple feat.
While it is not as quickly as ConvertKit, or as feature-rich As ActiveCampaign, or as template-heavy as MailChimp, it performs exceptionally well at virtually anything you can throw at it.
I find MailerLite strikes the best balance Between flexibility, speed and simplicity, and at a price point you will seriously struggle to conquer.
Thinking about giving it a twist? Let us know how it works for you In the comments. Email Marketing Software For Nonprofits
Click here to sign up your free account of Mailerlite.