Background Mailerlite Dashboard

When I asked you to name an email Marketing tool, what could you say? Mailerlite Dashboard

MailChimp? Aweber? ActiveCampaign?

Like many online industries today, email advertising has been Dominated by the identical large players for the last ten years. Which means they get promoted very heavily and achieve a lot of mindshare.

Now and then, however, an Underdog disrupts the market, causing long-time users to question their loyalties.

MailerLite has done exactly that.

So today, in this short article, I will be ripping MailerLite from limb To limb to see if it stands its ground against the big boys…

…and, more importantly, whether youshould consider making the change.

MailerLite Gains

– Uses tag-based system (called Groups)

– Powerful Segmentation using rules

– Custom Fields for innovative email personalization

– Advanced Campaign types (auto-resend, A/B, etc.. )

– Simple to Use email builder/template editor

– Practical Email elements such as countdowns and product boxes

– Intuitive Type, popup and landing page builder

– Supports Automations using visual workflows

– Offers Both digestible and in-depth reporting

– A Fraction of the price compared to most other options

Click here to begin your free account of Mailerlite.

MailerLite Cons

– 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 website tracking Mailerlite Dashboard

Sign-up Process

Like most email marketing providers these days, you will need to Go through a review process before being able to correctly use the software.

When you first register, you’ll be asked to finish your profile.

This includes information such as your company name, site, Industry, address, business size, record size and even the kind of material you plan to send.

Then, you need to confirm your Website (or domain ).

This is still part of this approval process, and MailerLite will Simply ask which email is associated to that domain so they could email you a verification link.

Once you’ve completed those Steps, you’ll need to wait it out.

The MailerLite team will review your application, assess your Website, and determine whether you are a good fit for their service.

(Quite simply, they are making sure you are not a spammer/scammer)

As revealed above, you’ll still be Able to use the software to create campaigns and play with the features, but you will not have the ability to send anything before approved.

I was”partially” approved within a few hours, which gave me a Temporary limitation of 500 subscribers.

Here Is What the email said:

Annoying, certain.

But while these measures are not perfect for getting started, it Does help prevent malicious users from damaging everyone else’s deliverability.

Campaigning

If you’re anything like me, you’ll rely on automations to handle Nearly all your email marketing.

(We will get to automations shortly, don’t worry.)

But if it is a brand new blog post, podcast, or timely Announcement, there is always a reason to send a more instant email.

That’s where’Campaigns’ come in.

Clicking the new’Create Campaign’ will give you several choices.

– Regular effort: A traditional broadcast email.

– A/B split campaign: Multiple email Variations, including subject line, from title and, yes, even content. (Woop!)

– Auto resend: Resend to readers who Don’t open your broadcast email, with the option of altering the subject line and email content.

– RSS campaign: Produce a recurring campaign That sends fresh content to readers using your website’s RSS feed.

Aside from a few added options, the Majority of these will follow The exact same step-by-step process of a standard campaign.

So let us walk you through it.

Once 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 choose from among their pre-designed email templates — which will move you to the dragn’ drop editor .

At the time of writing, you’ll find 21 email templates to select From which is a little on the low side, however, the designs are super modern.

And, of course, if you’d just Like to reuse a previous email, you can click the’Recent Emails’ tab.

For this example, I will select the first template in the library.

The editor is easy to use, Making viewing these templates a 5-minute job.

You can also use the cubes in the sidebar to include distinct Kinds of articles to your email, including videos, merchandise columns, and societal links.

After making your changes, simply click’Done Editing’ and you will Be taken to the recipients’ options where you are able to select your classes or segments.

The advanced tab also allows you To develop segment-like rules , in case your targeting isn’t quite perfect.

Finally, before sending, then you’ll get to the’Schedule’ 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? Mailerlite Dashboard

Click here to sign up your free account of Mailerlite.

Managing Your Subscribers

Having granular control over your readers is arguably among The most essential aspects of any email marketing software now.

Why?

Because highly personalized efforts are necessary if You’re looking to increase clicks, opens, and, most importantly, your conversions.

And while most providers Permit 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 essentially principles.

Your readers belong to a section only when they meet the Specified rules, and are automatically added or eliminated accordingly.

Here is what establishing a rule looks like:

Notice how you can even blend Rules, in addition to another rule when the first does not exist.

Pretty smart, eh?

The next tab is for classes, and despite the difference in title, These act much like your usual”tagging” system.

(MailerLite even debated Changing the name to’Tags’, but finally decided against it.)

Unlike Segments, Groups are upgraded manually or through an Automation principle — which we’ll get to in a moment — and they have no value aside from what you call them.

As you start to use this platform, you’ll Start to understand At which Segments and Groups are typically used, however, MailerLite offers a hand in the event you’re unsure:

Basically, groups are more of a Deliberate action on a per-subscriber basis, whereas Segments allow you to bulge multiple contributors collectively according to a common denominator.

A tad confusing, I’ll admit… but I believe it’s a fair trade-off For the additional flexibility. Besides, they’re optional.

Finally, the’Fields’ tab is used to personalize your email copy.

You’ll notice that MailerLite has Already populated this area with their particular fields, such as title, business, and country.

If You Would like to create your own custom fields, you can do so by Clicking the’Add new field’ button.

So how do they actually work?

You can either upload a CSV file of your readers together with Your custom field information in separate columns… or can easily add these fields to a forms which will only apply to future readers.

Here’s a screenshot of a test area I made and added to a form:

I will not go too much into the shape Things here because I have an entire section on that below, but this is the approach I would recommend if you wanted to use this feature.

Again, once you’ve collected your custom field information from fresh Readers, you are able to pull them in to your email content and subject line.

Just click on the’Personalization’ drop down and select your Customized field.

I’m barely scratching the surface Of what’s possible with custom fields, but it’s important that you know that this is a feature you can use.

Overall, it’s reasonable to state MailerLite has their contributor Direction and personalization features on stage. Mailerlite Dashboard

Landing pages.

If you’re not impressed with what you have seen up to Now, then perhaps The webpage builder will tickle your fancy.

After choosing’Landing Pages’ from the forms page, you’ll be Able to pick from 8 pre-designed templates.

Again, while the template choice Is not winning any awards, but it does offer a fantastic base to work from if, like the majority of us, you do not have that pure eye for design.

I went ahead and selected the’Lead Generation’ template, though They ultimately do the same task; collect an email address.

This time, the editor will give you 17 building blocks to Further build or alter your landing page.

Now, I’ve used my fair share of Visual site builders, and it is better than a few dedicated solutions *cough* WPBakery.

Together with the basic building blocks, you can use elements like Hero sections, popup buttons, testimonials and countdown timers.

No, it will not be replacing landing Page builders such as Thrive Architect or LeadPagesanytime soon, but credit where credit due, this item over-delivers on all three kind types.

Form Builder Tool

Unlike some email marketing tools, MailerLite actually offers a Decent set of type building tools.

Not only that, but you can also create popups and landing pages Through this exact same interface, so there’s a whole lot to cover .

Let us begin with your Bog-standard embedded form.

These forms are first created inside MailerLite so as to get An embed code, which you can then place on your website to display it on specific pages.

Despite beginning super basic, the form designer lets you To personalize everything in the kind style, fields, background, name, input fields and, of course, the button.

Form text can also be edited directly, which gives you a chance To visualize your backup in real-time.

It would’ve been nice to have Some templates here, but as you know, there’s more to a form than simply its physical appearance.

Clicking on the’Settings’ tab will Make It Possible for you to configure how the Form functions, including adding extra fields and establishing a custom success page.

(There is a GDPR compliance option. Sweet.)

And speaking of the success page…

…MailerLite also enables you to customize the default message, That will replace the embedded kind also prevents users from redirecting.

Last but certainly not least, you Can check how your form displays on mobile by shifting the toggle to responsive mode.

You won’t be able to make any layout changes here, but it makes Sense to check, nevertheless.

So that is an overview of this Embedded form but like I said before, you may also create popup forms in MailerLite.

While the majority of this installation Procedure is identical, there are A few differences I’d like to point out.

Unlike embedded kinds, you can choose between a set of Templates:

While this isn’t the most In depth choice, they do offer a good base to work from and the editor is just as easy to use for this form kind.

Clicking the’E-commerce’ template requires me into a preview Before moving into the editor.

Here, you’ll notice there are some new choices under form types This time around:

Considering paid tools such as Thrive Leads exist for both ribbons and slide-in forms, it is pretty impressive to observe this amount of control over popup types.

And, like before, you can play the styling options to get it Matched with your branding.

Finally, you can Select the close Behavior of your type under the’Settings’ tab.

The default option is the X icon, but you can swap this out for A”No thanks” text option, or have both.

This is where most email Marketing platforms would leave you, but MailerLite has one more trick up its sleeve.

Click here to begin your free account of Mailerlite.

Reporting & Analytics

Like most tools, you’ll find a summary of your effort Data in the main dashboard.

Here you’ll see everything from effort open and click data, Subscriber growth, automation analytics, and form signups.

Clicking into any effort will Give you special coverage for this effort.

This is where you’ll discover a few statistics such as Unsubscribes, spam complaints, bounces, reading environment, email client and much more.

This should be plenty of Information for the average user…

…but in Case You really want To dig into the numbers, it is possible to click into individual 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 displays a click map, so It’s possible to see precisely how your subscribers interacted to one another.

Reports for automations will also be Accessible under the’Automations’ tab, even though I found these to be less insightful than effort reports.

Here’s a quick example:

Overall, MailerLite does a Stellar job with their reporting port, and many will get the available statistics more than enough to meet their needs.

Email Automation

What’s email marketing with no dash of automation?

For most reading this, MailerLite’s automation capabilities Could easily make or break this review.

The good news? If you’ve ever used a visual workflow builder, then You’ll instantly feel at home here…

Much like the rest of MailerLite, The automations interface is easy, clean and easy to navigate — something that certainly can not be said for each and every email marketing program.

After setting your trigger, you can begin adding measures to your workflow.

These measures can be anything from sending an email, adding a Delay, a conditional split, or an action, such as moving a contributor or upgrading their records.

Here’s a straightforward workflow I put together, where readers Are unsubscribed if they do not open my email within 7 days.

There are countless Possibilities in regards to workflow automations similar to this, and MailerLite ought to not have any trouble with the vast majority of use cases.

Granted, it’s not quite as Feature-rich as something like ActiveCampaign since it lacks a number of the conditional elements. (Split, Go To, Goal, etc.. )

For Instance, there’s currently no automation for moving Readers directly into another automation.

That being said, the Majority of these actions can Nevertheless Be achieved by moving Subscribers into various groups that activate new automation workflows. It’s just much less effective…. yet.

Another question of efficiency here is when generating new emails In the automation workflow builder.

After adding an email cube to The workflow, you will be asked to put in your subject line that then appears on the block itself.

From there, clicking on the’Design email’ button will automatically fire up the Editor:

Now, you’ll be temporarily Redirected to the standard campaign creation wizard, which I covered earlier in the critique.

This time, however, once you’ve created your email, clicking the ‘Done editing’ button will direct you straight back to the automations workflow instead of the usual sending alternatives.

Ultimately, your email will probably be Loaded into your own automation.

A Wonderful touch here is using a thumbnail preview of your Email inside your automation cube, which means it’s possible to get an concept about what it contains at a glance.

While this procedure may seem like A grind on newspaper, it’s really much quicker than what I’m used to with other email advertising tools — ActiveCampaign being a fantastic example.

On the other hand, if you’ve come over from something like ConvertKit where The editor is loaded inside the automations builder, you will probably find this a downgrade in functionality.

It’s fast enough for me, Personally, but I guess it’s all relative.

Before I wrap up this section, there is one Kind of automation You will not find in MailerLite, also I think it’s very important to highlight.

Website tracking.

The ability to activate an automation (or measure ) based on how Readers interact with all the pages on your site.

This Sort of behavioral targeting only isn’t available in MailerLite at this time, so if it’s something you use or plan to utilize, you might want to skip this one. Mailerlite Dashboard

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Click here to begin your free account of Mailerlite.

Pricing

The cost of MailerLite is one of the tools biggest Selling points, and let’s face it, we all love a fantastic deal.

For starters, they offer an infinite free plan that includes All attributes (including premium) to get as many as 1,000 subscribers.

While there is some subtle Branding on your mails using this plan, it is still an amazing option for anyone starting out.

And what about the top programs?

It turns out, at approximately half of the Cost of this competition on average, MailerLite is undoubtedly among the least expensive options on the industry. Plus, if you’re willing to pay annually, you can also get an even greater discount.

In Reality, I haven’t been able to find anything that does the same job, cheaper.

Summary

MailerLite is one of those very few advertising tools to disrupt The (very crowded) sector in the last couple of years, and that’s no simple feat.

While it is not as fast as ConvertKit, or as feature-rich As ActiveCampaign, or as template-heavy as MailChimp, it works exceptionally well at just about 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 beat.

Thinking about giving it a twist? Let us know how it works for you From the comments. Mailerlite Dashboard

Click here to sign up your free account of Mailerlite.