Background Newsletter App
If I asked you to name an email Marketing tool, what would you say? Newsletter App
MailChimp? Aweber? ActiveCampaign?
Like most online businesses now, email marketing continues to be Dominated by the identical big players for the last decade. Which means that they get encouraged very deeply and achieve a lot of mindshare.
Now and then, however, an Underdog disrupts the marketplace, causing long-time users to question their loyalties.
MailerLite has done exactly that.
So now, in this review, I’ll be ripping MailerLite from limb To limb to find out whether it really stands its ground against the big boys…
…and, more importantly, whether youshould consider making the change.
MailerLite Advantages
– Uses tag-based system (called Groups)
– Powerful Segmentation using principles
– Custom Fields for innovative email personalization
– Advanced Campaign types (auto-resend, A/B, etc.. )
– Easy to Use email builder/template editor
– Practical Email components such as countdowns and merchandise boxes
– Intuitive Form, popup and landing page builder
– Supports Automations employing visual workflows
– Offers Both readable and comprehensive reporting
– A Fraction of the price compared to most other solutions
Click here to sign up your free account of Mailerlite.
MailerLite Disadvantages
– Strict Approval process
– Few email Templates accessible
– Very few Form templates available
– Can’t Create mails without leaving the visual workflow builder
– No Support for website monitoring Newsletter App
Sign-up Procedure
Like most email advertising providers Nowadays, You’ll Need to Go through a review process before being able to properly use the program.
When you first sign up, you’ll be asked to complete your profile.
This includes information like your company name, website, Industry, address, business size, list size and also the kind of material you plan to send.
Then, you need to verify your Website (or domain ).
This remains part of the acceptance process, and MailerLite will Simply ask which email is associated to this domain so they can email you a verification link.
As Soon as You’ve completed those Measures, you ought to wait it out.
The MailerLite staff will review your application, check your Website, and ascertain whether you’re a fantastic match for their services.
(In other words, they are making sure you’re not a spammer/scammer)
As shown above, you’ll nevertheless be Able to use the software to make campaigns and perform with the features, but you won’t have the ability to send anything before approved.
I had been”partially” approved within a few hours, which gave me a Temporary limit of 500 subscribers.
Here Is What the email said:
Annoying, certain.
However, while these steps are not ideal for getting started, it Does help prevent malicious users from hurting everybody’s deliverability.
Campaigning
If you’re anything like me, you’ll rely on automations to handle Nearly all your email marketing.
(We’ll get to automations soon, don’t worry.)
But whether it’s a new blog article, podcast, or timely Announcement, there’s always a reason to send a more immediate email.
That is where’Campaigns’ come in.
Clicking the new’Produce Campaign’ will provide you several options.
– Regular campaign: A traditional broadcast email.
– A/B split campaign: Multiple email Variations, such as subject line, from name and, yes, even content. (Woop!)
– Auto resend: Resend to subscribers who Do not open your broadcast email, with the option of changing the subject line and email articles.
– RSS campaign: Produce a recurring campaign That sends new content to readers using your website’s RSS feed.
Apart from a few added choices, most of these will follow Exactly the same step-by-step process of a standard effort.
So let’s walk you through it.
Once you click on to create your effort, you’ll be asked to Pick a favorite editor, whether that be the dragn’ drop, rich text or HTML.
Otherwise, you can switch to the Templates tab and select from among the pre-designed email templates — which will move you to the dragn’ drop editor .
In the time of writing, there are 21 email templates to select From which is a little on the low side, but the layouts are super contemporary.
And, of course, if you would just Prefer to reuse a previous email, you can click the’Recent Emails’ tab.
For this example, I’ll choose the first template from 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 Types of content to your email, such as videos, merchandise columns, and social links.
After making your changes, just click’Done Editing’ and you’ll Be taken to the recipients’ choices where you can select your classes or sections.
The tab also allows one To build segment-like rules on-the-fly, in the event your targeting isn’t quite perfect.
Finally, right before sending, then you’ll get into the’Program’ screen.
This is where you control when your broadcast email should go Out, whether that’s immediately, at a set time/date, or according to your readers time zones.
Impressive, right? Newsletter App
Click here to sign up your free account of Mailerlite.
Managing Your Clients
Possessing granular control over your readers is arguably among The most essential aspects of any email advertising program today.
Why?
Because highly personalized campaigns are necessary if You are looking to increase opens, clicks, and, above all, your own conversions.
And while most providers Permit You to”tag” readers in order To target them effectively, MailerLite utilizes a slightly different approach.
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 principles, and are automatically inserted or removed so.
Here is what establishing a rule looks like:
Notice the way you can even blend Principles, in addition to another rule when the first doesn’t exist.
Pretty smart, eh?
The following tab is for classes, and also the difference in title, These act much like your normal”tagging” system.
(MailerLite even debated Changing the title to’Tags’, but ultimately decided against it.)
Contrary to Segments, Groups are upgraded manually or via an Automation principle — which we’ll get to in a minute — and they don’t have any value besides what you call them.
As you Begin to use this platform, you’ll Start to understand Where Segments and Groups are generally used, but MailerLite offers a hand in case you’re uncertain:
Fundamentally, groups are more of a Deliberate action on a per-subscriber foundation, whereas Segments allow you to bulge multiple contributors together based on a common denominator.
A tad confusing, I will admit… but I feel it is a fair trade-off For the additional flexibility. Besides, they’re optional.
Finally, the’Fields’ tab is used to customize your email copy.
You’ll notice that MailerLite has Already populated this region with their particular areas, such as title, company, and nation.
If you want to create your own custom fields, you can do so by Clicking on the’Add new field’ button.
So how do they really work?
You can either upload a CSV record of your readers together with Your custom field data in distinct columns… or can easily add these fields to a types which will only apply to future subscribers.
Here’s a screenshot of a test field I made and added to a form:
I will not go too much to the form Things here because I have a whole section on this below, but this is the approach I would recommend if you wished to use this attribute.
Again, once you’ve gathered your custom field information from fresh Readers, you can pull them in to your email content and subject line.
Just click on the’Personalization’ drop down and choose your Custom field.
I am barely scraping the surface Of what’s possible with custom fields, but it is important to know this is a feature you can use.
Overall, it’s fair to state MailerLite has their contributor Management and personalization features on point. Newsletter App
Landing pages.
If you are not impressed with what you’ve seen so far, then maybe The webpage builder will tickle your fancy.
After choosing’Landing Pages’ in the forms page, then you’ll be Able to pick from 8 pre-designed templates.
Again, while the template choice Isn’t winning any awards, but it does offer a great base to work from if, for example the majority of us, you don’t have that pure eye for layout.
I went ahead and selected the’Lead Generation’ template, though They all finally do the same task; collect an email address.
This time, the editor will Provide you 17 building blocks to Further build or alter your landing page.
Now, I have used my fair share of Visual page builders, and this is already better than a few dedicated alternatives *cough* WPBakery.
Along with the fundamental building blocks, you can use elements like Hero segments, popup buttons, testimonials and countdown timers.
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 advertising tools, MailerLite really offers a Decent set of type building tools.
Not only that, but you can also create popups and landing pages Through this same interface, so there’s a lot to cover .
Let us begin with your Bog-standard embedded form.
These forms are created inside MailerLite so as to get An embed code, which you can then place on your site to show it on particular pages.
Despite beginning super fundamental, the form designer allows you To customize everything from the kind style, fields, background, name, enter fields and, of course, the button.
Form text may also be edited directly, which gives you a Opportunity To visualize your copy in real-time.
It would have been nice to have Some templates here, but as you know, there’s more to some form than simply its physical appearance.
Clicking the’Settings’ tab will allow you to configure the way the Form works, including adding additional fields and setting a custom success page.
(There’s a GDPR compliance option. Sweet.)
And speaking of the success page…
…MailerLite also enables you to customize the default message, Which will replace the embedded kind and prevents users from redirecting.
Last but surely not least, you Can assess the way your form displays on cellular 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’s an overview of the Embedded form but like I said before, you can even create popup forms in MailerLite.
While the Vast Majority of the installation process is identical, there are Still 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 foundation to work from and the editor is just as easy to use with this form type.
Clicking the’E-commerce’ template requires me to a preview Before moving to the editor.
Here, you’ll notice there are some new options under form types This time around:
Considering paid tools like Thrive Leads exist for both ribbons and slide-in forms, it is pretty impressive to observe this amount of control over popup types.
And, as before, you can perform the styling options to get it Matched up with your branding.
Last, 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 both.
That is really where most email Marketing platforms will render you, but MailerLite has yet another trick up its sleeve.
Click here to begin your free account of Mailerlite.
Reporting & Analytics
Like many tools, you’ll find a summary of your campaign Statistics in the main dashboard.
Here you’ll see everything from effort open and click info, Subscriber development, automation analytics, and form signups.
Clicking into any effort will Give you specific reporting for that effort.
This is where you’ll find some more advanced 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 the report to get a more detailed breakdown.
You can find some real gems under These reports.
For example, the’View Email’ tab also displays a click map, so It’s possible to see your readers interacted to another.
Reports for automations will also be Accessible under the’Automations’ tab, although I found to be less insightful than effort reports.
Here’s a quick example:
Total, MailerLite does a Stellar job with their reporting interface, and many will find the available statistics more than enough to meet their needs.
Email Automation
What’s email advertising without a dash of automation?
For many reading this, MailerLite’s automation capabilities Could simply make or break this particular review.
The good news? If you’ve used a visual workflow builder, You will instantly feel at home here…
Much like the rest of MailerLite, That the automations interface is simple, clean and easy to navigate — something that certainly can’t be said for every email marketing program.
After setting your trigger, you can Start adding steps to your workflow.
These measures could be anything from sending an email, adding a Postpone, a conditional split, or an act, such as moving a subscriber or upgrading their records.
Here’s a straightforward workflow I put together, where readers Are unsubscribed if they don’t open my email within 7 days.
There are countless Possibilities in regards to workflow automations similar to this, and MailerLite ought to have no trouble with the vast majority of use cases.
Granted, it is not quite as Feature-rich as something such as ActiveCampaign since it lacks some of the conditional elements. (Split, Go To, Goal, etc.)
For Instance, there’s currently no automation for transferring Readers directly into a different automation.
That being said, the Majority of these activities can Nevertheless Be achieved by moving Subscribers into different groups that trigger new automation workflows. It’s simply much less effective…. yet.
Another matter of efficiency here is when generating new mails From the automation workflow builder.
After adding an email block to The workflow, you will be asked to add your topic line that appears on the block itself.
From there, clicking the’Design email’ button will fire up the Editor:
Now, you’ll be briefly Redirected to the standard campaign creation wizard, which I covered previously in the review.
This time, however, as Soon as You’ve established your email, clicking on the ‘Done editing’ button will direct you straight back into the automations workflow rather than the usual sending options.
Ultimately, your email address will probably be Loaded into your automation.
A nice touch here is using a thumbnail preview of your Email inside your automation block, so you can find an concept about what it contains at a glance.
While this procedure may seem like A grind on newspaper, it is really much quicker than what I’m used to with other email marketing tools — ActiveCampaign being a great example.
On the other hand, if you’ve come over from something like ConvertKit where The editor is loaded inside the automations builder, so you will likely find that this downgrade in performance.
It is fast enough for me, Personally, but I guess it’s all relative.
Before I wrap up this segment, there’s one type of automation You will not find in MailerLite, also I think that it’s very important to highlight.
Website tracking.
The ability to activate an automation (or measure ) based on the way Readers interact with the pages on your site.
This kind of behavioral targeting just is not accessible MailerLite right now, so if it’s something you use or intend to use, you may want to skip this one. Newsletter App
r}
Click here to begin your free account of Mailerlite.
Pricing
The Price of MailerLite is no doubt among those tools biggest Selling things, and let us face it, most of us love a fantastic deal.
For starters, they offer an infinite free plan that includes All features (including premium) for as many as 1,000 subscribers.
While There’s some subtle Branding on your emails using this plan, it’s still an wonderful alternative for those starting out.
And what about the top programs?
It ends up, at approximately half of the Price of the competition on average, MailerLite is by far among the least expensive options available on the industry. Plus, if you are ready to pay annually, you can also get an even greater discount.
In Reality, I have not been able to locate anything that does exactly the Exact Same job, cheaper.
Wrap-up
MailerLite is one of those very few email marketing tools to interrupt The (very crowded) industry in recent years, which is 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, simplicity and speed, and all at a price point you’ll seriously struggle to beat.
Thinking of giving it a spin? Let us know how it works for you From the remarks. Newsletter App
Click here to begin your free account of Mailerlite.