Background Sailthru

If I asked you to name an email Marketing instrument, what would you say? Sailthru

MailChimp? Aweber? ActiveCampaign?

Like many online industries now, email advertising continues to be Dominated by the same large players for the previous decade. Which means that they get promoted very heavily and accomplish a great deal of mindshare.

Now and then, however, an Underdog disrupts the marketplace, inducing long-time customers to question their loyalties.

MailerLite has done precisely that.

So today, in this review, I’ll be tearing MailerLite from limb To limb to see 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 rules

– Custom Fields for advanced email personalization

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

– Simple to Use email builder/template editor

– Practical Email elements 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 cost compared to most other options

Click here to sign up your free account of Mailerlite.

MailerLite Drawbacks

– Strict Approval process

– Few email Templates accessible

– Very few Form templates accessible

– Can’t Create emails without leaving the visual workflow builder

– No Support for website tracking Sailthru

Sign-up Process

Like most email advertising providers these days, You’ll Need to Go through a review process before being able to properly use the software.

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

This includes information such as your company name, website, Business, address, business size, list size and even the type of content you intend to send.

Then, You Have to verify your Site (or domain ).

This is still part of the acceptance process, and MailerLite will Simply inquire which email is associated to that domain in order that they can email you a verification link.

As Soon as You’ve completed those Steps, you’ll need to wait it out.

The MailerLite staff will review your application, assess your Site, and determine whether you’re a fantastic fit for their services.

(In other words, they are making sure you are not a spammer/scammer)

As revealed above, you’ll nevertheless be Able to utilize the software to make campaigns and play with the attributes, but you won’t be able to send anything before accepted.

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

Here Is What the email said:

Annoying, sure.

However, while these steps are not perfect for getting started, it Does help stop unscrupulous users from hurting everyone else’s deliverability.

Campaigning

If you are anything like me, you’ll rely on automations to Deal with The majority of your email marketing.

(We will get to automations soon, do not worry.)

But if it is a new blog article, podcast, or timely Announcement, there’s always some excuse to send a more immediate email.

That’s where’Campaigns’ come in.

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

– Regular campaign: A traditional broadcast email.

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

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

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

Aside from a few added options, most of these will follow Exactly the exact same step-by-step process of a normal effort.

So let’s walk you through it.

Once you click on to create your effort, you’ll be requested to Pick a favorite editor, whether that be the dragn’ drop, rich text or HTML.

You can change to the Templates tab and choose from one of their pre-designed email templates — that will move you into the dragn’ drop editor by default.

In the time of writing, you’ll find 21 email templates to choose From which is somewhat on the low side, but the designs are super contemporary.

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

For this instance, 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 blocks in the sidebar to add different Types of articles to your email, including videos, product columns, and societal connections.

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

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

Finally, right before sending, you’ll get into the’Program’ screen.

This is where you control if your broadcast email should go Out, if that is immediately, at a set time/date, or in accordance with your subscribers time zones.

Impressive, right? Sailthru

Click here to begin your free account of Mailerlite.

Managing Your Clients

Possessing granular control over your subscribers is arguably one of The most important aspects of any email marketing software now.

Why?

Because highly personalized efforts Are Essential if You are looking to increase opens, clicks, and, above all, your own conversions.

And while many providers allow you to”label” subscribers 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 rules.

Your subscribers belong to a segment only when they meet the Specified rules, and will be automatically inserted or eliminated so.

Here is what establishing a rule looks like:

Notice the way you can also combine Principles, in addition to an alternate rule if the first does not exist.

Pretty smart, eh?

The next tab is for classes, and also 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.)

Contrary to Segments, Groups are updated manually or via an Automation rule — which we will get to in a minute — and they don’t have any value besides what you actually call them.

As you Begin to use this platform, you’ll Start to understand Where Segments and Groups are typically used, but MailerLite delivers a hand in case you’re uncertain:

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

Somewhat confusing, I will admit… but I believe it’s a fair trade-off For the added flexibility. Besides, they’re discretionary.

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

You will notice that MailerLite has Already populated this region with their own 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 actually work?

You can either upload a CSV file of your subscribers along with Your custom field data in separate columns… or may simply add these fields to a types which will only apply to prospective subscribers.

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

I won’t go too much to the form Stuff here since I have an entire section on this below, but this is the strategy I’d recommend if you wanted to use this feature.

Again, once you’ve gathered your custom field data from new Readers, you can pull them in to your email content and subject line.

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

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

Overall, it is reasonable to say MailerLite has their contributor Management and personalization features on stage. Sailthru

Landing pages.

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

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

Again, while the template choice Isn’t winning any awards, but it does offer a fantastic foundation to work from if, like most people, you do not have that natural eye for layout.

I went ahead and selected the’Lead Generation’ template, however They all finally do the identical job; accumulate an email address.

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

Now, I have used my fair share of Visual site builders, and it is already better than some dedicated solutions *cough* WPBakery.

Along with the fundamental building blocks, you can use elements like Hero sections, 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 thing over-delivers on all 3 form types.

Form Builder Tool

Unlike some email advertising tools, MailerLite actually offers a Adequate pair of form 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’s start with your Bog-standard embedded type.

These forms are created inside MailerLite in order 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 lets you To personalize everything in the form style, fields, background, title, input fields and, of course, the button.

Form text may also be edited directly, which gives you a Opportunity 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 some form than just its appearance.

Clicking the’Settings’ tab will allow you to configure how the Form works, 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 lets you customize the default message, Which will replace the embedded kind also prevents users .

Last but certainly not least, you Can check the way your form screens on mobile by switching the toggle to reactive mode.

You won’t Have the Ability to make any layout changes here, but it makes Sense to check, nevertheless.

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

While the Vast Majority of the setup process is identical, you will find Still a few differences I’d love to point out.

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

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

Clicking on the’E-commerce’ template takes me to a preview Before moving to the editor.

Here, you’ll notice there are a few new choices under form types Now around:

Considering paid programs like Thrive Leads exist for ribbons and slide-in forms, it is pretty impressive to see this amount of control over popup types.

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

Finally, you can choose the near 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 .

That is really where most email Marketing platforms would render you, but MailerLite has one more 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 effort Data in the dashboard.

Here you’ll see everything from effort open and click info, Subscriber development, automation stats, and form signups.

Clicking into any effort will Give you specific reporting for this effort.

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

This should be plenty of Information for the average user…

…but if you really want To dig into the numbers, it is possible to click into individual areas of this report for a more detailed breakdown.

You can find some real gems under These reports.

By Way of Example, the’View Mail’ tab also shows a click map, so It’s possible to see your subscribers interacted with your emails in relation to one another.

Reports for automations are Accessible under the’Automations’ tab, although I found to be less enlightening than campaign reports.

Here’s a quick example:

Overall, MailerLite does a Stellar job with their reporting interface, and many will find the available statistics more than sufficient to fulfill their demands.

Email Automation

What is email marketing with no dashboard of automation?

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

The good news? If you have used a visual workflow builder, You’ll immediately feel at home here…

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

After setting your trigger, you can Start adding steps to your workflow.

These measures can be anything from sending an email, adding a Postpone, a conditional split, or an act, like moving a subscriber or upgrading their records.

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

There are innumerable Possibilities when it comes to workflow automations similar to this, and MailerLite should have no trouble with the huge majority of use cases.

Granted, it is not quite as Feature-rich as something like ActiveCampaign because it lacks some of the conditional elements. (Split, Visit, Goal, etc.)

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

That being said, most of these actions can Nevertheless Be achieved by moving Subscribers into various classes that activate new automation workflows. It’s just not as effective…. yet.

Another matter of efficacy here is when creating new emails In the automation workflow builder.

After adding an email cube 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 Editor:

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

This time, but once you’ve created your email, clicking the ‘Done editing’ button will guide you back into the automations workflow instead of the usual sending alternatives.

Finally, your email address will probably be Loaded into your own automation.

A Wonderful touch here is having a thumbnail preview of your Email inside your automation block, which means it’s possible to find 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 am 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’ll probably find this a downgrade in performance.

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

Before I wrap up this section, there is one Kind of automation You won’t find in MailerLite, and that I think that it’s very important to highlight.

Website tracking.

The ability to activate an automation (or step) based on how Subscribers interact with all the pages on your website.

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

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Click here to sign up your free account of Mailerlite.

Pricing

The cost of MailerLite is one of those tools largest Selling things, and let us face it, we all love a fantastic bargain.

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

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

And what about the premium programs?

It ends up, at around half of the Price of the rivalry generally, MailerLite is by far among the cheapest options available on the industry. Plus, if you’re willing to pay annually, you can also get an even better discount.

In Reality, I have not been able to locate anything that does the same job, cheaper.

Conclusion

MailerLite is among the very few email marketing tools to disrupt The (very crowded) industry in recent years, which is no easy feat.

While it is not as quickly 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.

All in all, I find MailerLite strikes the best balance Between flexibility, simplicity and speed, and all at a price point you will seriously struggle to conquer.

Thinking about giving it a spin? Let us know how it works for you From the remarks. Sailthru

Click here to sign up your free account of Mailerlite.