Introduction Zendaya

When I asked you to name an email Marketing tool, what would you say? Zendaya

MailChimp? Aweber? ActiveCampaign?

Like most online industries now, email marketing continues to be Dominated by the same big 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, inducing long-time users to question their loyalties.

MailerLite has done precisely that.

So now, in this review, I will be tearing MailerLite from limb To limb to find out if it really stands its own ground against the big boys…

…and, what’s more, whether youshould consider making the switch.

MailerLite Advantages

– Uses tag-based system (called Groups)

– Powerful Segmentation using principles

– Custom Fields for advanced email personalization

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

– Easy to Utilize email builder/template editor

– Practical Email components such as countdowns and merchandise boxes

– Intuitive Type, popup and landing page builder

– Supports Automations using visual workflows

– Offers Both readable and in-depth reporting

– A Fraction of the cost compared to most other options

Click here to begin your free account of Mailerlite.

MailerLite Disadvantages

– Strict Approval process

– Few email Templates available

– Very few Form templates available

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

– No Support for website tracking Zendaya

Sign-up Process

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

This includes information like your organization name, website, Industry, address, company size, list size and also the kind of content you intend to send.

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

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

As Soon as You’ve completed these Steps, you ought to wait it out.

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

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

As shown above, you’ll still be Able to use the software to make campaigns and play with the attributes, 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 unscrupulous 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 advertising.

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

But whether it’s a brand new blog post, podcast, or timely Announcement, there’s always some excuse to send a more immediate email.

That is where’Campaigns’ come in.

Clicking the new’Produce Campaign’ will provide you several options.

– Regular effort: A Conventional broadcast email.

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

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

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

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

So let us walk you through it.

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

In the time of writing, there are 21 email templates to choose From which is a little on the low side, but the layouts are super modern.

And, of course, if you would just Prefer 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 use, Making customizing these templates a 5-minute job.

You can also utilize the cubes in the sidebar to include different Kinds of articles to your email, such as videos, merchandise columns, and societal connections.

After making your adjustments, just click’Done Editing’ and you will Be taken to the recipients’ options where you are able to select your groups or sections.

The advanced tab also allows one To develop segment-like rules on-the-fly, in the event your targeting is not quite perfect.

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

This is where you control if your broadcast email should go Out, if that’s immediately, at a set time/date, or according to your subscribers time zones.

Impressive, right? Zendaya

Click here to begin your free account of Mailerlite.

Managing Your Subscribers

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

Why?

Because highly personalized campaigns Are Essential if You are searching to increase clicks, opens, 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 open up your subscriber dashboard, you’ll see two Choices; Segments and Groups.

Segments are essentially principles.

Your subscribers belong to a segment only when they meet the Specified principles, and are automatically inserted or removed so.

Here’s what setting up a rule looks like:

Notice the way you can even blend Rules, as well as another rule if the first does not exist.

Pretty smart, eh?

The next tab is for classes, and also the difference in name, These act much like your normal”tagging” system.

(MailerLite even debated Changing the title to’Tags’, but ultimately decided against it)

Unlike Segments, Groups are updated manually or via an Automation principle — that we’ll get into in a minute — and they have no value besides what you actually call them.

As you start 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 action on a per-subscriber basis, whereas Segments permit you to bulge multiple subscribers collectively according to a frequent denominator.

Somewhat confusing, I will admit… but I feel it’s a fair trade-off For the additional flexibility. In any case, they are discretionary.

Last, the’Fields’ tab is used to personalize 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 this by Clicking on the’Add new field’ button.

So how do they really work?

You can either upload a CSV record of your subscribers together with Your custom field data in distinct columns… or can easily add these fields to your forms 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 shape Things here because I have an entire section on this below, but this is the approach I would recommend if you wanted to use this attribute.

Again, as Soon as You’ve collected your custom field information from new Subscribers, you are able to pull them in to your email content and subject line.

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

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

Overall, it’s fair to say MailerLite has their contributor Management and personalization features on stage. Zendaya

Landing pages.

If you’re not impressed by what you’ve seen so far, then perhaps The webpage builder will tickle your fancy.

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

Again, while the template choice Isn’t winning any awards, it will offer a great base to work from if, like most of us, you don’t have that natural eye for design.

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 give you 17 building blocks to Further build or alter your landing page.

Now, I’ve used my fair share of Visual page builders, and this is already better than a few dedicated solutions *Infection * WPBakery.

Along 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 soon, 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 Decent set of form building tools.

Also, but you can also create popups and landing pages Through this same interface, so there is a lot to cover .

Let’s begin with your Bog-standard embedded type.

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

Despite beginning super basic, the form designer allows you To personalize everything in the kind style, subjects, background, title, input fields and, clearly, the button.

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

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

Clicking on the’Settings’ tab will Make It Possible for you to configure how the Form works, such as adding extra fields and setting a custom success page.

(There is a GDPR compliance alternative. Sweet.)

And talking of the success webpage…

…MailerLite also lets you customize the default message, Which can replace the embedded form and prevents users from redirecting.

Last but certainly not least, you Can assess how your form screens on cellular 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’s an Summary of the Embedded form but like I said before, you may also create popup forms in MailerLite.

While the majority of this installation process is identical, there are 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 Comprehensive selection, they do provide a good foundation to work from and the editor is just 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 programs such as Thrive Leads exist for both ribbons and slide-in forms, it is pretty impressive to see this level of control over popup types.

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

Finally, you can choose the close Behaviour of your form 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 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 Statistics in the main dashboard.

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

Clicking into any campaign will Give you specific coverage for that campaign.

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

This should be plenty of Information for the ordinary user…

…but in Case 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.

For example, the’View Email’ tab also displays a click map, so It’s possible to see your readers interacted to one another.

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

Here’s a Fast example:

Overall, MailerLite does a Stellar job with their reporting interface, and most will get the available statistics more than sufficient to meet their demands.

Email Automation

What is email marketing with no dashboard of automation?

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

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

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

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

These steps could be anything from sending an email, including a Postpone, a bubble break, or an action, such as moving a contributor or upgrading their records.

Here’s a straightforward workflow I put together, where subscribers Are unsubscribed when they don’t open my email within seven days.

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

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

For Instance, there’s now no automation for transferring Readers directly into another automation.

That being said, the Majority of these activities can Nevertheless Be achieved by moving Subscribers into different classes that trigger new automation workflows. It is just not as effective…. yet.

Another question of efficacy here is when generating new emails From the automation workflow builder.

After having an email block to The workflow, you’ll be asked to add your topic line which then appears on the block itself.

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

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 on the ‘Done editing’ button will direct you back into the automations workflow instead of the usual sending alternatives.

Ultimately, your email will be Loaded into your automation.

A nice touch here is using a thumbnail preview of your Email within your automation block, which means you can get an idea about what it contains at a glance.

While this process may seem like A grind on paper, it is really much faster than what I am utilized to with other email marketing tools — ActiveCampaign being a fantastic 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 probably find this a downgrade in performance.

It is quick enough for me, Personally, but I guess it is all relative.

Before I wrap up this section, there’s 1 Kind of automation You won’t find in MailerLite, also I think that it’s very important to highlight.

Site tracking.

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

This Sort of behavioral targeting just isn’t accessible MailerLite right now, so if it’s something you use or intend to utilize, you might want to skip this one. Zendaya

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Click here to sign up your free account of Mailerlite.

Pricing

The Price of MailerLite is among the tools largest Selling things, and let us face it, most of us love a fantastic deal.

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

While There’s some subtle Branding in your emails using this program, it’s still an amazing alternative for those starting out.

And what about the top plans?

It turns out, at approximately half of the Cost of this competition on average, MailerLite is undoubtedly one of the cheapest options on the market. Additionally, if you are ready to pay yearly, you are also able to get a much better discount.

In fact, I haven’t been able to find anything that does exactly the Exact Same job, cheaper.

Conclusion

MailerLite is among those few email marketing tools to interrupt The (very crowded) sector in the last couple of years, which is no simple feat.

While it’s not as quickly as ConvertKit, or as feature-rich As ActiveCampaign, or as template-heavy as MailChimp, it performs exceptionally well at just about anything you can throw at it.

I find MailerLite strikes the perfect balance Between flexibility, simplicity and speed, and at a price point you’ll seriously struggle to beat.

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

Click here to begin your free account of Mailerlite.