This month I finally made up my mind and decided to switch from Aweber to ConvertKit and here is my ConvertKit review and experience so far.
Why did I decide to move?
To be honest with you I didn’t completely ditch Aweber, I still think it is one of the best email marketing tools on the internet. I decided to test ConvertKit as a result of starting a new blog (this blog), I wanted to use ConverKit as my autoresponder for all leads I generate from this blog, as I heard a lot of good things from my mentor, I said why not let me give it a try.
What is ConvertKit?
In a few words, Convetkit is an email service provider for bloggers, podcasters, and businesses who are looking to build an audience.
The platform allows you to:
- build many email lists as needed
- automate email marketing with simple drag and drop sequences
- build landing page templates
- segment subscribers by tags (their interests)
- and more.
Best ConvertKit features for increasing conversions
After I started using ConvertKit, I find these to be the best ConvertKit features.
Email automation and segmentation
ConvertKit allows you to automate email distribution as well as segment subscribers. What this means is that it can segment every email using tags.
You can segment your leads depending on how they sign up, depending on the links they click, also you can separate buyers and non-buyers.
How do you do that?
In most email marketing systems, you will have to do it manually. ConvertKit allows you to personalize the email based on the subscriber’s actions or with a tag indicating an action they took. All you need to do is change the tag, update the content and you are good to go.
Visual automation editor
I like ConvertKit’s Visual automation editor and so will you. It is easy to use, especially when compared to other visual editors I have used.
For those who know me, I started my list building using GVO autoresponder, then I went with Getresponse, they made some changes I didn’t like I decided to move to Aweber and now ConvertKit.
If you compare with those three I used previously using ConvertKit is like being in a dreamland.
Every editing step in your automation workflow is seamless. It even gets better, the editor handles everything. So you are not going to lose the context. You can also edit the forms pretty much the same way.
Lead Magnet Double Opt-in
People often think that double opt-on is better than single opt-in, while others think otherwise. But, having a double opt-in improves your email. Yet, in most cases, it hurts your conversation.
Using a lead magnet may solve this problem. When a user clicks a call to action, they can get their freebie without confirming they are opt-in. This means getting the best of both worlds.
ConvertKit will let you use a single opt-in. When people click the subscribe button, ConvertKit adds them to your list. They do not need to confirm their email address.
Auto Resend Broadcast
There are chances that every time you send a broadcast email, only a few of your subscribers will open it.
Most of your subscribers will not open it due to different reasons from bad timing, your headline, they don’t remember you, etc.
ConvertKit allows you to resend the broadcast to those who did not open it. But this time, you can make changes to your email.
Key benefits of ConvertKit
Ease of use – ConvertKit features easy to understand processes. Nathan focused on making email marketing easy to use for someone like you and me.
Automation – I love the automation features of this system. You can automate your email to all your subscribers, as well as segment them based on their interests.
Outstanding customer service – One of the key benefits of this platform is the support system. Most email tools out there have inadequate support. You will have to browse Google or Youtube to find solutions to a problem.
Pricing – ConvertKit allows you to grow your subscriber’s list, but not at a hefty price. The platform sets its prices based on the number of subscribers. Not based on the number of lists, which will result in double counts.
ConvertKit focuses on the subscriber. Most of the autoresponder companies will charge you depending on the number of lists you have.
For example, if do you have 3 different lists and it happened that I subscribed to all your three lists most autoresponders will count me as three subscribers and since they charge you depending on the number of subscribers you might pay higher rates because of these repeated subscribers.
On the other end, ConvertKit will count me as one subscriber and just give me different tags, this will reduce your monthly fees.
It can save you money. If you have a blog, you really don’t need third-party tools (this can save you money because you don’t have to pay for them), with ConvertKit you can create popups and you can decide when and where do you want them to show up, you can decide to show them when a visitor intent to exit, you can decide to show them up when a visitor has been on a page for a certain time, or when a visitor has read a certain percentage of your page.
Also, you can decide to show the sign-up form before, in the middle, or at the end of your content, all these are possible by using their WordPress plugin.
The problem I faced when I joined ConvertKit
As I said, I like their automation feature, but when I started out, I watched the intro videos, I created my first sequence, my first form, and my first automation, but I forgot to turn on the automation.
What happened is that people were joining my list but they were not getting emails from the sequence, when I realized this was three days later but I turned it on and everything started to work smoothly.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Landing page editor
As I said above ConvertKit has a decent landing page editor, you can use their editor to create a beautiful landing page and the best part of it is that they can host it for you or you can use their integration to host it on your site.
Responsible support: A very helpful support team who will promptly answer your questions.
Flexible: The auto-sequence capability is impressive. It allows you to organize subscribers in the best way possible.
Versatile: Bloggers, podcasters, artists, and those with side hustles can build customer lists.
Customizable templates: ConvertKit has predesigned templates for almost everything whether its email, newsletter and landing page.
Signup forms: Comes with a form builder, so you can create multiple opt-in forms and place them on your site.
Cons
For me, the only thing I can think of is that it may take a slight learning curve to fully use ConvertKit especially if you are switching from a standard autoresponder like Aweber.
The reason for this is that they have some unique features that you can’t find in most autoresponders.
But their very active support team and a huge knowledge base can help you to shorten the learning curve and once you learn it you will enjoy the benefits of ConvertKit.
Who I will recommend to
In my opinion, ConvertKit is the best tool for content creators, if do you have a podcast, a youtube channel, or a blog this is ideal for you.
If you’re using paid traffic I will recommend using it with other high-end landing page builders like Clickfunnels, if you use a low-end landing page builder or using solo ads to drive traffic, Aweber is your best option.
Final word
This is my ConvertKit review, as I said above, I just started using it, but so far I have been impressed by this tool, for me, it is the best email marketing tool I ever used so far.
I follow the owner, and I know he is working very hard to improve this service and I expect this email tool to continue getting better.
