ConvertKit Review 2021: The Ultimate Email Marketing Tool for Bloggers?

Before migrating from MailChimp, we took out a ConvertKit free trial to test the waters. We haven’t looked back since. In this 2020 ConvertKit review, we explain why moving to ConvertKit was the best decision we’ve ever made in our email marketing journey so far.

But first things first..

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What is ConvertKit?

According to their official page, ConvertKit helps in audience building for creators. It’s an email marketing tool created primarily to help bloggers and other content creators to connect with their followers easily. It allows you to build a large audience, otherwise known as an email list, send mass emails to them and set up automation.

With over 600 million blogs available, it’s almost impossible for your followers to bump into your recent post by accident. Email marketing is the best way to inform them about a new blog post you have published, a new course you have unleashed, a book, or some freebies you are handing out to your loyal fans.

Unlike social media, emails target specific people who have shown interest in what you have to offer, so you won’t be blowing smoke in the air. Once you master the art of email marketing, you can expect fantastic returns.

ConvertKit is recommended if:

• You want to run targeted campaigns;

With their flexible tags and segmentation, ConvertKit allows you to run a laser-focused campaign to specific people in your email list.

ConvertKit is not recommended if:

• You want visual emails

If you want a more flexible design where you can add some color, images, and flair, ConvertKit is not for you. The email editor only comes with three painfully plain templates for writing a simple email without all the bells and whistles.

• You are on a low budget.

Although the tool was created for bloggers, ConvertKit prices are more apt for more established businesses. However, if you can afford the monthly fee, this tool is worth every penny. 

Before I begin this ConvertKit review, let me explain what led me to their platform.

How I Felt Before ConvertKit

Have you ever sent a string of emails only to realize that no one has opened them? This was me before I realized that my well-decorated emails actually land in people’s spam folder.

I was using multiple email marketing tools to take care of different aspects of my emails. Once my list grew to 2000 subscribers, it was only logical to move from MailChimp to something better suited for a blogger. Unfortunately, none of the platforms could do everything I wanted, so we used Infusionsoft for tags and automation while Campaign Monitor took care of sending out regular emails.

Needless to say, this was a lot of work, and it sucked. (I know why most content creators find email marketing so boring).

It wasn’t until we tried ConvertKit that email marketing became bearable. When sending out those emails, your purpose is to communicate with a friend, tell them stories, and inform them about something you are doing. All the bells and whistles that come with other email marketing tools are unnecessary, not to mention tedious.

Before even the 14-day ConvertKit trial was over, we were all in, guns blazing. While this ConvertKit review is meant to shed some light on this awesome platform, its also a testimony about how ConvertKit changed our business.

How We Use ConvertKit

1. Hosting landing pages and creating forms

When I started my content creation journey, I didn’t have a website. I would guest post on authority blogs and social media to get exposure. With ConvertKit, you can pick any of the available landing page templates and customize it accordingly to gain a following even if you don’t have a website.

On your landing page, you can write a nice bio and add a CTA at the end where people can click to get a bonus, opt into your email list, or anything else you want.

ConvertKit also allows you to design several opt-in forms for your subscribers.

2. Creating Autoresponders

If you are doing email marketing, you know it can be a full-time job. You cannot manually reply to every request that comes in unless you have nothing else to do. Autoresponders refer to a series of emails that are sent to subscribers when they take action.

For instance, if someone signs up for your course, they start receiving daily emails from the welcome message all the way to the last section of the course. In your autoresponders, you can include things like;

• Who you are
• A series of educational messages
• Links to your most popular blog posts
• Introduction to any new content

Doing this the first time is a lot of work, but you only have to do it once and then sit tight as you watch your money trickling in.

3. Segmenting subscribers

As a content creator, you probably get subscribers from different channels. Some are there for the course; others are there for the free email series, while others came from your book sales. You have to ensure that all these different segments are separate, to avoid sending irrelevant emails to the wrong group.

Segmenting subscribers is one of the best features in ConvertKit. All your subscribers are in one list and you won’t get charged double for one subscriber the way they do on other platforms. Instead, you use tags to segment them according to their interest. You can name one segment ‘students’ the other one ‘free emails’ and so forth.

4. Automation

For a long time, Infusionsoft has been the go-to emailing tool because of the automation feature. This is despite their clunky user interface and high cost. ConvertKit has made automation incredibly easy thanks to sequences.

The automation features on ConvertKit are easy to use and powerful. Currently, you have eight triggers and seven actions to accompany them. For instance, when a student pays for my teachable course, ConvertKit begins to send them automated emails related to the course. In other words, paying for the course was the trigger, and the subsequent emails are the action.

What is so Fascinating About ConvertKit?

1. Ease of use

ConvertKit came about as an outgrowth of Nathan Barry’s teaching courses, so its structure is listed in sequences. These are consecutive emails sent over time to communicate and also educate your readers. This structure is what makes ConvertKit so easy to use. The user interface takes into account anyone who might not be tech-savvy and makes it as straightforward as possible.

This is what you see when you log into your new ConvertKit account.

ConvertKit takes you step by step through each feature with a demo video to make the initiation easier.

If you are an older email marketer, this is what your interface will look like.

You can see how many subscribers you have, growth rate, emails sent, the average open rate of your emails, and so forth. Better yet, you can see how subscribers got into your list so you can take care of their specific needs.

2. Custom Migration done for you

Perhaps the coolest feature with ConvertKit is that they will migrate your list of subscribers from whatever other platform you have been using. This saves you time and makes the migration less painful. As part of the concierge migration service, they will

• Export your email list to ConvertKit
• Copy any text and images from your autoresponder to a ConvertKit sequence and
• Change your opt-ins and landing pages to ConvertKit standards

3. Basic email template

ConvertKit’s main mantra is focusing on emails, nothing else. You will experience this on their basic email editor that comes with only three plain templates. As a content creator, this email editor is perfect because I can send my readers a simple email just like I do with my friends instead of decorations that will probably land in the spam folder. Because the email editor lacks all those distractions found in other tools, you get to focus on writing the email and nothing else.

4. Resend to Un-opens

When you send out an email to let’s say 2000 people, only 20% will open and read your email if you are lucky.  In a ConvertKit review by the owner himself, he explains how Noah Kagan, Pat Flynn among others influenced the development of a resend to un-opens feature to increase your open rate. While many email marketing platforms have this feature, it’s usually a long process that’s better off left alone.

With ConvertKit, all you have to do is click ‘send’ to unopened once and maybe change the subject line.

5. Customer support

If you have tried MailChimp’s customer support, you know it’s practically non-existent. The support at ConvertKit has only gotten better with time. You will have access to a live chat, email support, and a community of peers to help you in case of any problems. If you have an intricate issue that requires in-depth assistance, you can use ConvertKit email support any day of the week. From experience, the people on the other side of that email or live chat actually listen to you and try to solve your problem patiently.

6. List cleaning

Am sure you have noticed by now that almost all email marketing tools charge according to the number of subscribers you have on your list. If you have 2000 subscribers and only 1300 of those open your emails, you are wasting resources on the other 700. ConvertKit allows you to delete your cold subscribers and keep high-quality ones easily.

ConvertKit Pricing

Like all the other platforms, ConvertKit price is dependent on subscribers. After you finish the 14 day trial period, the prices are as follows:

Are you still using MailChimp because of their free plan? You will be happy to learn about the ConvertKit free plan that comes with unlimited landing pages template. If you have less than 500 subscribers and only need to send out the occasional broadcast, this free plan is for you.

ConvertKit Review: Is It Worth the Money?

Let’s recap the main sentiments in this ConvertKit review.

• ConvertKit provides an excellent platform for subscriber segmentation, creating landing pages and automation.
• Its user interface is friendly and easy to manoeuvre.
• The automation features are straightforward and easy to set up.
• They now have a free plan for fewer than 500 subscribers.

After using ConvertKit for over a year now, our verdict is that it’s worth every penny you pay. Email marketing shouldn’t be something you dread because of complicated tools. Unlike those dinosaur emailing tools, this new kid keeps improving every day with brand new features, and they are on a roll. With ConvertKit, you get exactly what you need and nothing more.