Hey there, friends! I promised that I would go into more detail on why I use the email marketing provider that I do, and today is the day!
If you read my post on How and Why To Build an Email List, you know that I use MailerLite for my email list, and I am very satisfied with it. I started out using MailChimp, because so many bloggers recommended that as the best free option. I quickly learned that MailChimp wasn’t for me, as had a hard time figuring it out. Maybe it’s just me! Anyway, I then found MailerLite and was amazed at how simple everything was.
As my list started to grow, I knew I was going to have to start paying a monthly fee. Well, I am sure you know that many bloggers recommend Convertkit as the way to go when you are serious about building your list. So…I switched to Convertkit. That lasted a couple weeks…I got frustrated. Again, maybe this is just me Convertkit has been a breeze for you. If so, that is great! Use what works for you. However, as a busy mom of six, I just didn’t have the patience or time to learn all there was to learn there. So, I switched back to MailerLite and realized I never should have left in the first place. If you want to know why I chose MailerLite, read on…
MailerLite has autoresponders, even on the free plan.
An autoresponder is an email or a series of emails that go out to your subscribers automatically, after you set them up. Mailerlite offers autoresponders even in the free plan. This is the feature I use most, along with the landing pages. When someone signs up for my list, I can set up a series of emails to go out to them, whether it be daily or monthly or after a certain trigger. You can chose a specific time based on when they sign up.
MailerLite has 24/7 customer support.
I have used this quite a few times! I have been very impressed by their customer service. Chat support is very helpful for me, as I can’t always chat on the phone or reply via email as quickly as I would like. They are very quick to respond, usually within minutes. This is offered even on the free plan, which is something that MailChimp doesn’t do.
MailerLite has landing pages (free)!
This was the biggest reason I went over to Mailerlite. I was so impressed with the fact that they offer landing pages, even on their free plan! And they have so many options for landing pages. You can design them how you want, with their drag and drop feature, or you can use one of their templates. I thought this was an amazing feature they offered, as I had originally been told I needed to use an email provider and a stand alone server for landing pages (like Leadpages). Landing pages convert very well so it is a huge benefit to have the option to customize landing pages for free.
HERE is an example of one of my landing pages. This will take you to an editorial calendar.
MailerLite has an unsubscribe page builder.
I know everyone hates when people unsubscribe from their list, but that is the life of business owner. It is going to happen and you need not let it bother you. It happens to all of us. To make it a bit simpler, MailerLite even has an unsubscribe page builder, letting you customize your email subscriber’s entire experience from beginning to the unfortunate end.
MailerLite has a LOT of features, even free, that others don’t have.
- drag and drop editor
- mobile preview
- video block
- RSS campaigns
- tracking and campaign reports
- Automated A/B split testing
- Unsubscribe page builder
- Webforms
- Auto resend
MailerLite is free up to 1,000 subscribers.
Free is always helpful when we are just building our business, right? Like I said before, I did go with Mailchimp at first because it was free and recommended by others. MailChimp has a free plan, but lacks some important features, like landing pages. ConvertKit is a great platform designed for bloggers, but it costs $29 per month just to get started (although they do offer a free trial). The table below shows how MailerLite’s prices compare to ConvertKit. I don’t know about you, but any money I can keep in my family’s pockets, I appreciate!
New Features being added constantly!
Convertkit does have an amazing feature called “tagging.” Tags allow you to organize and group your subscribers based on actions, interest or more. You’ll be happy to know that MailerLite just announced “What’s coming in 2017” and tagging will be available in March of 2017. I am so excited about this! This will be awesome!
Click here to check out MailerLite today!
I am not trying to convince you to switch to MailerLite. I know how much of a hassle it can be to switch providers! I also think if something is working for you, stick with it! However, if you have not started your email list yet (ahem…read why you NEED to now) OR you are not happy with your current service, I highly encourage you to consider MailerLite. I am all about simple.
16 Comments
Rebecca
January 19, 2017 at 8:23 amI’m loving Mailerite! They’ve been extremely helpful every time ask a question- AND they reply within minutes!
Thank you so much for telling me about them, Terryn.
Hanka
January 19, 2017 at 8:50 amHello Terryn, thanks for sharing. I have one question – is MailerLite available/suitable also for Blogger blogs? Thank you
terryn
January 20, 2017 at 8:07 amI don’t believe it is yet, but I would say go to MailerLite and use their chat feature to ask. They are really quick to answer!
Hanka
January 24, 2017 at 8:23 amThanks, I´m going to try it 🙂
Abbey
January 19, 2017 at 10:42 amI’ve been using MailChimp for my basic needs, but this post got me to thinking! I hadn’t even heard about MailerLite!
terryn
January 20, 2017 at 8:08 amI know it, I hadn’t either!
Jennifer Vara
January 19, 2017 at 2:38 pmThis is great! I haven’t started my email list yet. I will definitely be looking into using this one! Thanks
Danielle
January 19, 2017 at 8:10 pmI have never heard of MailerLite, and I just started exploring MailChimp. Maybe I’ll swtich.
Allison Foster
January 21, 2017 at 4:32 pmHi! I started to sign up for mailer lite – but it wanted a whole bunch of information about your company and what you’ll be posting. I asked them if they need that and they said yes in order to approve people. But what if you don’t have a company – it’s just you, with a blog you are trying to get off the ground, and a mailing list of about 250 that you send monthly newsletter/updates to? Or is it not for that purpose – it’s strictly for business?
terryn
January 21, 2017 at 5:17 pmHi Allison. I don’t remember giving that kind of info when I signed up??? I only use it for my blog mailing list. Did you try using the chat feature? They are usually very quick to respond.
Allison Foster
January 21, 2017 at 5:32 pmHi! Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! I did chat with them, they said that they need all the fields completed for the approval process. If it doesn’t match up with their criteria then they won’t approve it. Did you sign up with them recently or a while ago? Maybe they’ve gotten so popular that they are screening more carefully.
Eva
February 17, 2017 at 4:23 amAMEN! 😉
I LOVE mailerlite! 😉 But I was considering to switch to ConverKit because everybody is raving about it lately…
But I wasn’t 100% sure I am going to move…yet….
I just was thinking to create a post about why I LOVE mailerlite…. 🙂
Thanks for this informative post!
Pinned.
Kira | A Better Life Lived
February 17, 2017 at 10:11 pmThanks for this post! I use MailChimp as well and I hadn’t heard of mailerlite, but this is really making me consider switching! I have been frustrated about things like autoresponders and such as well and the more I use MailChimp, the more I feel like it doesn’t offer enough. It’s great to know there is another free option out there until I hit the minimum threshold for payments!
terryn
February 18, 2017 at 1:04 pmI hear you. I was so happy to fin Mailerlite, I just couldn’t figure out MailChimp. Even when you get to 1000 subscribers, it is still only $10 a month.
Dia Darling
March 29, 2017 at 10:31 amI’m hearing more about mailerlite and because of the cost I am strongly considering switching from ConvertKit but I’m worried about how much time it will take. I have a long list of upgrades shared throughout my blog. This isn’t too bad but I’m worried about the pins I’ve posted that go directly to content upgrades and not blog posts. Did you have to deal with this at all?
Agnes
April 8, 2017 at 6:25 pmI wanted to switch one of my sites over to MailerLite, but they only allow up to 10 RSS items in one newsletter. I need at least 50, so I had to go back to MailChimp. I’m hoping they will change this limit in the near future.