With so many Email Service Providers (ESPs) available, how do you know which is the best for you?
A quick Google search will give you a ton of choices, and I know that making the right choice can be overwhelming.
But the right email marketing tool can boost your course sales and help you continue to grow your business.
After working with hundreds of students over the years, my hands-down favorite email marketing tool that will help you grow your list and sell your course is…
Why We Chose ConvertKit
Back when I started building my email list in 2013, I wanted an email service provider that checked 2 easy boxes. It had to be:
- Easy to navigate
- Inexpensive and within my budget
(Spoiler alert: while both of those things are important to consider, they weren’t the only factors needed in order to make a decision!)
Like many business owners, I went with Mailchimp.
Mailchimp was marketed as easy-to-use, and at the time it was very inexpensive to sign up and get started, so it felt like a no-brainer.
The thing is, I didn’t determine what would be the best choice for me in the long term.
See, I knew that I wanted to grow my business, but I wasn’t exactly sure what I needed to look for in an email service provider that would support my business growth.
My business quickly outgrew Mailchimp.
While Mailchimp was easy to use, it didn’t give me the functionalities and ease of use that I needed at the new stage of my business.
At the time, many of my colleagues were using ConvertKit and were in love with the tool.
I signed up, and quickly fell in love with it, too.
I used ConvertKit for years until I made the switch to Kartra (since Kartra is an all-in-one tool that includes email).
Here’s why we let go of Kartra for good.
Once we let go of Kartra, I went right back to ConvertKit because it truly is the best.
Wanna take a peak at the rest of our tech stack? Check out all the tools we use here!
ConvertKit Review: Top 4 ConvertKit Features
ConvertKit has several amazing features that were exactly what we needed for our business.
Below are the top 4 things that we know will make it the best email marketing tool to grow your business as well.
1. Ease of use for any stage of business (and any level of tech-savviness!)
It would have been really nice if we didn’t have to migrate all of our information from Mailchimp once we outgrew it.
Fun fact: ConvertKit now migrates all of your information for you– FOR FREE. So if you’ve already chosen an email service provider and are dreading making a switch, don’t worry. They’ve got it covered!
But once we did migrate, I quickly realized why ConvertKit was the perfect fit for my business.
ConvertKit was built specifically for course creators and creatives, so all of their features are designed with the ideal user in mind.
As a course creator, all of the tech-y navigation and set up was easy, but the best part?
ConvertKit is not limited by my business growth. Scaling my business is easy, and I don’t have to worry about switching email service providers once I hit a certain level in my business.
That peace of mind is priceless.
2. Amazing customer support
As you can probably tell by our reviews of the tech tools we’ve used (or still use!), customer service is extremely important for me.
Not just because I want to feel taken care of as a consumer, but also because I know that if there’s a tool I use, I want to recommend it to my students and readers.
And I want my students and readers to be taken care of.
Well, ConvertKit has astounding customer service, with live chat and email support available 24/7.
They also provide video tutorials for many features within ConvertKit just in case you need an answer right away.
They also have the ConvertKit creator community on their platform, which gives you a Facebook group vibe that allows you to connect with other ConvertKit users for peer-to-peer support.
And any tool that has that kind of community support is a definite YES in my book!
3. Visual automations for your funnels
For those who need to SEE how their entire funnel flows, ConvertKit gives you this option.
You can set up your automations (or funnels) within ConvertKit, giving you a bird-eye view of the customizations and different targeted campaigns that you set up for your subscribers.
And if you get stuck setting them up? ConvertKit has free videos and courses available, included with all the plans!
4. Values, values, values!
If there’s one thing that I need to know before investing in any service or tool is where they stand and what their values are.
ConvertKit put out a statement on their stance around Black Lives Matter.
Unlike Kartra, they were unequivocally in favor of equality and justice, and that is exactly the kind of business that I want to support with my dollars.
So once we left Kartra, it was clear we would come right back to ConvertKit.
ConvertKit Pricing
“But Jess, what about pricing? Is Convertkit worth the money?”
Yes, yes, a million times yes!
I always recommend that my students test out ConvertKit before making their final decision (although in my heart I know they’ll end up loving it as much as I do!).
ConvertKit makes it easy to try them out; they offer a free 14 day trial for any of their paid plans…
…but they offer a forever FREE plan for up to 1000 subscribers!
While the free plan has some limited features, you may be at a point in your business where you don’t need all of the features of the paid plans anyway.
If you’re a business owner starting to build your list and are managing less than 1000 email subscribers, then the forever free plan may be exactly right for you.
But when you’re ready, making the switch to the paid plans (starting at just $15/month) will be a cinch!
ConvertKit versus Mailchimp
If Mailchimp is still in your radar, here’s what I’d suggest:
Think about your business model or the type of business you own.
Are you a blogger, creator, coach, service provider, or course creator?
(Probably YES if you’re here!)
If so, ConvertKit will likely be better for you.
Are you a retail or e-commerce business? Do you prefer “newsletter” style emails with images and templated formatting?
Then Mailchimp will be best for you.
ConvertKit has less template options for formatting emails, which is rarely necessary for course creators and other creatives.
This is because text-oriented emails convert better for our business model than, say, a retail business that needs to rely on visuals to sell their products.
So if you’re a course creator (and especially if you’re looking to grow your business using email marketing!), then ConvertKit is the better choice!
Is ConvertKit the right choice for me?
If you’re a blogger, creator, coach, service provider, or course creator searching for the best email marketing tool to build your email list and grow your business, then I highly encourage you to try ConvertKit.
ConvertKit is an email service provider that can actually grow alongside you in your business.
And if you prefer to focus on simplicity vs all the bells and whistles of other email service providers (that may get lost in a Spam folder!)… then click here to sign up for ConvertKit’s free plan!
