One of the things we hear as bloggers or creatives all the time is, own your newsletter list! It’s the only thing you own outside of your website so you should invest in it. Instagram, Pinterest, while they’re all great and wonderful to support my blogging business, I don’t own that platform. That social media channel isn’t mine I can control and it can change on a dime.
For years, I was using Mailchimp as everyone else in the industry usually did. It was really the only option. If you’ve never used Mailchimp, you’ve at least probably heard of it. And let me tell you first hand experience, it sucks. Period. It’s not user friendly, they changed their interface yearly if not more and it just was ugly. As creatives, we want pretty things! Not ugly!
Because the newsletters weren’t great, I rarely spent any time on them. I didn’t have a pop up, I didn’t think to do a fun freebie for readers, and before I knew it, I was 7 years into blogging with very few subscribers. Not a good position to be in as the social media world evolves.
Email converts on average 6x more than social media
Email marketing has a larger conversion rate for sales and open rate (which means more eyes on the content you want them to see) than social media. But you have to BUILD a list for that to even work. So how do you do that? A good start is with pretty emails from Flodesk. Combined with a solid opt-in freebie that entices readers to provide you their email, you’re on your way to growing that list. This is how I upped my newsletter game and why I switched from Mailchimp to Flodesk.
Mailchimp vs Flodesk
There are SO many reasons why I switched from Mailchimp to Flodesk. After years of hating my newsletters, not growing and just throwing money down the drain, it was time for a switch. And I’m so glad I discovered Flodesk. Here’s the shortlist as to why I started using Flodesk and why you should too.
Flodesk Is More Affordable
At only $40 a month for unlimited subscribers, this is much more affordable than Mailchimp. Plus, since Flodesk is brand new, they’re offering 50% off your monthly subscription, FOREVER. That’s right. So for only $19/month, you get unlimited lists, unlimited forms, unlimited emails. Mailchimp would charge you anytime you increased your subscribers, even if they were UNSUBSCRIBED. How is that even a thing?!
Plus, if you’re not sure about Flodesk, there’s a free 30 day trial you can try. Still click the link below to ensure you get 50% off if you decide to sign up!
Flodesk Is More User Friendly
The biggest change from Mailchimp to Flodesk right off the bat is how much easier it is to use. From start to finish of creating a newsletter or workflow (that’s like a welcome series email) is super simple and straight forward.
The templates they provide are drag and drop so you can easily customize your newsletter to suit your message and branding. Mailchimp had hideous super simple templates that were nearly impossible to customize without the help of someone who understood HTML. Flodesk’s templates are easy to use drag and drop to create beautiful on brand emails quickly.
Supporting Small Women Owned Businesses
Always love when something I support just so happens to also be a small women-owned business. The founders of Flodesk, Martha Bitar and Rebecca Shostak, are the geniuses behind this brand. Martha is someone I met a few years ago and was always inspired by her passion and it’s no surprise her passion and entrepreneurship is behind this emerging business. And Rebecca, who I recently met virtually through signing up for Flodesk, is so damn creative it blows my mind. She was the mastermind behind my custom template that they made for Flodesk for fellow creatives to use and it makes me smile every time I see it.
3 Tips For A Successful Newsletter
Switching to Flodesk won’t magically have you growing your newsletter and building a subscriber list overnight. There are things you will need to do to provide value to your readers in order to gain their trust in popping into their inbox. Which actually WILL help you grow your list overnight actually. But it does take a little work. Here are 3 tips for growing your newsletter with Flodesk, or really any program!
1. Provide A Valuable Opt-In Freebie
Getting access to popping into someone’s inbox these days is a real challenge. People are not as likely to just hand out their emails just because you have a pop up that says “stay in the know”. You have to provide VALUE in exchange for that email. And to do that I always recommend an opt-in freebie. Depending on your content and/or the services you offer, will determine what kind of freebie you end up offering. Flodesk makes creating a pop-up, and the workflow you’ll coordinate to deliver that freebie, a breeze!
For me as a style blogger, I currently offer a spring capsule guide for readers. I also created specific ones for super popular posts that I have like my hair tutorials. New readers are landing on my blog thanks to these posts and I want to try to capture them as best as I can to turn them into more dedicated readers. So for those posts, I offer a braid guide opt-in freebie. Same for some popular travel posts, a carry-on checklist. And for my super popular Charleston guide, an Instagram guide to Charleston.
2. Create A Welcome Sequence
A welcome sequence is a series of emails that you send when someone signs up for your offer. These typically get a much higher open-rate since subscribers are expecting those emails. So be sure to maximize you content in these. Introduce yourself, give them the freebie in their email right away, and follow up soon after with more value. Flodesk makes creating a welcome sequence insanely easy and effortless.
An example of what I do for mine is to deliver the freebie in the first email, in the second email, I offer additional tips that are relevant to the freebie. This is a way to show them that I offer even more content I know they may like. And then lastly, a more general email about other things they may enjoy to show them more about my brand.
3. Create Exclusive Content
The thing I was doing wrong for YEARS in my newsletters was sending my subscribers content that was already on my blog. It would be reminders of what they missed, or an RSS feed email of my latest blog posts. Nothing personal and definitely nothing exclusive. Why would anyone open this if they were already on the blog? If you want people to not only open your email, but also stay subscribed, you need to provide value and exclusive content.
A few things I try to share every so often is a favorite product and how I’m using it. Or a sale I’m loving and the 2 or 3 pieces I’m shopping. A few other ideas could be never before shared recipes, outfits or even just a personal note from you to the subscriber to keep things personal.
Those are my go to tips for newsletters and I hope these help as you build your subscriber list! Be sure to check out Flodesk and get your 50% off your subscription today.
