Email marketing is the most effective way to establish trust and engage with your target audience in a personalized manner.

Email marketing also has the highest ROI, which means it will help you make more sales in the long run.

However, there are far too many options for email marketing software, ranging from free tools like Mailchimp to premium options like Drip, ConvertKit, and so on.

So, which one should you choose?

If you’re a blogger or online creator looking for an easy-to-manage and effective email marketing platform, ConvertKit is a must-try.

Why? You’ll find it out in this detailed ConvertKit review  along with its:

• Features
• Pricing
• Why we’re using ConvertKit
• Alternatives and much more

So are you ready to find them out? Let’s get into the details.

What are the features of ConvertKit?

ConvertKit offers a ton of excellent features.

• There is a free landing page builder available, as well as fully customizable templates.
• With ease, create lead magnets, coming soon pages, course sign-up pages, and so on.
• A plethora of simple integrations with other tools such as Teachable, Shopify, and others Excellent email marketing automation that allow you to set rules based on your subscribers’ actions
• With responsive templates, you can create an unlimited number of sign-up forms.
• The ability to create popup forms, such as exit-intent popups
• Their email designer assists you in creating simple yet compelling emails.
• Fantastic email reporting that allows you to track conversion rates on your homepage dashboard.
• Automation of RSS to email
• A/B testing is available.
• The ability to use tags and segments to organize your subscribers from a single email list

So you want to try all their features now?

Why Use ConvertKit Over Other Email Marketing Solutions

About ConvertKit

Nathan Barry started ConvertKit as a side project in 2013, and it quickly gained popularity in the blogosphere. It now generates more than $10 million in revenue per year and is used by over 30,000 online creators worldwide.

Okay, let’s get into the specifics of its application and benefits.

Extremely easy to use interface

ConvertKit consists of 4 different modules in its interface which include;

1. Subscribers
2. Automation
3. Landing pages & Forms
4. Broadcasts

Here’s what its interface looks like;

convert it interface

As you can see above, its interface shows you almost all the essential data on the dashboard which includes everything from;

• Showing your total subscribers
• Average open rate
• Average click rate
• Total number of emails sent
• New subscribers (for today)
• Purchases made

You’ll also find the option to import new subscribers, as well as tags to segment your email lists for higher email conversions.

Even if you’re new to email marketing, you’ll find it simple to use ConvertKit because its interface is straightforward and doesn’t require a steep learning curve.

Let’s take a look at the four modules that comprise ConvertKit’s interface.

• Subscribers
• Automation
• Landing pages & Forms
• Broadcasts

ConvertKit Subscribers

Here’s what the “Subscribers” interface looks like;

 

convert it, subscribers

As you can see above, you can find everything from;

• Email address
• Name of the subscribers
• Subscribed date
• Status (whether they confirmed your subscription yet or not)
• Segments
• Tags (these are extremely useful)

There are two most important things we need to discuss when it comes to “Subscribers” data which are;

• Segments and
• Tags

Let’s go over them briefly so you can use ConvertKit to better segment your email list for higher conversion rates.

Segments: Segments allow you to group your email subscribers together for broadcasts. To create a segment, you must use filters to specify which Subscribers will be displayed as a result.

Here’s an example of a segment.

 

create segment

As you can see above, we created a Segment using two filter groups which are;

• People who purchased (subscribed to) our Affiliate Marketing Blueprint eBook
• and those who subscribed to our Free Affiliate Marketing Course

Now, it is easier for us to send “highly relevant email newsletters” to that specific segment in the future for better conversions.

You’ll see a variety of options within a Filter Group, such as;

• Whichever (specific subscribers)
• All of them (everyone on your list)
• There are none (to exclude someone or some people from the list)

Tags: Tags make it simple to identify your subscribers based on their behavior. You can easily tag those who have subscribed to your list, purchased something from you, completed an email sequence, and so on.

But don’t get Segments and Tags mixed up; they’re not the same thing. For a better understanding, consider the following illustration.

 

As you can see from the examples above,

• We make “Tags” to organize and group subscribers based on their actions, interests, and so on.
• We create “Segments” by categorizing subscribers and then grouping those categorizing them together.
  That being said, email segmentation is critical if you want to increase your email open rates, click-through rates, and overall engagement with your subscribers.

Visual Automations in ConvertKit

Email automation helps you understand your customer journey in a better way. ConvertKit offers you easy-to-understand automation workflows in a visual form.

here’s what the Visual Automation looks like;

You can do a variety of things with their automation feature, including;

• Creating automated email marketing funnels
• Set the rules and then let the app do the work for you.
• Based on their actions, you can tailor a subscriber’s path (such as filling a form, clicking a link, purchasing a product, etc)
• Always be aware of what’s coming up for your subscriber.
• You can send highly targeted email newsletters.
• You can also divide your subscribers into groups based on their customer journey.

There are a few more items in the “Automations” section.

As you can see above, you can manage so many things including;

• Sequences (where you can create and edit email sequences)
• Rules (set rules based on your subscriber’s actions)
• RSS
• Integrations

Create Unlimited Landing Pages & Forms with ConvertKit

ConvertKit allows you to create an unlimited number of landing pages and forms. You can easily create landing pages and forms (email opt-in forms) within your website using the “Landing Pages & Forms” section.

Landing Pages: Although we create unique and custom landing pages on our site, you can easily build exclusive landing pages using ConvertKit.

ConvertKit has an in-built landing page builder as well as pre-made templates that you can use to create landing pages in a matter of minutes.

What’s the best part? ConvertKit will host all landing pages you create with ConvertKit to collect email addresses. You can also host them on your own domain with WordPress if you prefer.

Forms: You can embed a form anywhere on your self-hosted website or landing page. The main reason to use their forms on your site to collect emails is that you’ll get valuable information such as total visitors, subscribers, and conversion rate.

Here’s a screenshot of our 10-day free blogging course registration form:

ConvertKit Broadcasts

• Your email broadcasts (also known as newsletters) and the timing
• The number of people who received it
• Rate of openness
• Click-through rate (along with the number of clicks)
• Non-subscribers (if any)

Broadcasts are where you can find all your email newsletters along with important data.

Here’s what it looks like;

As you can see, you’ll find everything from;

• Your email broadcasts (aka newsletters) along with the timing
• Number of recipients who received it
• Open rate
• Click rate (along with the number of clicks)
• Unsubscribers (if any)

You can also click on each one of those broadcasts to see more data.

Have a look;

You’ll see an overview of your broadcasts’ engagement, which includes:

• Theme (your email content)
• Recipients (along with their email addresses and names)
• opens (along with their email addresses and names)
• Clicks (along with their email addresses and names)
• Unsubscribers (along with their email addresses and names)

You can also “resend to unopened” people to improve your overall email engagement rates. You can duplicate a broadcast and make some quick changes to resend it to your subscribers. You can also share that broadcast anywhere on the internet.

ConvertKit is subscriber-centric rather than list-centric

One advantage of using ConvertKit over other email marketing platforms is that it employs tags rather than lists.

ConvertKit is a platform that focuses on subscribers. So, what does it all mean?

Simply put, each subscriber on your email list is counted only once in your account, and you will not be charged for duplicate subscribers. Let us go over this in greater detail.

No matter how many times someone subscribes to your website’s various opt-in forms or landing pages, they will only appear once on your main list. That is the essence of the “Subscriber-centric model.”

It not only allows you to easily manage your entire email list, but it also saves you money (on duplicate subscribers as they are counted only once).

Most other email marketing platforms do not do this because they adhere to the “list-centric model,” which states that each subscriber is treated as a separate contract.

It means that a subscriber with the same email address who is on multiple lists will be charged the same way – so one person on five lists will be billed as five separate contacts.

ConvertKit, on the other hand, uses a “Subscriber-centric model,” which eliminates that problem.

Not only that, but using tags, you can easily segment your email list.

For example, if a customer has purchased something from you, you can tag and segment them into the “Purchased” tag so that your email newsletters are more aligned.

Above all, ConvertKit makes it simple to maintain a “clean” email list.

How? All unsubscribers are removed automatically, and cold subscribers are highlighted in your list so you can either remove them or re-engage with them for higher conversions.

How to Grab a 14-Day Free Trial from ConvertKit?

Loving our ConvertKit review and convinced to try ConvertKit to build and grow your email list? Looking for a free trial? Here’s a simple tutorial on how to grab a free trial from ConvertKit for the next 14 days.

Once you’re on their pricing page, scroll down to see their “Complete” package and click on the “Start a free trial” button to continue.

Once you click on the free trial, you’ll be asked a few questions;

• Do you currently use an email marketing tool in your business?
• Do you have a website?

Answer those questions and then you’ll be asked to create a free account using your email and username. That’s it, you’ll have instant access to all their features free for the next 14 days after creating an account.

ConvertKit Customer Support: What to Expect

ConvertKit gives you access to their customer support team via email or live chat (8am to 8pm EST).

They also provide a free migration service, which allows you to move your email lists from your current email software to ConvertKit for free.

Aside from that, you’ll have access to their massive knowledge base, which contains hundreds of articles and guides on ConvertKit usage. There are also video tutorials on how to get the most out of ConvertKit’s email software.

ConvertKit also offers live workshops and on-demand training to teach you how to be a successful online creator.

Above all, you can use their “ConvertKit creator community” to ask any questions about their software. The good news is that their community is very active, so you’ll get responses within a day.

ConvertKit Pros and Cons

This ConvertKit review will be incomplete without listing its pros and cons. So here’s the list of some of the pros and cons we discovered so far with ConvertKit. We’ll update this section whenever we find something new.

Pros:

• It offers a free plan where you can manage up to 1000 email subscribers (a great plan for beginners)
• It is extremely easy to use even for beginners
• Offers free migrations which means you can switch from your existing email marketing provider to ConvertKit free of cost (which includes moving your lists and information from your current email marketing software into ConvertKit)
• ConvertKit has the BEST email deliverability rate. According to them, ConvertKit sent over a billion messages with a delivery rate of 99% which is great
• You won’t be charged for duplicate (or redundant) subscribers unlike other services like AWeber as ConvertKit charges only for “UNIQUE subscribers”
• No matter what plan you’re using, you can send unlimited emails with ConvertKit
• They often roll out updates to their software with new and unique features
• Usage of tags so you can easily segment your email list and send newsletters or broadcasts to specific people for better conversions (instead of sending your emails to the whole list)
• You can create unlimited landing pages
• Access to visual automation funnels which help you discover the journey of your email subscribers which ultimately helps you with higher conversion rates
• Excellent reporting features as you can also see the top referrers of your email subscribers

Cons:

• Limited email templates (mostly their email templates have plain text). So if you want to use appealing or design-oriented email templates, you’ll have to customize them using an HTML editor.

ConvertKit Pricing Plans

So, how much does ConvertKit cost?

One advantage of ConvertKit is that they recently introduced a “FREE plan” that allows you to manage up to 1000 email subscribers for free. You read that correctly.

So, if you’re just getting started with ConvertKit as a new blogger, you can try their free plan.

Having said that, ConvertKit offers a “Complete” plan, and the pricing plans are listed below.

• $29 /month for up to 1,000 subscribers
• $49 /month For up to 3,000 subscribers
• $79 /month For up to 5,000 subscribers
• $99 /month For up to 8,000 subscribers
• $119 /month For up to 10,000 subscribers
• $179 /month For up to 20,000 subscribers
• $199 /month For up to 25,000 subscribers
• $259 /month For up to 35,000 subscribers
• $319 /month For up to 45,000 subscribers
• $379 /month For up to 55,000 subscribers
• $679 /month For up to 105,000 subscribers
• $1,279 /month For up to 205,000 subscribers
• $1,879 /month For up to 305,000 subscribers
• $2,499 /month For up to 500,000 subscribers
• $3,999 /month For up to 900,000 subscribers

With their complete plan, you’ll get all the following features.

• Visual automation funnels
• Automated email sequences
• Reporting
• Premium customer support
• Free migration from another tool
• With their Complete plan, you can try all their features free for 14 days

So what are you waiting for?

ConvertKit offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you are dissatisfied with their features or email software, simply contact their customer support team via live chat or email and cancel your account within 30 days of purchase to receive a refund.

3 Alternatives to ConvertKit

This ConvertKit review will be incomplete without listing out some other cheaper (or better) alternatives to ConvertKit. So here are the 3 ConvertKit alternatives you can consider for email marketing.

Drip

We used Drip for several years, as mentioned earlier in the post, and it’s an excellent email marketing solution for bloggers and online marketers. Drip is for you if you want higher email open rates and better engagement with your email list, as well as solid A/B testing features.

Drip does provide a 14-day free trial to try out all of its features, and Drip pricing plans begin at $19 per month for 500 contacts.

Drip has the following features:

• Offers powerful email automation
• A/B testing
• Offers e-commerce CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
• Third-party integrations like SMS and direct mail
• Visual email builder that lets you build beautiful image-driven emails
• Segmentation of your email lists can be done by tags, actions, locations, custom fields, and more

GetResponse

GetResponse is a comprehensive email marketing software solution that includes Landing Pages, Webinars, Autoresponders, and Automation. It also provides a plethora of simple email templates as well as advanced analytics to help you track your email conversions.

GetResponse provides a 30-day free trial to all new users, and pricing plans begin at $15 per month for 1000 contacts.

Here are some of GetResponse’s features:

• 99% deliverability
• Autoresponders
• Landing pages
• Webinars
• Mobile-responsive email templates
• Email segmentation
• Marketing automation helps you see your customer journey
• Email analytics
• Build custom segments based on your contacts’ behavior using tags

Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor is one of the most popular email marketing platforms, with over 2 million marketers worldwide using it.

Although it is free to create an account and create a campaign on Campaign Monitor, you will need to choose a plan if you want to send emails to more than 5 subscribers. Simply put, it does not offer any free trials. Pricing starts at $9 per month for 2500 contacts.

Here are some of Campaign Monitor’s features:

• Email marketing automation
• Unlimited emails across campaigns
• Unlimited spam testing
• Time zone sending
• Access to hundreds of professionally-designed templates
• Integrations with hundreds of pre-built apps
• Offers a powerful drag-and-drop email builder
• All its email templates are mobile responsive
• Countdown timer

FAQs

Here are some of the frequently asked questions about the ConvertKit email marketing platform.

What is ConvertKit?

Yes, Convertkit outperforms Mailchimp in a variety of ways. Most importantly, ConvertKit employs Tags rather than lists, so any duplicate subscribers are counted as only one.

Mailchimp, on the other hand, considers each subscriber who is registered in multiple lists to be a distinct contact (which also adds more burden to your billing and difficult to manage such duplicate contacts).

How long is the ConvertKit trial?

ConvertKit is currently offering a 14-day FREE trial of their “Complete” plan, which you can get here.

Does ConvertKit have landing pages?

Yes, ConvertKit has a free landing page builder that you can use to create beautiful landing pages without knowing any code. It also provides seamless integration with Unsplash, where you can find and use over 100,000 royalty-free images. All of their landing page templates are responsive.

Does ConvertKit have an app?No, it does not have a dedicated app for smartphones such as Android or iPhone. However, it does have a desktop app (also known as a dashboard) that you will use after logging into your ConvertKit account.

Which is the best email marketing platform?

Here are some of the best email marketing platforms.

•  ConvertKit (great for bloggers and also offers a free plan which can manage up to 1k contacts)
•  GetResponse
•  Drip (expensive but worth it)
• Mailchimp (great for beginners as their free plan allows up to 2000 contacts)

How much does ConvertKit cost?

• One is a free plan that can be used to manage up to 1000 contacts.
• The other is a “Complete” plan that starts at $29/month and includes all of the features.

Can I earn money with ConvertKit?

Yes, you can use ConvertKit to build and grow your email list before monetizing it with various strategies such as product selling, course selling, affiliate product selling, consulting, and so on.

When was ConvertKit founded?

Nathan Barry founded ConvertKit in 2013 as an email marketing platform for online creators such as bloggers, SEOs, writers, and many others.

Try Convertkit Free For 14 Days

conclusion

ConvertKit is one of the most widely used email marketing software solutions. It’s extremely simple to use and there’s not much of a learning curve, so even if you’re a beginner, you’ll be able to use it with ease.

It regularly introduces new features that can help online creators get more out of their email lists. It is also less expensive than other options, such as Drip. That’s one of the main reasons we switched to ConvertKit.

If you’re just getting started, you can also try their “Free plan,” which is good for up to 1000 subscribers. Did you like our ConvertKit review? Do you have any additional questions? Please let us know in the comments.