Flodesk and ConvertKit are two of the most popular email marketing tools around, but which one is better overall? In this article, we’re putting Flodesk vs ConvertKit head-to-head to see which one comes out on top.
Whether you’re thinking about starting your own business, or you’re already up and running, it’s likely that you will have had the importance of creating an email list drummed into you on multiple occasions.
The ROI of email marketing is huge, giving businesses an average return of $42 for every $1 spent on email marketing.
This is why as a business owner, having an email list is one of your most valuable assets. So, if you haven’t started your email list already, now’s the time to get started!
There are lots of email marketing platforms that claim to offer everything you need, but some are better than others. Flodesk and ConvertKit are both great options, but there are some glaring differences between the two. This article will give you all the information you need to decide which of these popular email marketing tools is right for you.
Flodesk vs ConvertKit – Which is Better Overall?
In a rush? No worries, here’s what you need to know about Flodesk vs ConvertKit.
Overall, ConvertKit is better than Flodesk. It’s packed full of great features that will help you grow your business and run profitable email marketing campaigns. It also has loads of native integrations, so whichever tools you are using to run your business, there’s a good chance they will connect seamlessly with ConvertKit.
Flodesk is a good tool too, but it’s a lot more basic. It doesn’t include useful features like A/B testing which is crucial for optimizing your conversion rates. It also doesn’t enable you to sell and deliver digital products, which is a key source of passive income for many bloggers.
If you’re a blogger or niche site owner, ConvertKit is almost certainly going to be the best option for you. If you are an e-commerce business owner, or a small business owner with a very large list but no need for advanced features, then Flodesk could be a good option for you.
Flodesk is still a very new player in the email marketing software game, so with time, they may add more new features and integrations.
Try Flodesk Here or Try ConvertKit Here
The Main Differences Between Flodesk vs ConvertKit
While Flodesk and ConverKit are both great tools, there are a few differences between the two that will mean one email platform is better suited to your business than the other.
- ConvertKit has a completely free plan which you can use for your first 1000 subscribers. Paid plans with access to more features start at $9/month. Flodesk doesn’t have a free plan-it costs $38/month for unlimited subscribers and access to all features.
- ConvertKit includes A/B testing features, whereas Flodesk, unfortunately, doesn’t offer this.
- Flodesk’s only native integration is with Shopify, although you can use Zapier to connect with other tools. ConvertKit on the other hand offers over 100+ native integrations, as well as Zapier.
Although Flodesk doesn’t offer a free plan, it could work out cheaper in the long term if you have a high subscriber count. This is because it charges a flat rate of $38/month or $418/year, for unlimited subscribers.
Both email marketing platforms have similar features, with the main differences being how complex these features are. For example, Flodesk only has limited page templates while Convertkit has more than 70. This is partly why Flodesk is usually considered more beginner-friendly.
When trying to decide between Flodesk vs ConvertKit, it’s important to consider your budget, the size and type of business you run, and your level of experience. It’s quite likely that some of the issues that we mention will stick in your mind (positive or negative). Hopefully, these points will help you make up your mind.
Flodesk Overview
Flodesk has become popular over the last few years. This is thanks to its reputation for being beginner-friendly and offering excellent support when you need it.
There are plenty of features to keep the amateur email marketer busy and the templates will enable you to create stunning email newsletters with very little effort.
More experienced marketers might find Flodesk frustrating because of its lack of customization options and limited integrations. While it doesn’t always have the best selection of themes or most complex personalization options, it’s this that makes it such an easy software to use from the outset and perfect for beginners.
Main Features
Flodesk has everything that a beginner might need to launch their email marketing campaign.
The main features of Flodesk include:
- Responsive forms to grow your list
- Easy and intuitive interface
- Unlimited subscribers
- Integrates with Shopify
- Powerful automation and workflows
- Landing pages
- Zapier Integrations
Focusing on design first, Flodesk offers beautiful email templates as well as web page and form templates that allow you to create a landing page for your business in just a few short steps. The number of templates to choose from is quite limited though. This means you might find yourself spending a lot of time customizing the presets if you’re a branding perfectionist.
The good news is that it’s fairly easy to adjust the templates to your own branding. When creating your newsletter you can insert multimedia into your emails. This enables you to utilize things like video, images, or even audio as well as creating calls to action with hyperlinked CTA buttons.
Flodesk also offers brilliant automation tools. You’re able to schedule an email sequence in advance, allowing you to create content in batch and then forget about it for a while. You can repurpose content for other platforms to feature in your emails. You are also able to integrate third-party tools into Flodesk, but the native options are quite limited so you will still need to use Zapier for most integrations.
With Flodesk you can easily segment your email list. You can split your customers according to their interests, likes or dislikes. You can even segment subscribers by what product they purchased which allows you to offer personalized support and special offers. Unfortunately, this is as far as segmentation of your email list goes as you’re not able to add tags to identify different types of customers.
Ease of Use
One of Flodesk’s biggest selling points is that it’s accessible for everyone. The software’s interface is very simple and beginner-friendly with very few complications. This makes it simple to navigate and create beautiful campaigns with minimal knowledge. It’s built to not overwhelm amateur marketers and because of this, it’s almost foolproof.
The flip side of this is that the customization options are very limited. You aren’t able to add tags to your emails or web pages and there are very few choices of templates to choose from which you could find frustrating once you advance your skills further.
Customer Support
Flodesk offers both email support and a Facebook group where you can ask for help from other users as well as the admin team. The customer services team responds fairly quickly anyway, but if it’s a quick or simple question then you’re likely to get an almost instant answer from the Facebook group.
Flodesk also has an excellent help section on their site. Here you will find plenty of guided tutorials and walkthrough troubleshooting to help you get back on track sooner.
Integrations
One of Flodesk’s biggest downfalls is its lack of integrations. Currently, Flodesk’s only native integration is with Shopify. When you connect your Shopify store to Flodesk, the software will automatically gather the email addresses of your customers to add to the database which is a very useful feature.
You can install Zapier to add more integrations, but this never works as seamlessly as native integrations which may put some people off. More integrations are in the pipeline for the future, but for now, at least it’s very limited.
Customer reviews
Flodesk scores highly with its customers, with an average of 4.5 stars across most of the major review websites.
Flodesk has received high praise for its excellent customer support which is mentioned as friendly, timely, and suited to most users (especially with the help forum tutorials).
It also scores highly for the stunning templates available. The templates allow users to create eye-catching emails with very little effort or experience. Overall, the beginner-friendly interface seems to be a hit with almost everyone using the software.
Some of the common complaints mentioned the lack of customization. Particularly the inability to input a color code, which is a must for branding perfectionists.
Analytics
When it comes to Analytics, Flodesk is pretty basic. While it gives you the key information you need such as opens and clicks, it doesn’t go much deeper than this. Some people will love to keep it simple, however, if you’re working on optimizing your conversion and open rates, access to detailed data analytics is crucial.
Flodesk Pros and Cons
PROS:
- Excellent customer support
- Beginner-friendly interface
- Easy-to-use email builder
- Offers a 30-day free trial
- Stunning templates
- Good automation tools
- Good deliverability rates
CONS:
- Flat rate pricing can be less affordable for smaller users
- No free-forever option
- No tagging features
- Limited customizations
- Very few templates
- No A/B testing features
Flodesk vs ConvertKit: Flodesk Pricing
Flodesk has a very simple pricing structure – it’s one monthly flat rate of $38 that never changes. This might seem like a lot of money when you’re just starting out. However, if you have thousands of email subscribers then this is likely to make Flodesk one of the most affordable options around. Particularly when compared to other email marketing platforms that charge a fee based on usage or the number of subscribers.
Flodesk doesn’t have a free plan available which could put off complete beginners. However, it does offer a 30-day free trial so you can take some time to get used to the software and decide if it’s right for you.
If you think that Flodesk might be a good fit for you and your business, you can try it risk-free with a 30-day free trial.
ConvertKit Overview
ConvertKit has achieved cult status in recent years. It’s become known as the go-to email marketing platform for bloggers and small businesses alike, and with good reason. You can look almost anywhere online and find glowing reviews. There are huge communities built around ConvertKit, and because it’s such a widely used software there are lots of additional resources.
The large range of features and customization options, coupled with excellent support are all big reasons for the email marketing software earning such a great reputation. If you’re a total beginner then ConvertKit could feel a little daunting, particularly as there are points where being able to code in HTML would give you a big advantage. However, it’s easy enough to scrape by as a complete beginner thanks to the extensive help forums and active Facebook community.
Main Features
ConvertKit has a number of features that help it to stand out against the competition. It’s a great option if you’re looking for a more well-rounded email marketing software that offers you more control.
The main features of ConvertKit include:
- Landing pages
- Forms
- Deliver free automatic downloads
- Personalized content
- Easy-to-use templates
- Sell digital products
- Create paid newsletter
- Create automations and funnels
ConvertKit makes it easy to grow your list and send beautiful emails to your subscribers. You can create powerful sales funnels, sell digital products and even create paid newsletters.
The email designer is easy to use, and if you don’t want to start from scratch you can choose from one of the professional-looking pre-made templates. More advanced users can also get stuck into the code if they want to, making the customization options endless!
One of ConvertKit’s best features is that it allows you to sell digital products without using a third-party tool. This is a game-changer for bloggers. You could couple this with their landing page templates to create a digital product business with an email marketing funnel to back it up with very minimal effort.
ConvertKit offers advanced segmentation with the addition of tags. There are also plenty of designs to choose from for email, form, and page templates and excellent automation tools. ConvertKit also offers native integrations with over 100 different plugins which makes it a hugely versatile piece of software.
Ease of Use
ConvertKit is generally easy to use, even for beginners. That being said, some people find getting used to ConvertKit’s platform more of a learning curve than others. It really depends on your level of experience.
On the whole, it is easy to use and the forums and Facebook support group help, but it might take a little longer to get used to if this is your first experience of an email marketing platform.
Most of the features are easy to use and backend navigation is fairly intuitive to navigate. If you’re new to email marketing, it might be worth taking some time to look at the help forums and explore the menus before you start publishing anything.
Customer Support
ConvertKit makes it easy to get in touch with its customer services team. Should you need anything you can contact the support team by live chat, email, forum, or Facebook group. The Facebook group is particularly useful because it gives you the ability to discuss features and troubleshoot with more experienced users while you wait for support to reply.
Customers can also take advantage of walkthroughs and troubleshooting tutorials on their forums, but the support team has been known to reply fairly quickly.
Integrations
Integrations are one of ConvertKit’s strong suits. Currently, the email marketing platform offers over 100 native integrations with various plugins and services.
Crucially, you’re able to connect to popular platforms like Squarespace Commerce, Teachable, and Shopify to keep track of customers and conversions. Any integrations that aren’t native to ConvertKit can be added through Zapier. Zapier is one of ConvertKit’s native integrations and allows you to expand the number of compatible tools.
Customer reviews
ConvertKit has shot to fame as one of the go-to email marketing platforms over the past few years. This is thanks to the company’s ability to strike the perfect balance between being user-friendly for everyone and also offering lots of options for more experienced marketers.
Many customers have mentioned that ConvertKit has a focus on creativity, and their tools really support this ethos. It’s easy to add lots of unique touches to your emails, like Spotify playlists or GIFs. Even if you don’t need all of the tools when you first start your email list, they’re ready and waiting when you need them at no extra cost.
Customer support was also raved about in several of the reviews, citing fast response times and plenty of ways to get in touch. The help forum had mixed reviews with some saying that it was an excellent resource and others saying that it didn’t provide enough detail, which might potentially mean that the forum isn’t totally beginner-friendly.
There were some mentions of the pricing being more than that of other platforms, but most reviewers also justified this with the quality of service that they received. One of the biggest points was that you’re not charged for duplicate subscribers – one email address counts as one subscription, even if they’re subscribed to multiple lists.
Analytics
ConvertKit provides detailed analytics on pretty much everything. You can easily view opens and clicks of each email campaign, as well as see exactly who opened each email, and how they engaged with it.
You can also see how many people viewed each of your landing pages, and view your conversion rates. This data allows you to experiment and split test your pages to optimize your conversion rates.
ConvertKit Pros and Cons
PROS:
- Offers a huge number of templates
- Extensive customization options
- Ability to edit the HTML
- Excellent customer support
- Widely recognized so there are lots of resources
- Lots of native integrations, as well as Zapier
- Flexible pricing structure
- Ability to sell digital products through ConvertKit
- Create paid newsletters
- A/B testing
CONS:
- There is a learning curve for complete beginners
- It can get expensive if you have a huge list
Flodesk vs ConvertKit: ConvertKit Pricing
ConvertKit has a flexible pricing system that starts with a free plan for businesses with less than 1000 subscribers. After this, plans start at $9 per month, making it much more affordable for smaller businesses or creators.
It’s important to note that the free plan doesn’t include all features. If you want access to specific features such as automated funnels and sequences, you will need to upgrade to the Creator Plan.
The cost increases as your email list grows, which means that it could be a cost-effective solution for smaller businesses, but the price could very quickly shoot up if you start getting more email subscribers, even if you’re not making money from your email list.
If you want to find out more about ConvertKit, and take the free plan for a test drive, you can sign up here. No credit card details are required.
Flodesk vs ConvertKit: The Verdict – Which is Better?
When it comes to choosing between Flodesk vs ConvertKit, there is a clear winner.
For most bloggers and business owners, ConvertKit is the best option. There are lots of customization options that allow you to create beautiful emails that match your branding perfectly. It includes lots of important features such as A/B testing which will allow you to optimize your open rates. This in turn will increase your profits.
ConvertKit also gives you the ability to sell and automatically deliver digital downloads. This feature enables content creators to deliver lead magnets and sell digital products without the need for additional software.
That’s not to say that Flodesk isn’t a good option, it’s just quite different.
Flodesk is a great option for anyone looking for a basic email marketing tool that’s super easy to use. E-commerce business owners looking for an easy way to keep in touch with their customers and promote their offers will love Flodesk. It gives you unlimited email subscribers too, so it’s a cost-effective option if you have a very large subscriber list. As your business grows, you can always upgrade to another email marketing software with more bells and whistles.
Of course, it has to be said that ConvertKit wins the pricing wars too. The free plan for your first 1000 subscribers could be a huge advantage for a new business or blogger, as it’s one less expense to worry about. As your list grows, the price for ConvertKit will go up, and although it will eventually end up being more expensive than Flodesk, you get what you pay for.
Overall, in the battle of Flodesk vs ConvertKit, ConvertKit wins by a mile. It’s a fantastic tool that gives you everything you need to run profitable email marketing campaigns.
