Flodesk vs ConvertKit – Why I switched

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Why I switched from Convertkit to Flodesk

Is Flodesk too good to be true?

That’s exactly what I thought to myself the first time I heard about Flodesk.

They pride themselves in having beautiful emails and a fraction of the price of any other email service provider.

After snooping around on their Facebook insider page and hopping on their trial to see what it’s all about – I was sold!

I switched my email list from Convertkit to Flodesk and haven’t looked back since.

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Today I’ll share with you:

  • exactly why I did the switch
  • the differences between the two
  • cons of using Flodesk

So that you can hopefully make an informed decision on which one best suits your needs.

RELATED: How to Switch from Convertkit to Flodesk step by step.

Why do I need email?

If you’re wondering whether or not you need an email list – you do!

It is the best way to keep your blog readers coming back, staying in touch with them and possibly making more money through monetizing your list eventually.

Convertkit vs Flodesk Why I switched

An email list has the highest conversion rate and it is better than social media, because you own it. There’s no algorithm. You create your own algorithm.

You decide what each subscriber sees and when.

What this means in practice, for me: whenever I send out an email newsletter I get a big influx of blog pageviews for that day, because people are clicking through to read my blog.

And as you probably know, blog traffic is so important when you’re trying to build an online business.

You can also use affiliate links in your emails or sell a niche product, so there are lots of ways you can monetize a list.

So you know you need a list.

But which provider do you pick?

This is my opinion on the two:

Price: Flodesk vs Convertkit

Let’s talk pricing, first of all.

Because there is a huge difference!

Blog growth report. How to grow blog traffic

Both services have a free trial that you can use to have a feel for each of them.

I believe Convertkit now also have a free limited plan for up to 1,000 subscribers. Flodesk has a 30 day free trial and then it’s paid only.

When I first started with Convertkit, I didn’t feel like $29 per month was that much, so I just went along with it.

However, as my business started growing, my email list grew exponentially and I felt like the price increase from one tier to the next was WAY too much.

Basically, you will get charged more with each milestone: 1,000 subscribers, 3,000 subscribers, 5,000, 8,000 and so on. And the price increase is not tiny.

In the beginning of my blogging journey, I honestly didn’t expect my email would grow too quickly. But once it started picking up pace, going from one tier to the other happened very fast.

Before I knew it, I had nearly 25,000 subscribers and the monthly fee for that is $199.

Keeping it completely honest, it really feels like you are punished for growing your business.

It had become by far the most expensive service I was paying for and I didn’t feel like it was worth it for me anymore, as a small content creator. And I use various paid services like a photo editor, video editor, Pinterest scheduler etc.

So I started looking for other options, especially since I was already nearing the next tier, hence another increase in price. That’s when I read about Flodesk.

They are fairly new, still in development, but they have lots to offer.

Their pricing is very simple. You pay only $38 per month (or $19 per month with referal, you can use mine here), regardless of how many subscribers you have. Their plan includes unlimited emails and unlimited subscribers, without the price going up.

Basically you will only ever pay $19 monthly (with referal) and not have to worry about reaching another milestone and having to figure out a new monthly budget.

To me, that’s awesome for a small-ish creator.

Beautiful emails

It’s simple. The Flodesk emails are beautiful.

How to switch from Convertkit to Flodesk

They have a gorgeous, minimalist aesthetic. I think this part of email marketing will highly depend on the type of business or blog you run.

Convertkit pride themselves in having simple, text-based emails. So not a lot of pictures.

If your blog is not necessarily based on visuals, then you might not necessarily need aesthetic emails.

But for me, my blog being in the lifestyle, fashion, Instagram marketing niche – I NEED pictures in my emails. When I send out an outfits email, for example, people will obviously be interested in seeing the actual outfit picture rather than just a block of text.

Flodesk makes this really easy.

Great ready-to-use templates

On Flodesk they have lots of beautiful sleek templates that you can quickly customize to make them your own.

Here are few examples:

Flodesk email templates

These honestly make the process so much easier and enjoyable.

Since Convertkit is mainly text-based, adding beautiful pictures or graphics is a bit more tricky. Again, if your business is not necessarily a very visual one, then you might not feel the need for aesthetic emails. It really depends on what your niche or preferences are.

More incentive to send emails

I’m going to be honest here. To me, full text emails feel a bit boring and I am less likely to read them.

So when I was sitting down to write one, I would feel a bit overwhelmed thinking of ways to make my emails more interesting.

My experience with Flodesk has been a different one: I go into the beautiful templates and pick one that suits what I want to send out that day. I find them so inspirational and easy to customize.

It makes me actually want to sit down and put together these emails more often.

Easier to create workflows

Workflows in Flodesk = Automations in Convertkit.

Workflows or automations are what make a sequence of emails happen after someone signs up in one of your opt-in forms.

How to create a workflow in Flodesk

I find the Flodesk ones much more intuitive and simple to figure out. In Convertkit it is a bit more technical. I have read that you are able to put in place more intricate algorithms/patterns in Convertkit.

However, I personally don’t really do complicated algorithms for my email list, so I don’t really feel like I am missing out on anything.

How to create a workflow in Flodesk

Include Instagram into emails

In Flodesk, you can include an Instagram feed of your latest posts at the end of the email. Which I think is brilliant and has actually helped me grow my Instagram a bit more.

Again, it depends on the type of blog you run. Maybe Instagram isn’t that important for your business. But since it is for my blog, I highly appreciate this feature.

Deliverability and Click Rates

There is a question on whether simple text emails (Convertkit) have a higher deliverability than ones with images (Flodesk). I have read some people might have problems with their emails landing in the spam folder more often.

I am only speaking from personal experience, but:

  • My deliverability has been similar with both platforms.
  • My email open rates are pretty much the same in Flodesk as they were in Convertkit.
  • However, my click rates are higher in Flodesk from what I can tell so far.

I think people have more of an incentive to click-through and read the blog when there are beautiful visuals involved.

A few things you can do to make sure your emails don’t end up in spam:

  • Verify your blog domain in Flodesk.
  • Ask people to whitelist your email address (or add you to their contacts).
  • Have conversations with people on your email list, so that email providers can tell that you are a genuine account and not a spam one. For example, include “Hit reply to this email and tell me…” to start a conversation with your email subscribers. It’s also nice to build up your community this way.

Great stats for each email

I love the statistics you have in Flodesk for each email. Again, it is highly visual and it really helps me read my analytics and learn how I can improve my emails.

Cons to Flodesk

Still in development

Flodesk is fairly new, so they are constantly working on it. It is not a finished product yet, they constantly add new features.

This means you might not find all the bells and whistles yet. However, so far I have not found anything big that I am missing.

Analytics for total subscribers not yet available

In Convertkit you have a graphic on the front page to show you the overall progress and daily new subscribers on your list.

They don’t have this in Flodesk, yet. You can see the total number of subscribers, but not a daily graphic. It is obviously not something super necessary, but I am imagining they will eventually add this feature too.

They are adding new things constantly on Flodesk.

Fewer integrations

If integrating your ecommerce shop with your emails is big for you, then make sure you check the list of Flodesk integrations first. They don’t currently have a lot, so you might be missing that depending on your needs.

I don’t use integrations like this, so it’s not a factor for me. But it might be for you.

Conclusion – Flodesk vs Convertkit

I am so happy I made the switch from Convertkit to Flodesk. It is saving my business a lot of money and I don’t feel like I am missing out on anything really. Plus I get excited to send out these beautiful emails!

Have you tried any of these email providers?

What do you think of them?

3 thoughts on “Flodesk vs ConvertKit – Why I switched”

  1. I was following your post hot to start a blog and i was using convertkit but i have a pretty small amount of subscribers so i would like to know if in flodesk there is a free plan for beginners as in convertkit (they give 100 subscribers)

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