My very first experience with online business was when my mom hired me to import her new customers into Mailchimp.
I was probably 17 or 18, and knew absolutely nothing about business (online or otherwise).
But what I was able to gather was how powerful email marketing was.
I had no idea email service providers like Mailchimp existed, and I saw what a powerful tool it was.
When I started my own online business, I also used Mailchimp. It was what I knew and was familiar with.
However, there were always limitations with Mailchimp.
And now that our business has grown, we've found that our email service provider needs to grow too.
I've tested out several ESPs, including Aweber, Drip, and ActiveCampaign, but my absolute favorite was ConvertKit.
So in this post, I'm going to share with you why we switched from Mailchimp to ConvertKit.
If you want to know why you should STAY with Mailchimp, then read this.
This is why we switched from Mailchimp to ConvertKit.
This post includes affiliate links. So if you purchase through one of our links, our family may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
1. Technically, You Can't Use Mailchimp With An MLM
We were first informed by one of our business coaches that Mailchimp doesn't like network marketing or MLM.
We have been using Mailchimp for years and never had any trouble, but we are also in a direct sales company.
Mailchimp says on their website they "can't allow business that offer [the] types of services, products, or content," that you see below.
Like I said, we haven't had any issues, but it is a little risky to go with Mailchimp because of this.
2. Technically, You Can't Do Affiliate Marketing Either
You also may have seen in that above list that Mailchimp doesn't even allow affiliate marketing, really???
That's a big strike in our book.
ConvertKit allows affiliate marketing, and in fact, has an amazing affiliate program itself!
It's so great, in fact, if you get just 4 of your team members using ConvertKit, not only will it pay for itself, but you'll actually make a little profit every month.
3. Tags & Segmenting
The brilliant thing about ConvertKit is that it doesn't use the traditional idea of "lists" when organizing your subscribers.
Rather, it works by utilizing forms, tagging, and segmenting susbscribers. You can add a tag to each subscriber that comes in through your forms.
If someone opts-in to our 'Influencer Marketing Quickstart Guide’ , we can automatically tag them as ‘interested in influencer marketing’, for instance.
If the same person subscribes to another incentive, I can tag them again.
One subscriber can have multiple interests, which ensures that you are always sending THE MOST relevant message to your audience.
4. No Duplicate Subscribers
Unlike Mailchimp, ConvertKit does not charge for duplicate subscribers.
For example, if you had a single subscriber on two different lists in Mailchimp, that single subscriber would count for two subscribers. If they were on 3 lists, 3 subscribers, and so on.
This was one of the most frustrating parts of Mailchimp for us, as we were frequently paying for the same subscribers 2 or 3 times over.
In ConvertKit, you will never have more than one instance of a subscriber, but you can view what all interests they have.
5. MailChimp can make you miss out on new subscribers
One of the best ways to get people to sign up to your email list is through incentives.
Just asking someone to ‘join your newsletter’ isn’t going to be nearly as effective as offering them a free gift to subscribe.
People love free things.
It's true.
It’s a good practice to offer opt-in gifts to people that sign up for your email list!
With ConvertKit, you can easily add your PDF, cheat sheet, or checklist incentive directly to the confirmation email.
This way, when people confirm their subscription, they are receiving their freebie at the same time!
Can you send opt-ins with MailChimp? Yes. However, the process of sending automatic opt-ins with MailChimp is cumbersome and difficult.
That’s because it wasn’t designed from the ground up to make it easy to add incentive opt-ins like ConvertKit was.
Add some free opt-ins to your signup forms and you’ll see that it can dramatically increase the number of new subscribers you get!
6. MailChimp autoresponders are difficult to create and edit
The heart of email marketing is creating relationships.
This is accomplished through stories, anecdotes, and emails that teach what you know.
By creating an automatic series of emails, ( a sequence), you can create a strong relationship with your new subscribers.
Using Mailchimp, you can create autoresponders, but it’s not an easy process.
In ConvertKit, you can build a sequence so that you are automatically sending something to your new subscribers.
Want to add more emails to the sequence? Super easy to do!
Want to rearrange the order of the sequence? Just drag and drop.
You can easily click between different emails and craft a series of messages that really connects with your audience.
In Mailchimp, however, we were frequently finding ourselves frustrated with designing sequences, as it was difficult to move emails around in a sequence without spending huge heaps of time.
These features in ConvertKit make writing so natural that you’ll find yourself creating lots of sequences which will keep your audience engaged for the long-term!
7. Automation
Triggers
Ever been on a launch email list and kept getting bombarded with launch emails when you’re not interested in the product...
But you have no way of unsubscribing from the launch sequence without unsubscribing from the entire list?
With ConvertKit, your subscriber has the choice to leave your launch sequence but still stay on your list!
How cool is that?
For example, we have a segment of people on our list who have said they're interested in hosting Facebook parties.
We'll email them when we want to have a multi-hostess party, and also send them tips on how to get the most out of their party.
However, if they decide they aren't interested in hosting a party anymore, we don't want them to unsubscribe from our whole list! After all, they're a customer, and we want to be able to continue to build a relationship with them.
But what we can do with ConvertKit is create a custom unsubscribe link with just that sequence. As you can see from the image below, if they click the "No More Style Ups" link, then ConvertKit will remove the tag "Interest: FB Party".
Yet, they'll still be on our list!
Automatic Product Pitches
Another really cool aspect of ConvertKit is you can be a little more gung-ho with your product or opportunity pitches because you direct them ONLY at the people who have expressed interest in hearing them.
For example, we can casually mention in a P.S. line about working together, and joining our team.
It's very laid back, and arrives AFTER the valuable content in the email. If a reader isn't interested, they won't be annoyed.
However, if they are interested, they can click the link, and be tagged as someone who is interested in the business opportunity.
When that happens, ConvertKit can automatically send them a series of emails promoting the business opportunity!
8. Send highly Personalized emails
Perhaps your company has a natural tooth paste you want your subscribers to try out. You can send your email to subscribers who opted into your content upgrade on "7 Home Products You Use Everyday That Might Be Killing You" a promotion for that natural tooth paste.
You can tag them beforehand automatically, like I mentioned above, as soon as they opt in for you free guide.
Then select from the drop down list, filter the subscribers you want to email by tag, form or sequence.
This way, your message does not have to go out to your entire list, but only the people whom you KNOW would be interested.
Again, this allows you to email your list more promotions without alienating the people on your list. Only certain segments will get promotions, and only the most relevant segments.
9. ConvertKit Allows multiple forms per list
In ConvertKit, subscribers come in to your system through forms.
It could be an opt-in form at the end of your blog post or a landing page form. Each opt-in form can be linked to an incentive (your free download, or pdf).
With ConvertKit, you can add multiple incentives or lead magnets by simply choosing ‘add form’.
If you’re offering a new content upgrade on each blog post, you can add an individual form to the end of your blog post for your audience to sign up, but still give them the same tag.
10. Personalized branding through custom messages
You can personalize the entire brand experience for your subscribers through custom messages.
Once they signed up for your incentive through a form, you can choose to display the standard ‘thank you for subscribing’ message or redirect them to your personalized thank you page.
You can even choose to have your incentive on your thank you page so that your subscribers can download it immediately. It’s entirely up to you.
The same is possible after they have clicked to confirm your subscription or download your incentive. You can send them to a separate landing page or another relevant page on your website.
Show Custom Content
If a subscriber has already subscribed, ConvertKit gives you the option to show custom content rather than the same opt-in form or to hide the form.
This way you don’t show the same opt-in to someone who has already subscribed! Instead, you can show them another offer.
11. A/B Test Subject Lines
Another really amazing aspect of ConvertKit is built-in subject line A/B testing.
The subject line is one of the biggest determining factors in whether someone opens your email or not.
In fact, according to ConvinceAndConvert.com, a whopping "35% of email recipients open email based on the subject line alone."
With subject lines being so key...wouldn't you like to have more than one crack at writing a good one?
Well with ConvertKit, you can.
Simply write one subject line in the top space, and write your second one in the bottom space. See below...
Once your email campaign goes live, a random 15% of your list segment will get one subject line, while a different random 15% of your segment will get the other headline.
Whichever one performs better, the remaining 70% of your segment will receive. All done automatically!
12. Easy WordPress Integration
You just need to download the ConvertKit plugin, hook it up with your API key. Then select from a drop down list the forms you would like embedded at the bottom of your post.
Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy!
13. Aesthetic
The user interface is really easy to use and navigate, and simply looks good. ConvertKit was made specifically for bloggers and creators, not techies.
Landing Page
One of the most amazing things about ConvertKit is that it allows you to create landing pages and forms!!!
You don't have to pay hundreds of dollars a year for a third-party software in order to create them.
Multiple Form Styles
And like I said above, you can also easily insert forms anywhere in your blog posts!
Email Templates
ConvertKit also allows you to create your own email templates. It's email builder isn't as flashy or fancy as Mailchimp, but that's actually OK.
First of all, lots of images can decrease your delivery rate.
And second of all, unless you are a large brand, you probably don't want a ton of images. This is because they make your emails look less personal, and more "company-ish".
People want to buy from people they know, like, and trust.
The more personal you can be, the better, and ConvertKit allows you to write emails that look like they came from a friend, not a faceless company.
And that's who you want to be to your audience: a friend.
User Interface
The image below is what you see when you first log in to ConvertKit (minus my annotations).
As you can see, everything is very easy to understand, and see in one place.
14. Pricing
The fabulous thing about ConvertKit is that it gives you access to its full features, triggers, automations, landing pages, forms no matter what pricing tier you are on.
There are no limits to anything–forms and landing pages included.
The only exception is ConvertKit's Free Plan, which doesn't allow you to created automated email sequences.
Pricing goes by the number of subscribers you have.
The lowest tier is $29 for 1000 subscribers. 1000 subscribers is one of the first milestones for new bloggers. For 3000 you pay $49 a month.
Obviously, if you're just starting out, and you simply can't afford ConvertKit, Mailchimp is the place to start, since it's free for your first 2,000.
Just be aware you'll have far-fewer capabilities. So the sooner you can switch over to ConvertKit, the better.
Pricing
Another thing to keep in mind is that ConvertKit has an amazing affiliate program.
If you get 4 other people on your team to sign up for ConvertKit, not only will you essentially get ConvertKit for free, but you'll actually be making a little profit every month!
15. Service
Their tutorials and blogs have all the answers and you’ll be able to find what you are looking for with a simple search.
They also have detailed explanations for how to integrate services with ConvertKit. But if you really do need help, the team is great and any question I have is answered within the day.
If you’re wondering about how to import your list from Mailchimp, you can check out their tutorial here.
16. Mission
Another thing I really love about ConvertKit is their mission.
Their mission statement is:
We exist to help creators earn a living.
I don't know about you, but as a creator myself, I really appreciate their approach. Plus, they're dedicated to continuing to improve this tool, and add features over time, which is pretty exciting!
And whether you're a creator or not, their team specifically designed ConvertKit for bloggers. So if you're a blogger, this is the tool for you.
If you want to learn more about ConvertKit's mission, and where they are going in the future, check out the video below from ConvertKit's CEO, Nathan Berry.
17. Overall
Overall, I firmly believe that with ConvertKit, you get the most amount of features and capability for the shallowest learning curve.
If you want an email service provider that packs a punch, but is still easy to use for non-techies, this is the best you'll find.
Other ESPs will give you more features, but at a higher cost and steeper learning curve.
While on the other hand, there are also cheaper ESPs, but have to sacrifice features, and deal with more frustration.
In my opinion, ConvertKit is in the perfect sweet spot.
It used to be, only the big bloggers with several thousand subscribers on their list had access to sophisticated email marketing systems.
But ConvertKit gives even new bloggers access to a robust email marketing platform that’s easy to use. It lets you give a highly targeted and personalized branding experience for your subscribers and to deliver on your marketing vision.
I don’t think anyone should be limited by the size of their list.
And we’re starting to hear more stories of people with lots of success with a tiny list.
$29 is not a lot, but when you’re starting out, it is a sizeable investment to make.
But you’ll be doing your list-building the right way.
With ConvertKit, you'll be doing your list-building the right way.
There won’t be any catching up, or having to deal with migrations when you’re in the midst of building your business.
If you have any questions on ConvertKit, send us an email, or leave a comment below.
I’ll be happy to answer them. I know that this can be a big decision.
If any of the above explanations seem daunting, please don’t be overwhelmed. It really is quite simple once you dive in.
Just like any system, it takes some getting used to, but with the step-by-step tutorials and support, you’ll get the hang of it really fast.
If you’re ready to up your email marketing game and check ConvertKit out, just click the link below.
They also offer a 30 day money-back guarantee, plus, if you complete their step-by-step orientation program, they'll send you a free, high-quality T-shirt!
Grab an account, pay for the first month, give it a try, and if you’re not completely satisfied you can write in to cancel and get a refund in that first 30 days.
And I can personally vouch for this guarantee, since when I first signed up for ConvertKit, I wasn't ready for it, and ended up getting a refund. (But I still got the T-shirt, yay!)
Later, when our business was ready, we signed up again, and haven't looked back!
I hope you found this post on, why we switched from Mailchimp to ConvertKit, helpful!
Please feel free to share if you got value, and let me know in the comments below...
What other questions do you have about ConvertKit or Email Marketing?
Have a great day!
- Reagan Ramm
Hi! I'm Reagan Ramm
I’m Paula's son (a.k.a. her favorite app). I manage our website and email marketing for our family business (among other various tasks).
When I'm not working on the family business, I'm working on my music project, Andromeda Coast, with my wife Haley, and baby son, Asher Phoenix.
Great post! Very helpful. I’ll be switching when I’m ready! 🙂
I’m in the process of transferring over this week. I’m excited to see that I am doing the right thing. I may need a little help:)
Great! Feel free to drop a comment here if you have any questions!