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ConvertKit is a relatively new player in the email marketing software market. Their product targets professional bloggers as their goal is “to make email easier and more robust for professional bloggers like you”. Next to bloggers they also target podcasters, course creators and YouTubers.
ConvertKit Review: Summary
One of the things that stands out is their pricing. Their cheapest package starts at $29, so not low-cost at all. On paper, they appear to have really advanced features (e.g. landing page editor, email automations, etc.), but how do they actually perform? They also claim to offer a really easy-to-use system, “easier to use than Mailchimp”, apparently. They recently introduced a freemium plan for those with under 1,000 subscribers, but this is quite limited feature-wise.
But let’s take a close look at ConvertKit and its features to examine their system. Will it actually be as easy to use as they say?
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ConvertKit screenshots
ConvertKit Pricing
With ConvertKit you’ll get all the features with (almost) any of the paid plans you choose. The only excluded feature from lower tiers is the free platform migration. When you purchase a plan for more than 5,000 contacts, they’ll migrate your lists into their system so you don’t have to worry about it.
You’ll only have to consider how many subscribers you have, as this is the only category that changes from plan to plan. For a list of up to 1,000 contacts you’ll be required to pay $29, $49 if your email list is smaller than 3,000 subscribers and $79 for up to 5,000 contacts.
You can always check our pricing comparison tool to see how ConvertKit stack up against the competition and check higher plans. Or check our pricing guide to find out how much you’ll pay for ConvertKit.
Pros and Cons
Landing page editor:
Lets you create a simple landing page, even if you don’t have your own website. This can be very convenient for social media campaigns.
Flexible user-subscription management:
The tagging system makes it as easy as pie to add and remove subscribers from workflows.
Responsive support:
Their support team is helpful and (in our experience) they normally answer back really quickly.
It's pricey:
There are more advanced tools (e.g. Active Campaign or GetResponse) that end up being cheaper.
Poor designs options:
Only 3 templates on offer and they’re all text-based. They should offer more design options to achieve better visual results.
Reports are lacking in depth:
They offer the basics: open rates, click through rates and unsubscribes. They don’t even give you the bounce rate.
Is ConvertKit the right newsletter service for you?
Recommended if:
You want to run ultra-targeted campaigns:
With ConvertKit’s flexible tagging and segmentation system, you can run laser-focused automated campaigns to very specific groups of contacts. Its inbuilt landing page editor also allows you to manage end-to-end campaigns within the one tool.
Not recommended if:
You want to send visual emails:
The fact that it only offers 3 email templates (and all text-based) means that you’re very limited. There’s no option to select from or even upload your own email templates, so if this is important to you we’d recommend a more design-flexible option like MailerLite or MailChimp.
You don’t have a big budget:
Although ConvertKit is aimed at creatives and bloggers, their pricing seems more apt for big businesses. There are definitely more affordable tools available, with similar (and even better) features.
Rating details
| criterion | rating | comments |
|---|---|---|
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Ease of Use |
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Most features are easy to use and the navigation in the backend is logical. However, sometimes you need to mess with HTML code (e.g. to format emails). |
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Newsletter Creation |
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Editor |
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Although the editor is fast and self-explanatory, it is very basic (much like a text editor you’d use when sending regular email). We expected it to have more options, but you are limited to: regular text, bulleted and ordered lists, horizontal lines, simple images and file uploads. Though they’ve recently introduced an updated editor – which includes videos and CTA buttons – we’d still like to see additional visual display options, gif integration or social media buttons. |
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Personalization |
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If/Then/Else logic is available but it is not easy to use as it’s coding based. However, if you get it, it’ll do the job. |
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Email types |
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Classic newsletters, sequences (autoresponders), automations, A/B testing (for subject lines only) and landing page creation. |
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Choice and Flexibility of Template Designs |
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It only has 3 templates and they are too basic. For example, you can’t add grouped images or get column-based layouts. In short, really limited when creating visual content. However, they are responsive. |
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Email Automation |
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You can create email sequences, and also workflow-based visual automations. After the user triggers an event (e.g. clicks a link or subscribes to a form), you can customize your communications by adding actions (e.g. add a tag, subscribe them to sequences, etc). |
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List Management |
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The tagging system is really flexible when adding or removing users from campaigns and email sequences. This makes it easy to segment your subscribers. |
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Registration Forms/ Opt-in & Opt-out- Process |
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You can create embedded, pop-up and slide-in forms, as well as landing pages. Forms are easy to edit via their visual editor, and there are a handful of nice designs to choose from. |
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Deliverability |
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ConvertKit’s deliverability rates fluctuate in our latest tests. We’d recommend keeping an eye on them. |
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Reports and Analysis |
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They aren’t mind blowing but it comes with the basics: open rates, clicks and unsubscribes. There is no heatmap, ecommerce conversion tracking or social media report. Google Analytics isn’t integrated either. Also, it’s rather strange that the bounce rate is missing. |
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Languages |
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Only available in English. |
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Further Features |
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Spam- and Design-Testing |
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ConvertKit doesn’t have a spam testing feature, but they do test emails in the background and flag them if necessary. There is no design testing either, you’d need to use an external solution for that. |
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Bounce Management |
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Hard bounces are flagged and no further emails will be sent to them. Soft bounces will eventually be classified as hard bounces if the email address can’t be reached after several attempts. |
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Blacklist |
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Not available. |
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Storage available for data and images |
Unlimited |
There is no apparent limit. However, they don’t have a media database where you can manage your uploaded files. |
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Pro Features |
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Authentication |
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SPF and DKIM are supported. Side note: ConvertKit uses external mail servers (Mailgun), which is not a very common approach in this industry, but in our tests everything worked perfectly fine. |
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Own Domain |
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Not available. |
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Different levels of account access |
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You can invite admins and team member to your account. |
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Integrations |
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ConvertKit has about 90 integrations (e.g. Shopify, WooCommerce, SumoMe, ConvertPlug, etc.). Please note that some of the “integrations” they mention on their website need to be set up manually by copying and pasting HTML code. |
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Landing Page Editor |
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The landing page editor provides 4 templates, and is easy to use. However, the options to modify the design are limited, especially when you compare them to some competitors’ (e.g. GetResponse). |
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Support |
4.5/5 |
In our experience, their support was always fast and came back with coherent explanations. You can contact them via ticket (email). Additionally, they also provide useful tutorials, but some of them could be more detailed. |
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Overall rating |
3.5/5 |
ConvertKit is missing crucial features (e.g. a good template selection, spam and design testing). On the bright side, we really liked everything to do with list management. Unfortunately, it’s a bit pricy for what it offers. |
Conclusion
There are several areas where ConvertKit does quite well. For example, support is quick, friendly and effective, we can’t complain here. We also liked the flexibility when managing subscribers via its tagging system. This is certainly something bloggers (and digital marketers) can take full advantage of whilst targeting communications to their audience.
ConvertKit comes with a landing page editor that will let you collect subscribers even if you don’t own a website, great for social media campaigns. However, we have to say that we are a bit disappointed by the available email designs. Other tools such as GetResponse or MailerLite offer much more here, and by the way… they are even cheaper.
On top of it all, ConvertKit is actually pretty expensive, especially when you consider the relatively basic features it offers. So we’d strongly suggest you check some alternatives before choosing them as your next email marketing platform.
ConvertKit Alternatives
You can see why ActiveCampaign is our top ConvertKit alternative in this detailed comparison.
Not sure that ConvertKit is right for you? Use our Smart Finder to see which newsletter tool matches your requirements.
FAQ
Where does ConvertKit store my data?
They use Amazon Web Storage (AWS), which has server locations in the USA and many other locations around the world. Their email servers they use are from Mailgun – they are based out of Illinois and Virginia.
About Josep
Latest Updates
15 Apr 2020 - Prices updated to include free plan
1 Feb 2019 - Review updated
7 Jan 2019 - Deliverability rating updated
20 Mar 2018 - Deliverability rating added
06 Jul 2017 - Added FAQ about server location
27 Jun 2017 - Initial Tests & Review
