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MailerLite are relatively new when it comes to the world of email marketing, and that youthfulness permeates throughout its design and features. Not in a ‘young, crazy, fun!’ kind of way, but more in a ‘modern, clean and simple’ kind of way. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that their average office age is 25? Well, whatever it is, it’s working for them.
Also a reflection of their staff, and values, MailerLite is a more international tool than some of the others we’ve reviewed. The interface is available in 8 languages, and their support in almost as many.
MailerLite Summary
MailerLite offers a Free Forever plan, but even when you start paying, it's cheaper than a lot of other tools. Prices start from $15 for 2,500 subscribers and include unlimited emails and user accounts. Their easy to use interface makes it a great solution for beginners.
Even with their aforementioned simplicity, they still manage to offer a wide range of choices when it comes to things like newsletter and form options. And this, coupled with their fast and simple editor, really feels like a steal when you’re on their ‘Free Forever’ plan. Sound too good to be true? Let’s have a look and see:
MailerLite screenshots
MailerLite Pricing
For smaller lists, MailerLite is one of the more affordable email providers. But if you’d like to read more about their prices and plans, check our pricing guide.
Pros and Cons
Free plan:
A good amount of features is included in their free plan, including marketing automation. However, some features such as newsletter templates aren’t included.
Easy-to-use:
A clean and simple interface make this a great service for new, and advanced, users alike.
Landing page editor:
A unique feature, allowing you to easily create and design a landing page hosted by MailerLite or on your own domain.
Missing some pro features:
Even though it has great prices, you do miss out on a few pro features, such as full reporting, advanced automations and spam/design testing.
Is MailerLite the right newsletter service for you?
Recommended if:
You’re a smaller business, solopreneur or freelancer:
MailerLite is the perfect tool for those who have a modest budget, but still need a tool that does more than just send newsletters. Features include automation workflows, contact tagging and segmentation, and even a landing page editor, so even sophisticated campaigns can be run.
You’re a blogger or creative:
Apart from its affordable pricing, MailerLite is also packed with features tailored to bloggers, including RSS campaigns, WordPress integration, and video marketing.
You’re a complete beginner:
With a simple interface, intuitive navigation and easy-to-use email editor, MailerLite is the top choice for anyone who’s just getting started with email marketing.
Not recommended if:
You need comprehensive reporting:
The reports for MailerLite are the standard ones you’ll find in any email marketing tool (with stats for opens, clicks etc), plus purchase tracking for Shopify and WooCommerce. However they don’t include any social tracking, for example, so if you really need these we’d recommend a tool like GetResponse.
You need complex automations:
While MailerLite lets you set up automated workflows based on a handful triggers (e.g. when subscribers join a group, click a link or have a contact field updated), it lacks automations for more advanced triggers such as when they visit a page on your website.
Rating details
| criterion | rating | comments |
|---|---|---|
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Ease of Use |
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MailerLite is very easy to navigate with most sections working fast. It has a logical structure and a clean interface. |
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Newsletter Creation |
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Editor |
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The editor works smoothly and has most things you need. If you want to create columns you can use their ‘products’ feature and customise as needed. You can’t place images in line with the text, which would have been useful within the article block. They also allow you to track changes, which makes undoing mistakes easy. A feature quite unique to MailerLite: the ability to add Facebook and Twitter posts directly to your email. |
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Personalization |
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Simple personalisation is possible, but not if/then/else logic. You also have the ability to add ‘dynamic content’ blocks, which will display only to selected groups/segments. |
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Email types |
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Classic, A/B testing, autoresponders, surveys, recurring newsletters and date-based (specific, and once-off, for things like a membership reminder). |
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Choice and Flexibility of Template Designs |
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There aren’t a heap of templates to choose from, but they look good and they are very flexible. They might not have as many features as some other email tools, but we found they had the most important ones. Note that templates aren’t included in the free plan. |
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Email Automation |
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MailerLite offer useful marketing automation, allowing you to create workflows based on campaign actions, such as opens and clicking links, or conditions based on custom fields and segments. While unable to track page visits, this is offered to all users even on their free plan. |
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List Management |
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You are able to segment your subscribers using a wide variety of variables. There is even a tagging system which MailerLite calls “groups”. Through their automations you can even set up certain actions such as “when a subscriber joins one group, remove them from another group”. |
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Registration Forms/ Opt-in & Opt-out- Process |
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Very easy to create and use, with several types of forms available, including pop-up, embed, unsubscribe forms and subscribe buttons. You can also create a landing page from this section too. More below. |
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Deliverability |
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MailerLite offers solid deliverability rates that seem to be improving with each test round we run – our latest tests showed them achieving almost 95% deliverability. |
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Reports and Analysis |
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MailerLite has the basics of reporting available, but no dedicated section. Rather you reach it either within campaigns, or subscribers (where you can find handy individual stats on each list). While it has ecommerce tracking, this is limited to WooCommerce and Shopify, and is lacking in social tracking, but it does have click-mapping and Google Analytics tags can be added. |
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Languages |
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MailerLite is available in 8 languages, and their support in 5. |
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Further Features |
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Spam- and Design-Testing |
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These are not available. |
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Bounce Management |
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After five soft bounces, or one hard bounce, subscribers are automatically moved to a bounce folder where they can be managed. |
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Blacklist |
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This is not available. |
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Storage available for data and images |
Unlimited |
There’s no limit on the size or amount of images you can store. |
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Pro Features |
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Authentication |
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SPF and DKIM (Domain Keys). |
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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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There are four options available, plus a fifth, custom, option available allowing you to choose exactly what a team member has access to. There’s also two-factor authentication (2FA) available through the Google Authenticator App. |
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Integrations |
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MailerLite have quite a few integration options available (Shopify and WordPress, for example), and allow access to the developer API which will help integrate it within other apps. Also, they support Zapier, which can connect to a multitude of services. |
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Landing Page Editor |
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This is a relatively unique feature. It can either be hosted by MailerLite, or on your own domain. You design it in exactly the same way as the newsletter, so it feels logical and is very easy to use. |
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Support |
4.5/5 |
Using email and chat is very fast and friendly, with the same few agents responding to your requests. The knowledge base was thorough. |
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Overall rating |
4.4/5 |
MailerLite is a fast and easy to use email tool, with enough features for a small business. Keeping in mind that you can have up to 1,000 subscribers for free, it’s not a bad deal. |
Conclusion
MailerLite really shines in the areas of user experience and simplicity, and it has enough features for most small business needs. Of course, being cheaper than a lot of other tools means that there are some drawbacks: The automations are a little thin, for example, and spam/design testing isn’t available.
We used to be big fans of their ‘Forever Free’ plan, but are a little disappointed that they’ve limited some of its features now, including the number of emails you can send and newsletter templates. However, if you’re happy to make do with the drag-and-drop editor (and have fewer than 1,000 subscribers), it’ll do the job. Note that MailerLite are a little stricter on their approvals processes than other providers – you’ll need to make sure that your list collection and email sending practices are above board.
Basically, MailerLite does simple better than any other tool out there, and if that’s what you’re after then you don’t need to look any further.
FAQ
Where does MailerLite host my data?
MailerLite is based in Vilnius, Lithuania, and store all of their data there. In case you are wondering: yes, Lithuania is part of the European Union and thereby covered by EU data protection laws.
Why did MailerLite reject my account application/close my account?
In an effort to reduce spam rates and keep deliverability rates high, MailerLite have recently introduced strict approvals processes for new accounts. They also take enforcing their Terms of Use seriously, and are known to immediately shut down accounts that they deem to be in violation (e.g. Forex industries, MLM, affiliate marketing). Please make sure to read their Terms of Use and Anti-Spam policy before signing up for an account.
About Steve Lamattina
Latest Updates
2 Jan 2019 - Pricing and free plan updates.
6 Nov 2018 - General updates.
21 Aug 2018 – Two-factor authentication launched.
08 Jun 2018 – New Shopify integration.
20 Mar 2018 – Deliverability rating added.
27 Nov 2017 – New segmentation options added.
13 Jan 2017 – Marketing Automation.
12 Sep 2016 – Initial Tests.
