MAILERLITE

MailerLite: Best Email Service Provider for Authors

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Sign Up For MailerLite & Email Your Readers!

PLUS: get access to all premium features for 30 days!

If you receive my monthly newsletters, you've received emails that I created and sent from my email service provider MailerLite.
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​As a writer, one of the best ways to connect directly with your audience, and provide them with valuable insights, information, entertainment, offers, and access is through email. There's nothing quite like updating readers directly and building relationships through this tried and true method of communication.

Read on for Five Reasons I'm Loving MailerLite.

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I first started using MailerLite in January 2019 and it has been the perfect email provider for my needs: affordable, easy-to-use, excellent automation and segmentation features, and responsive customer service.

​It is simple enough for those just starting out and robust enough for those who really want to leverage email as their main form of direct communication with their community and potential book buyers.

Before MailerLite, I used Vertical Response (a lesser known provider), which worked fine for the occasional newsletter, but was not robust enough for the way I wanted to start communicating with my audience.

If you’re thinking about growing an email list to connect directly with readers (and you should be!), read below for info on why MailerLite might be your best option!

(Side note & Advanced tip: if you're just starting out, you'll want to google "GDPR" or consult the excellent blog posts and video tutorials about GDPR on the Mailerlite site. Trust me, you want to know and comply with this set of EU laws from the start, not have to play catch up becoming GDPR compliant after having built up your list.)

If you already have an email service provider, but are thinking about switching, this article will be helpful for you too.

Speaking of switching providers, if you are currently using MailChimp and aren’t thinking about switching, you may want to rethink that position... 

For more info on that, read David Gaughran’s "Time to Ditch MailChimp?" and Kirsten Oliphant's "Should You Leave MailChimp?" Both authors discuss the new MailChimp changes and talk alternative options that might better suit your needs -- including MailerLite.

Bottom line? MailerLite is the perfect starter email provider no matter your budget! 
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FIVE REASONS I'M LOVING MAILERLITE
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1. ​MailerLite's FREE Plan up to 1,000
​(and only $10/month up to 1,000 for full features)

My list currently has about 200 subscribers.

A FREE plan was a no-brainer.

​Even if my list hits 1,000, MailerLite’s plans are reasonably priced (including just $10/month to access all features up to 1,000 subscribers and just $15/month for up to 2,500 subscribers -- see more info below).

​And best of all MailerLite only counts my ACTIVE subscribers and they count each ACTIVE subscriber only ONCE (no matter how many groups they’re in). Unsubscribes, bounces, unconfirmed subscribers aren’t counted toward my subscriber totals.

(Prices in the photo above are accurate as of 1/20/2020).

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2. MailerLite includes Pop-Ups, Click Pop-Ups, Embedded Forms, and Landing Pages Oh My!

You can’t email your readers without their email addresses, and MailerLite helps you collect the addresses in ALL THE WAYS!
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It’s been really easy to integrate their sign up forms with my Weebly website, *except* for their embed forms which are buggy in the backend of my sight, meaning they look fine to visitors of my website, but look off to me when I’m building the site. I get around this glitch by mostly using click-pop-ups for newsletter sign ups.

They recently limited users to only 5 free landing pages which is a bit of a bummer. I'm getting around this by building my own landing pages here on my Weebly site.

MailerLite also makes it fairly easy for me to deliver PDF “freebies” to those who sign up in exchange for one of my free guides.

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3. Mailerlite Ranks #2 in Deliverability with a FREE Plan! Plus Solid Analytics.

You don’t just want to send emails, you actually want your emails to get through the screeners and into your readers’ inboxes! That’s deliverability.

Last summer MailerLite had some issues with deliverability which made me worry about using them, but they dealt with the issue head on and were transparent with users about the issues, encouraging users to hold off on sending emails while the problems were fixed (some other providers hide the issues, and don’t let their users know if it's not a good time to send emails). 

The result of this deliverability debacle? They made deliverability a top priority and moved way up in the rankings.

MailerLite was named #2 in deliverability in January 2019 by Email Tool Tester.

They also have excellent resources on their blog on how to set up your email properly to improve deliverability as well as tips on how to maintain good deliverability on an ongoing basis.

I can also easily check open and click rates, as well as more specific information about how my subscribers are interacting with my emails. All pretty standard stuff, but MailerLite's interface makes it easy to read and interpret the plethora of info they collect. Definitely a big plus.

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4. ​Easy to Use, Helpful Tutorials, and Great Customer Service

MailerLite has A Lot of features, but their interface is clean and fairly intuitive.

They also have great blog posts and tutorial videos to help you get set up, and when you're ready to try more advanced features.

Finally their email customer service is fairly responsive and always helpful. If you choose a paid plan to unlock more features, you also get chat support which I used a lot during my trial period and it was excellent.

Customer service is always SO important, so I’m very pleased MailerLite hasn’t skimped in this area. ​

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5. Automations!!!

It's REALLY easy to build automations on MailerLite. Automations are a great way to organize subscribers, and communicate with them on autopilot as needed.

I've created a 3 email "Welcome Series" that automatically gets delivered every few days after someone FIRST signs up for my newsletters (people can sign up multiple times but will get the "Welcome Series" only once). If you sign up for my newsletter, you can see that automated sequence at work for yourself.

I also created a 7 day email challenge / mini-course. I wrote the emails in advance, set up the automation, and then emails were automatically delivered each morning of the challenge to specific participants (I can organize my subscribers into groups). 

Super easy and an efficient way to help your new subscribers get to know you and how you can serve them right away.
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AUTOMATION DEMO:

​Watch the video below to see how I set up an automation for a 30/30 Challenge for National Poetry Month 2020:

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The ONE thing I would improve...

I wish MailerLite had an app. [UPDATE: An app is on its way in 2020!]

Even if only to check out stats of my monthly newsletters on-the-go.

That's my only complaint after using the service for the last six months, so I would say that is pretty good!
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One thing to keep in mind...

To use MailerLite you will need to be sending from an email linked to your website (i.e. @ yourwebsite.com not @ gmail.com). 

The reason MailerLite requires this is because it helps verify you are a legitimate sender (and not a spammer). By doing this extra step of verification, MailerLite improves deliverability (your emails make it into the Inbox not spam) of ALL its users.

I use GSuite to secure @ liyunalvarado.com email addresses.

I know it feels like an extra step, but it's worth it to help ensure your people actually get your email!

Don't have a website yet? Click here to get on the waitlist for my course: You Need a Website: The Practical Guide to the What, Why, and How, of Building Your First Author Website.

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How I’ve Used MailerLite:

• Collected sign ups & delivered "freebies" using:
  • an embedded form in the footer of my website and 
  • pop-ups
  • click to pop-up links and buttons throughout my site
  • landing pages (especially helpful for collecting program specific emails)

• Monthly Newsletter:
  • I created a template with colors that match my website and a photo of me reading at the top, and use it each time as the basic framework for my monthly newsletter.

• Automated Welcome Sequence 
  • Whenever anyone joins my email list for the first time, they automatically receive a series of 3 welcome emails (delivered every few days over the course of a week) to introduce them to me and let them know what to expect from signing up.

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• Automated 7-Day course:
  • In January 2019, I launched an automated 7 day challenge/mini course. I prepared the emails ahead of time and on the start date began the automation. Not having to worry about getting the daily emails out allowed me to focus on interacting directly with participants in the FB Group component. I handled all of the sign ups for the course using a MailerLite Landing Page.

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A Note on Two Other Email Service Providers

I shopped around A LOT when I was trying to decide on a new email service provider. MailerLite was the ultimate winner, but the two other top contenders were ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit.

I think ActiveCampaign is great, and they consistently have the best deliverability, but they do not have a free plan and that was important to me at this stage in the game. Though their "Lite" plan pricing is fairly reasonable ($9/month for up to 500 subscribers), so I was very close to choosing them. Another downside was that they do not have landing pages, which became a "con" once I started using MailerLite landing pages and saw how valuable they were. The ActiveCampaign podcast did help me plan my email automations, so I definitely recommend checking out the podcast for ideas on using your email and automations most effectively. 

ConvertKit is another popular and solid option, but again the price just isn't right ($29/month for up to 1,000 subscribers). It is mostly geared towards creatives who are running full fledged online businesses. I suspect that big "influencers" use and recommend ConvertKit so much in part because of its generous affiliate program (which also probably explains the higher sticker price because that price helps cover affiliate commissions). From everything I've heard it also sounds like they have excellent customer service.

​​All of that said, I think MailerLite is one of the best -- if not THE best -- starter options (certainly better than MailChimp), with several advanced features, and plenty of room for growth.
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Side Note:

​MailerLite does have an affiliate program as well, but the Free plan is so popular that it probably converts more paid users than a review like this can, so they are able to keep prices down -- a big plus for Free plan users like myself.

That being said, I will earn a commission if you use my links to sign up for MailerLite right now and then decide to upgrade down the line if your list grows. Win! Win! 

​So what are you waiting for? Give MailerLite -- and for a limited time all its premium features -- a try for FREE today!

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P.S. Getting Started on Emailing Your Audience

Newsletter Ninja:
How to Become an Author Mailing List Expert 

​by Tammi Labrecque  

Not sure where to start? This book might help!

I listened to this audiobook and it's chock full of great ideas on how to create, grow, and use an email list strategically to engage your readers and keep them coming back for more.
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I will say it's geared  a little more towards indie authors, but traditionally published authors can learn a lot from the indie space, especially in terms of authors being the best stewards of their own work (i.e. don't look at marketing as something THEY should take care of, but instead look at it as one of the many ways you do right by the work you so loving put into the world and by the readers who so lovingly follow your work).

This book is NOT about the technology side (that's what the MailerLite help articles are for).

Instead it's a strategic look at the value of email lists and how to use them regardless of which service provider you decide to use.

​If it's your first time thinking about building an email list, this is a great resource to check out.

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