Are you struggling to decide between Flodesk and Convertkit for your Notion Newsletter? Choosing the right email marketing software can be overwhelming, especially when both options have their strengths and weaknesses. This comparison between email marketing software, Flodesk vs Convertkit, can help you navigate and choose the right decision.
If you're looking to streamline your email marketing strategy and send emails from Notion, Feather's solution is a valuable tool that can help you achieve your objectives, such as comparing email marketing software Flodesk vs. Convertkit.
Flodesk vs. Convertkit At A Glance
The most significant difference between ConvertKit and Flodesk is how they look. When you sign in, you’re greeted by two different platforms.
Design Emphasis
Whereas Flodesk is slick, minimalist, and heavy on design, ConvertKit champions substance over style and leans heavily on its robust reporting and analytics features.
Tool Integration
ConvertKit has over 70 supported integrations, making connecting to other tools in your tech stack easy. Flodesk has far fewer — just one native integration (Shopify) — which hints at its target audience.
Email Templates
Both platforms have an easy-to-use email editor, but while Flodesk boasts a library of beautiful pre-made templates, ConvertKit is more about plain text messaging. There are still templates, but they’re much more straightforward than Flodesk offers.
Creator Focus
ConvertKit was built with creators in mind, so it has many features to meet their needs. The Creator Network allows bloggers, influencers, and entrepreneurs to connect with like-minded people and promote each other’s newsletters on autopilot. The program can help an individual acquire over 200 subscribers within six months.
What Is Flodesk?
Flodesk is a new email marketing platform. It is so new that it only moved out of beta and launched officially in November 2021.
User Friendliness
Flodesk has become popular over the last few years because of its reputation for being beginner-friendly and offering excellent support when needed.
Design Features
There are plenty of features to keep the amateur email marketer busy, and the templates enable you to create stunning email newsletters with little effort.
Limitations
More experienced marketers might find Flodesk frustrating because it needs more customization options and integrations.
Beginner Appeal
While it doesn't always have the best selection of themes or most complex personalization options, this is what makes it such easy software to use from the outset and perfect for beginners.
ConvertKit was founded in 2013 by a blogger named Nathan Barry, who was looking for a more creator-friendly email marketing solution.
User-Friendly Platform
It provides a user-friendly solution that’s easy for users to master while giving them all the necessary tools to convince and convert their audience. The email marketing service appeals to online creators like Barry, who has over half a million users today.
Monetization Options
One of the main reasons for this appeal is the ability to sell digital products and subscriptions, which not all services provide.
Growth Features
ConvertKit also offers a newsletter referral system, allowing users to grow their subscriber list organically.
Feather: The SEO-Friendly Blog and Newsletter Service for Companies
Feather is an SEO-friendly blog and email newsletter service that allows users to publish blog content and newsletters through Notion.
Feather enables companies to write blog content on Notion and automatically publish it to their Feather blog. They can set up a Subfolder blog (domain.com/blog instead of blog.domain.com) and manage all their CRM and website blog tasks through Notion.
This service is ideal for users who want to boost their SEO performance. Feather lets users:
Change designs with custom CSS
Collect emails
The service allows users to send newsletters to email subscribers directly from Notion.
Run Your Blog and Newsletter with Feather Today
Feather is the perfect solution for businesses looking to streamline their blog and newsletter processes. With Feather, you can create a new account and send emails from Notion in minutes.
Get the HubSpot experience through Notion and easily manage all your CRM and website blog tasks. Set up your Subfolder blog for better SEO performance. Collaborate with your team and streamline your publishing process. Run your blog and newsletter with Feather today — click here to create a new account and send emails from Notion!
Flodesk vs Convertkit: Detailed Feature Comparison
Flodesk and ConvertKit are two popular options for email marketing platforms that offer a range of features and functionalities to cater to different needs. Let's compare Flodesk vs ConvertKit's side-by-side comparison across various aspects to help you make an informed decision.
The Email Editor
Flodesk’s email editor is what put them on the map. It’s easy to create branded emails that look professionally designed. No worries if you don’t consider yourself a designer—there are plenty of templates to help you get started.
Basic Editor
ConvertKit’s email editor is easy to use but functions more like a word processor than a visual builder. Email templates are available, but they’re very simple.
Image Debate
There is debate about whether or not it’s better to send emails with more text and fewer images, but there’s not much consensus about how important this is for deliverability.
Content Quality
There are compelling arguments that the quality of the content is more important than whether or not it’s image heavy.
Form and Landing Page Creation
ConvertKit and Flodesk make it easy to create forms that can be embedded in your website to collect emails. Flodesk, in particular, gets high points for making this an easy process. The forms have more styles built into them, making it easy to create on-brand forms.
Limited Styling
There are less styling options for ConvertKit. While one could use CSS to style the form further, it’s ideal since you’d have to target each form you create individually and need to be proficient with CSS.
Landing Page Focus
ConvertKit offers more templates, advanced options, and integrations regarding landing page design.
Domain Setup
ConvertKit makes it easier to set up a custom domain that can host your landing page than a ConvertKit URL. During set-up, you can also add your Facebook pixel to track traffic and form conversions.
Segmentation and Tagging
Flodesk allows you to organize subscribers by segment and automatically applies certain tags to subscribers, such as active, unsubscribed, bounced, and active, within a specific timeframe.
Simplified Sorting
While Flodesk’s subscriber sorting system isn’t as robust as ConvertKit’s, it simplifies things and reduces confusion.
Sorting Options
ConvertKit allows you to sort subscribers using segments and tags. Though it’s nice to have the flexibility both options provide, it can be confusing to figure out which sorting method you should use since they both function similarly.
Email Sequences and Automation
Flodesk has a workflow builder, which you can use to build simple sequences and more complex automations. It’s pretty robust but if you want to create a sequence, you’ll have to add individual emails to the workflow, which is kind of pain.
Workflow Templates
On the plus side, you can start with one of the 4 workflow templates, and the builder itself is beautifully designed.
Sequence Builder
ConvertKit has a sequence builder and an automation builder. The sequence builder allows you to create a sequence in one place quickly.
Automation Efficiency
You can then add a sequence to an automation. This is a time-saver because it means you don’t have to add individual emails to automations and can easily set up complex, multi-sequence automations.
Visual Automation
ConvertKit’s visual automation builder is great. It even comes with six pre-built automations that you can use to design your sales funnel.
Ease of Use
Flodesk has a straightforward and elegant user interface. Its workflow involves getting things done in as few steps as possible, and there is no confusion about what buttons to click.
Minimalist Interface
In most places, there are usually only 2-3 options or buttons to choose from. Nothing unnecessary on the screen, so it keeps things simple and focused on the things that matter (like creating a form or sending that broadcast email).
Beginner-Friendly Design
Flodesk’s user interface is blank, primarily spaces and necessary information. It shows that they put in a lot of hard work to make Flodesk’s user interface easy for anyone – including non-tech savvy creators.
Feature-Packed Layout
ConvertKit’s user interface focuses on usability and packs more functionalities on the screen, so there is less manual work. The beauty of such a UI is that you can get everyone done on one screen in one go.
Monetization
Flodesk offers checkouts, which allows you to monetize your content and accept payments in three easy steps:
Creating a sales page
Setting up a beautiful checkout experience
Instantly delivering each item they purchase
Zero Transaction Fee
The beauty of Flodesk’s product is that they don’t charge any fee on product sales (only Stripe’s 3% transaction fee), so you get to keep every $ you sell.
Customizable Checkout
Their templates are beautiful, and the whole checkout experience can be customized to your brand’s style guide.
Checkout Issues
Many users complain about critical issues, like not getting their payouts on time or the checkout page crashing when a user reaches that page (which hurts conversions). You also can’t sell a lot of types of content products like paid newsletters via Flodesk Checkouts.
ConvertKit Commerce
ConvertKit offers a much more mature product called ConvertKit Commerce that allows you to easily sell digital products.
Product Flexibility
It offers a lot of flexibility in what kind of products you can sell (book, course, subscription, service, paid newsletter, etc.), how you want to charge for them (one-time fee, pay what you want, pay in installments) and what the product delivery experience should like.
Audience Donations
In addition, ConvertKit offers a feature called Tip Jars. This is a great way to get donations from your audience to support your creator's efforts.
Commerce Reliability
ConvertKit Commerce is a solid product with absolutely no complaints whatsoever. It has all the features a creator needs to monetize their content, and it works great! There is rarely any delay in payouts or any other critical issues.
Sponsor Network
ConvertKit also offers an exclusive sponsor network for newsletter creators to monetize their newsletters. This is a great value addition because you don’t have to go search for sponsors for your newsletter then. ConvertKit Commerce charges a flat 3.5% fee on all product sales.
Integrations
ConvertKit has loads of built-in native integrations with apps like:
Teachable (online courses)
Monday.com (CRM)
Typeform (online forms)
Acuity (calendar scheduling)
It also integrates with Zapier, which opens up thousands more integrations. Flodesk only integrates with Zapier.
Analytics
Flodesk has decent analytics, but they’re not quite as robust as ConvertKit’s. You can see open and click-through rates for individual emails and workflows, but you can’t see exactly which emails each subscriber has opened. You can only see a subscriber’s lifetime open and click-through rate.
Detailed Analytics
ConvertKit offers extremely robust analytics. You can view open and click-through rates for individual emails and email sequences and conduct a deep dive into individual subscribers.
Subscriber Insights
You can actually see exactly which emails individual subscribers have opened. ConvertKit also comes with added bonus of A/B testing for email broadcasts, which allows you to compare the open rates of the same email with different subject lines.
Support & Onboarding
Flodesk’s customer support isn’t the best. For starters, it only offers email support and Facebook groups. No instant live chat support option! Even when you send in a support request on their email, it can take a while for them to respond.
Onboarding Support
Flodesk also doesn’t offer a migration service to help you migrate onto its platform (if you’re currently using another email marketing platform) or have any onboarding docs or videos to get started immediately.
Customer Support
On the other hand, ConvertKit’s customer support is excellent. It offers in-app customer support via live chat, email, and a community. They’re also usually quick.
Migration Service
ConvertKit also offers a free migration service. If you have a Creator or Creator Pro plan, they will match you with a ConvertKit expert who will help you migrate to ConvertKit for free.
Platform Comparison
Flodesk and ConvertKit offer unique strengths and capabilities in email marketing. Depending on your specific needs and preferences, either platform can be suitable to help you effectively streamline your email marketing efforts.
When selecting an email marketing platform, price plays a crucial role in decision-making. Flodesk and ConvertKit are popular among content creators and bloggers, but their pricing models differ significantly.
Fixed Pricing
Flodesk offers a fixed monthly pricing structure of $35, regardless of your subscriber count. This pricing model is unique, as most email marketing platforms increase their fees as your subscriber count grows.
Tiered Pricing
ConvertKit employs a tiered pricing system, meaning your expenses will increase as you hit certain subscriber thresholds.
Free Tier
Although ConvertKit now offers a free tier for up to 10,000 subscribers, from now on, you'll be automatically enrolled in the first paid tier.
Cost Comparison
If you have under 10,000 subscribers and anticipate having a similar number for an extended period, ConvertKit could be a more cost-effective choice, especially given Flodesk's standard $35 monthly fee.
Free Tier Limitations
On the downside, the free tier from ConvertKit only offers access to some of the platform's advanced features.
Feature Restrictions
This means you will only be able to access detailed reports or set up one email sequence, which could be a significant limitation if you value these features.
Cost Comparison Point
While Flodesk may seem more expensive initially, it could be more economical once you reach the 3,000 subscriber mark.
Free Trial Options
Both Flodesk and ConvertKit offer free trials without requiring your credit card details. Flodesk provides a 30-day trial period before transitioning to a paid subscription, while ConvertKit offers a 14-day free trial without needing your credit card information.
Pricing Models
Flodesk and ConvertKit have their own unique pricing structures, with Flodesk offering a fixed monthly fee and ConvertKit employing a tiered system.
Cost Effectiveness
Depending on your subscriber count and required features, you may find one platform more cost-effective than the other.
Trial Recommendation
Make sure to take advantage of the free trials offered by both platforms to see which one suits your needs and budget better.
Flodesk vs Convertkit: Which Platform Should You Choose?
When choosing between Flodesk and ConvertKit, it all comes down to your aesthetic preferences and budget. If you value beautiful, bold emails and stunning templates, Flodesk is the perfect match.
ConvertKit Strengths
If you prioritize a platform with robust automation, segmentation, and reporting features, ConvertKit is the solution for you.
Decision Factors
The decision-making process can be simplified into two primary considerations. If you are content with sending plain-text emails and prefer a straightforward solution, ConvertKit offers an intuitive platform.
Flodesk Strengths
If you desire eye-catching, visually appealing emails without the hassle of creating them from scratch, Flodesk is your ideal choice.
Key Considerations
When making your choice, ask yourself what matters the most to you. Are you looking for a feature-rich platform with a long-standing reputation and the capacity to grow with your brand?
Platform Recommendation
If so, ConvertKit is the platform for you. If you prefer a simple, design-oriented tool that is friendly to your budget, Flodesk would be your best bet.
Future Improvements
Flodesk and ConvertKit continually introduce new features, so their platforms will likely improve shortly.
Feather: A Notion-Based Solution for Comprehensive Content Management
If you seek more design flexibility and control, consider Feather's Notion to blog and newsletter concept. Using Notion as your CMS and publishing your blog on Feather, you can enhance productivity and seamlessly integrate your blog, newsletter, and other tools. This setup can provide a more holistic Hubspot experience than Ghost.
When making your choice, reflect on your:
Desired level of control
Customization needs
Specific goals you have for your writing venture
By selecting the platform that aligns best with your needs, you can set yourself up for success in your writing endeavors.
Send Emails from Notion and Go From Notion to Blog With Ease Today with Feather
Feather is an all-in-one SEO-friendly blog and email newsletter tool that operates directly through Notion.
Benefits of Using Feather
Publish blog content and newsletters without coding or design skills
Streamline content creation process
Enhance online visibility
Avoid managing multiple tools and platforms
Streamlined Content Creation and Management
Feather offers a range of features tailored for content creators, including:
Write blog content directly in Notion and publish it automatically to your Feather blog
Efficient and straightforward content management
Set up a subfolder blog (domain.com/blog) to enhance SEO and improve search engine rankings
Enhanced Productivity and Customization
With Feather, companies can:
Manage CRM and website blog directly through Notion
Avoid switching between platforms for better organization
Customize blog design with custom CSS
Collect emails and utilize additional features
Streamlined Email Marketing
Feather extends beyond blog management by allowing you to:
Send newsletters directly to subscribers from Notion
Streamline email marketing efforts
Reach your audience more effectively
Manage both blog and newsletter from one centralized location
Seamless Content Creation
Feather simplifies content creation by enabling you to:
Write in Notion and automatically publish to your blog
Utilize SEO-friendly features
Access customization options
Manage newsletters
Feather is the ultimate solution for businesses seeking to streamline their content strategy. Ready to start a smooth journey to newsletter success? Create a new account with Feather today and enhance your content management process. With Feather, you can easily send emails from Notion and watch your content strategy thrive!