Migrating Our 100K+ Email List
Episode 448: Show Notes
Are you ready to hear about the biggest change we have made to our business in a LONG time? If you have been with us for a while, you will know all about our email marketing journey. It’s been truly huge for our company and an integral part of our growth and the foundation for our global reach. We have been with many email marketing providers over time for a variety of reasons. If you want to hear about why we migrated between the different platforms, like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Infusionsoft, and ActiveCampaign, dive into our archives because we have documented all of these moves. We believe that regardless of the size of your business, email should be easy, and dare we say, pretty? All of the platforms we have used have their pros and cons, but for us, we want it to be as simple as logging in, writing an email, having it look good without knowing anything about code, and being able to send it to the right people at the right time. A lot of people, especially in the creative industry, can get carried away by pretty things, and we are guilty of it too, and it does drive a lot of our decision-making. That does not mean we do not value functionality as well. So, today we are going to share more about the new email platform we have found that merges our love of beautiful things with a fantastic backend user experience.
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Finding Flodesk: The Hottest New Email Marketing Platform
A few months ago, in our community, we heard some chatter pop up about Flodesk. People were talking about emails they sent out with links and pictures that landed up in primary, so we knew that we needed to investigate right away. This new email marketing platform that was taking our community by storm was simply not going to pass us by, so we did what we always do — speak to the owner and get the information from the horse’s mouth. We had done it with Nathan Barry of ConvertKit, so we knew we could do it again. Before this though, it turns out that Abagail had given Flodesk a test run in her second business. With a strong aesthetic and highly visual brand, Abagail thought it was the perfect opportunity to leverage the platform’s strengths to send out food and fitness pictures, and it did not disappoint. So, we hopped on a Zoom call with Flodesk’s co-founders Martha Bitar and Rebecca Shostak, and it turned into much more than an email marketing chat. We talked about business, women in business, what’s on the horizon and afterward, Abagail made the (daring) suggestion that we migrate to the platform. Although this sounded about as good as tearing our hair out, we knew we had no other choice. Since launching in January, we had been struggling to show our Creative Template Shop designs in email. Although we managed to hack together something that looked good, it just was not working quite the way we wanted. So, we took a hard look at our funnels and email setup and realized that if we could move our 100,000+ email list to a different platform without losing anything, we had no excuses.
The Big Move: What Happened When We Made the Leap and Switched
After we decided to migrate, it took over two months to complete the big move. This was much longer than we hoped for, but the reason it was so drawn out was that we began with the most complicated part —our funnel— before we migrated anything else. For perspective on how seamless migrations to Flodesk actually are, Abagail managed to do the one for her second business in two hours! So, we finally sent our first email last week, announcing our move to Flodesk after we ensured all of our automation and templates were taken care of along with some forms and opt-ins. What happened next will surprise you as much as it surprised us. First of all, we could easily log in, which was a breath of fresh air. There were no strange URLs or weird processes to go through. We simply put on our details and saw what we needed to see. The results were so astonishing that Abagail made the bold decision to call Emylee at the end of a Friday workday. We had never seen an email perform in this way. After only three hours of sending our first Flodesk email, we had a 22% open rate, which, for us, was jaw-dropping. This was particularly mind-blowing because, on ActiveCampaign, our best open rate was 18% after a few DAYS.
Exceeding Expectations: How Our Click Rate Skyrocketed
ActiveCampaign would only count a click if someone opened an email AND allowed images to be seen. Ridiculous, right? We figured out that this is why our open rates on ActiveCampaign were so low. However, this was all we knew, so we thought it was totally normal. You live and you learn, right? A couple of days later, we are now at a 33% open rate for the Flodesk email, and we could not be any happier if we tried. For a list as big as ours, this is truly jaw-dropping. It’s not like we have a small list, of only 100 people, so an open rate this high really does say something quite special. Seeing as this was our first Flodesk email, we decided to use it as an opportunity to experiment. We included multiple links, things in the header, really just throwing the kitchen sink at it. Although this went against most email-related advice, we felt that it really did pay off. Because we did not have a clear goal, other than having people open the emails and having it bounce to the top of their inbox, we felt like we achieved what we set out to.
Big Clicks, Small Bills: The Joys of Paying Less for More
It feels very frustrating and demotivating having your email platform expenses just go up exponentially. At one point, we were paying somewhere between $800 - $1,000 a month, for the amount of emails we were sending with Infusionsoft. More recently, with ActiveCampaign, our bill was about to increase because we had grown the number of subscribers even though we had not increased the amount of emails. This would have cost us $750, just on the base plan, which is stripped of any features. So, how do you think we felt when we saw that with Flodesk, you pay $38 a month? Sounds too good to be true? Well, it’s absolutely not. If you go to the links section, we have managed to secure a 30-day free subscription, where you can set up everything. Most people can move everything over in one or two days, so don’t fret. Not only does the link give you a teaser, but you will only pay $19 per month from now until the end of time because they are still in private beta! This price will stay the same regardless of how big your list grows, how many emails you send, whatever you do, the price tag remains the same! This amounts to only 228 per year for an exponentially growing list. It can feel scary paying a monthly fee, but if you are selling things in your email, it is worth the money. So, all in all, we are basically paying you to use this.
Head and Shoulders Above the Rest: Some of Our Flodesk Faves
Since making the move to Flodesk, we have fallen more and more in love every day. They are customer-centric and reward their members. After you have signed up and created everything, if you go to the ‘share’ tab, you earn $19, no strings attached! Miranda is part of our team, and she played a huge role in the migration, and so far, the ease of use with Flodesk has really jumped out at her. We have found the guidance the platform offers to be something very special. When you are beginning your email journey, it is very intimidating to know what to say. However, when you log into Flodesk, it gives you prompts to understand what type of email you are sending, and you will be blown away at the gorgeous templates they have on offer. Not only are they pre-designed, but they also have some copy you can adjust for your needs. Along with this, you can also upload your brand colors and logos inside your Flodesk account, and then they will be auto-populated in all your templates. If you don’t want to do this, you can use their gorgeous, minimal color palette. We are also totally obsessed with their font selection, and it definitely blows any other platform’s selection out of the water. People love getting beautiful emails and are used to it from bigger brands, so we really feel that Flodesk gives smaller companies the chance to compete. We have heard what’s in the pipeline, and while we can’t yet reveal anything, we have a feeling Flodesk is going to replace some of the other software you are currently paying for. We are so excited to be able to lean into what makes us great in this exciting phase of our business, where we are looking for more opportunities for growth. Remember, we are right along on the Flodesk ride with you, and we are so excited about what’s in store.
Learn How to Create and Set up an Email Opt-in With Flodesk
Want to hear more about how we use Flodesk to support our business? Check out our blog post where we share the deets of how to create and set up and email opt-in with Flodesk here!
Quote This
We believe that regardless of the size of your business, email should be easy, and dare we say, pretty?
Highlights
Finding Flodesk: The Hottest New Email Marketing Platform. [0:07:20.0]
The Big Move: What Happened When We Made the Leap and Switched. [0:13:02.0]
Exceeding Expectations: How Our Click Rate Skyrocketed. [0:24:26.0]
Big Clicks, Small Bills: The Joys of Paying Less for More. [0:28:22]
Head and Shoulders Above the Rest: Some of Our Flodesk Faves. [0:35:12.0]
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
KEY TOPICS
Email Platforms, Email Campaigns, Email Lists, List Migration, Flodesk, Click Rates, Open Rates, Affordability, Increased Engagement, Female-Owned Company
