I‘ve been a ConvertKit customer since June 2016. So I’ve been paying them for 7 years and 5 months. But there were always things that bugged me about it.
- Why did it take so long to write and send an email broadcast? (A recent change; ConvertKit used to have the best writing experience)
- Why wasn’t there an easy way to publish broadcasts to my blog? (They added this recently… 20 years and 9 months after ConvertKit was founded)
- Why couldn’t I download all my email content? (No email marketing tool has this feature; only the “blogletter” platforms like beehiiv, Ghost and Medium do)
- Why couldn’t I do manual engagement tagging? (Can be done but it’s a complex automation when it should be and out-of-the-box feature)
- And worst of all… Why did they get rid of the html editor? (This is email blasphemy)
As far as email marketing tools go ConvertKit is one of the better ones. None of them are perfect and every tool has its pros and cons. And for a long time it was the only tool I recommended.
But as ConvertKit goes mass-market and becomes the new Mailchimp… And don’t get it twisted, “Creators” is positioning so broad it can refer to anyone and everyone… I find I no longer vibe with it as I once did.
My friend, Money Twitter legend Jose Rosado said…
“Man, I just need to say it. Mailchimp is like a $1 billion company.”
He’s right, of course. But that doesn’t mean Mailchimp is a good product. Serious marketers don’t use Mailchimp. The only one I can think of is Dan Oshinsky. And if I had to guess I’d say they’re paying him to use it. ConvertKit is headed in the same direction. A one-way trip to Normieville.
I am not a Creator.
So I needed a change. Enter BerserkerMail, Bento and beehiiv. No, it didn’t take 3 email marketing tools to replace ConvertKit. Could’ve done it with 1. Might still end up with 1. But I’m using 3 because I have 3 different use cases I’m testing, which is the marketer’s way of rationalizing our love for playing with new tools.
Detailed reviews of all 3 tools incoming. But here’s da troof. It ain’t the features of the email marketing tool that matter. It’s how you you use it.