Flodesk: The Best Email Marketing Software for Small Businesses
Fun fact: Email marketing generates $42 for every $1 spent. That gives it a 4200% ROI (Hubspot). 🤯 So, yes, as a business owner, you need an email marketing strategy. Which means you need an email marketing service provider.
Enter Flodesk.
Flodesk is changing the game of email marketing for small businesses, solopreneurs, and creatives.
I didn’t want to do email marketing. It felt like one more thing to add to my ever-increasing to do list as an entrepreneur.
And then… Instagram and Facebook went dark. Remember that? It was kinda scary for small businesses.
And that’s the event that gave me a swift kick to get it together and get my email marketing organized. I knew the statistics. I knew I needed to be doing it. I just didn’t want to.
BUT I wanted something I have control over. I wanted something where the algorithm couldn’t decide which of my followers saw my content.
It had been awhile since I really used an email marketing software, so I did a lot of research. I used the free trials of several different email marketing service providers, nd ultimately landed on Flodesk. All the other ones I tried were so confusing, and as a small business owner wearing all-the-hats, I didn’t have time to learn how to use them.
So today I want to talk to you about why Flodesk is hands-down the best and easiest email marketing tool for you to use as a small business owner, as a creative, as a realtor, as a service provider, as an ecommerce shop, etc.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a tiny little commission. Keep in mind that I only share about companies that I truly believe in. Pinky promise.
Why do you need email marketing?
Email marketing is a stupid easy way to grow your business. I went into depth about why you need to build an email list.
But if you want or need more to convince you…
Marketers who use segmented campaigns note as much as a 760% increase in revenue (Hubspot)
78% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months (Hubspot)
61% of consumers prefer brands to contact them through email, which is good news for your business (Optin Monster)
Even better news? 99% of email users check their email every day, some as much as 20 times a day! (Optin Monster)
60 percent of consumers say they’ve made a purchase as the result of a marketing email they received. Contrast that with the 12.5 percent of consumers who say they’d consider using the ‘buy’ button on social media, and it’s not much of a contest (Constant Contact)
And email is comfortable. Everyone has email. It’s what we know how to use. And it’s not like social media that constantly changes. You don’t have to stay on top of the latest updates to know how to keep up with it. That darn algorithm.
Plus, email is private. If someone wants to ask a question, they may feel more comfortable asking it through email rather than in a public comment section on social media. Or they may not want their question to get lost in someone’s DMs.
What can you do with email marketing?
SO MUCH!!!
You can:
Build Relationships and Community: I L-O-V-E getting responses from my subscribers. These are my VIPs. These are the ones who are truly invested in my business. I give them extra tips, extra resources, and they’re the first to hear about any discounts or promos I have going on. We’re tight.
Build Authority and Brand Awareness: You can send tips and continue building your authority and brand awareness.
Promote your content: If you run a blog, you can do a round-up of your latest posts and send them to your subscribers. If you’re pretty active on social media, you can send your list a roundup of things they may have missed on social media.
Generate, Follow Up with, and Nurture Leads: Most people who sign up for your email list are somewhat interested in what you have to offer. And this is where you can nurture those relationships and convert them into paying customers.
Send email sequences: There are several email sequences you need for your business. Email marketing software makes that very easy to do.
Why should you use Flodesk as your email marketing service provider?
Flodesk is intuitive, easy-to-use, and friendly.
I like to think of it as “Squarespace’s Best Friend”. Like Squarespace, it is intuitive and user-friendly. It’s clean and clear. There’s no clutter. The navigation is easy, and you don’t have a billion and one options to have to decipher through. It even has a very similar drag and drop block system in the email builder. If you’re a small business owner, you don’t have time to learn complicated software. Flodesk makes it easy so you don’t have to waste your limited time trying to navigate a program.
Look how clean the UI is… it’s a beautiful dashboard…
Flodesk has beautiful ready-to-use templates.
The templates available are modern and stylish. They stand out against other email marketing software. And if you don’t want to use a template but want to build your own, that’s fine! It’s still easy to design. And you can design all your emails to be on-brand through your brand's fonts and colors.
Flodesk includes Landing Pages and all sorts of forms.
You don’t have to pay extra for landing pages. You’re also given the option of creating a variety of forms: pop-ups, inline, and embedded. And all forms are completely customizable. You can adjust the fonts, colors, imagery, padding and spacing. Just a reminder: your subscription includes all these features.
Flodesk is easy to use and integrate with Squarespace.
You need to have a Business account with Squarespace to integrate Flodesk, but once you have that, it’s super easy to embed forms.
Flodesk’s segmenting is easy-to-use and understand.
Segmenting your subscribers is very important because it allows you to hyper-personalize your communication so it stays relevant and provides value. Many email marketing service providers make segmenting pretty difficult and complicated to understand. Some of them even have ways to both segment and tag your subscribers. I always found this to be way too confusing. But Flodesk’s segmenting is easy. You can manually add subscribers by entering them one-by-one or by uploading a CSV file. You can also segment your subscribers when they sign up for your list through one of your forms. And Flodesk tags your subscribers based on their behavior (i.e., haven’t opened your emails in X days). The ONLY thing is missing is the ability to segment your list even further by allowing subscribers to click a link in your email to segment themselves. But I have a feeling that will come at some point.
Image Source: Flodesk
Flodesk’s workflows are easy.
A workflow tends to trigger when a subscriber does something (like signs up for your freebie). You can setup a workflow to send someone your freebie. Then you can choose how long to wait until Flodesk sends the next email in the sequence. And if you don’t want to create your own workflow, Flodesk has several templates you can use. I found that other email marketing service providers make workflows complicated, and again—as a small business owner doing #allthethings, I don’t have time for it.
Image Source: Flodesk
Image Source: Flodesk
Flodesk’s analytics are simple and easy to understand.
Chances are you don’t have an email list with thousands and thousands of subscribers. So you don’t need overly robust analytics with your email marketing software. Flodesk has analytics, and it’s simple enough to understand. There are quick views of your analytics and then there’s a little more comprehensive view.
Here’s a fun little fact for you: My average open rate for the last 7 emails I’ve sent is 76.7%. The average email open rate for all industries is 21.5% 🤯 (Campaign Monitor).
Flodesk’s pricing is simple and affordable.
There are no pricing tiers. It doesn’t matter how many subscribers you have. And you’ll always have access to all features. This was honestly one of the biggest selling points for me.
Is Flodesk right for your business?
It depends.
Flodesk focuses on usability and style. So if you’re a creative business owner (photographers, wedding planners, florists, calligraphers, artists, etc.), then people are going to expect you to send beautiful emails.
If you’re a small business owner wearing all the hats in your business, you likely don’t have time to learn a complicated and confusing email marketing tool. I can’t emphasize this enough: Flodesk makes email marketing stupid easy.
If you’re a larger business with thousands and thousands and thousands of subscribers, Flodesk might not be the best for you. You might need a tool that offers more robust analytics. I’ve found for myself and my clients, that Flodesk offers enough in this department.
Want to try Flodesk for free for 30 days? Click this link or button below to start your trial AND when you’re ready to subscribe, you’ll be eligible for 50% off your monthly or annual subscription. Or just use code SHANNONPRUITT for your 50% off!
And, as always, if you have questions, I welcome emails! Shoot me an email… I respond to every single one of them!
