Hey, The most popular email service in Indieland – MailerLite – is raising its prices. Quite substantially in some cases. Today I'm going to break down the pricing change, who it affects, who it doesn't affect, and outline a way that you can dodge the worst of this price increase… at least for a while. I think this email is useful even for non-MailerLite users, as it surveys all the options out there and makes different recommendations depending on your circumstances. And also because these pricing changes tend to impact all platforms eventually, meaning we all tend to go through these considerations at some point or another. But you can skip ahead below to the sections more relevant to you, if you prefer. Or go eat a sandwich I guess? I'm not the boss of you. Anyway, with this news, some authors are understandably wondering if they should jump ship, so we will run through your options. You have a little time before the price hike kicks in on July 10, but I'll make some recommendations depending on how you like to run your newsletter, and the part it plays in your author business. This might be news to some MailerLite users – because not everyone got The Email. So what's going on here? We're going to break it all down right after a quick word from our sponsor. June Sponsor: Nicholas ErikIn partnership with Blank Slate Looking to run more effective Facebook or BookBub Ads? Or just need a little inspiration for new ads to test? Then download Nicholas Erik's free ad swipe file, containing 7 winning Facebook and BookBub Ads (with stats) that you can use for your own books.
A Price Hike… For Some?MailerLite is increasing its prices on July 10 – in just over 2 weeks. The reason many users may not have heard this news is because the price increase only affects customers of "new" MailerLite. Legacy users of "Classic MailerLite" are unaffected by this price hike – so we have essentially been grandfathered in at the old rates, which I was able to confirm in conversation with MailerLite this morning. But what about those on "new" MailerLite? I'm sorry to say that the price hikes are significant. This was somewhat inevitable given that MailerLite has launched a new platform with added features, and especially because MailerLite was acquired last year for $90m by a much larger corporation – but that doesn't make it any more palatable. However, if you keep reading, I will share three ways to take the edge off that price increase. I ran some simulations on the new vs old pricing pages, and here's a ready reckoner - as it pertains to the monthly rate for the Growing Business plan (as opposed to the Advanced plan). These price increases are pretty big – and they are even bigger for anyone pondering a switch from MailerLite Classic to the new platform. (Just in case you are wondering, MailerLite Classic is not available to new customers, it's a legacy MailerLite platform which is still being supported but not getting new features going forward). For reference, the price of a 2500 subscriber plan for a MailerLite Classic customer is just $13 a month, so if you were a Classic customer thinking of switching to the new platform, you would paying almost double after July 10. Which means you might want to stay put until MailerLite adds a must-have feature to the new platform – you can read a breakdown of the features at the new pricing page at MailerLite. Note: that is an affiliate link, so I will get a commission if you click that link and purchase a plan, but it does not affect the price you pay. it also doesn't affect the honesty of my take on this pricing plan. I will recommend other providers shortly, and explain who might want to move from MailerLite after this rather hefty increase. But I want to be transparent so you can decide if I'm impartial or not. I might be biased in other ways too. While I am a MailerLite user, and have been for several years, I am not personally affected by this change for now as I have MailerLite Classic. Perhaps I would be a good deal saltier about it if I was on the new platform and facing a 50% increase. I am trying to be as objective as possible, though, and I'll explain a few ways you can save money and stay at MailerLite, if that's your preference, while also providing alternatives for those who wish to leave. My quick take is that MailerLite remains the best choice for most authors, as I still think it represents the best deal out there for those looking for a great feature set at reasonable prices. Although the gap is certainly closing after this price increase – both with services competing for the same sector of the market, and with more premium services like ConvertKit at the other end. Saving Money at MailerLiteBefore looking at alternatives, here are three ways you can stay at MailerLite, and avoid some of the new-price pain. 1. Stick with Classic If you are on MailerLite Classic, you can avoid all the price increases – at least for now – by simply remaining on MailerLite Classic – you don't need to do anything specific, just don't transition to the new platform. Of course, that also means you won't get any of the new features that came with the new platform, or any future new features, but MailerLite have confirm that they are continuing to support MailerLite Classic, and legacy customers can remain on that platform if they wish. (I have one mailing list at MailerLite, and this is what I'm doing.) 2. Switch to Annual Whether you are a MailerLite Classic customer or on the new platform, you can make significant savings by switching to an annual plan. 3. Renew before July 10 And if you are on the new platform, you can also lock in the old pricing by renewing before July 10, when the increased rates kick in. What happens if you have a chunk of time left? MailerLite calculates that for you and deducts it from your renewal cost. Here's what they say: "You don't lose any money when you upgrade to a new plan before the expiration date of your current plan. We calculate the unused time/money from your current plan and subtract it from the full price of the new plan. The expiration date of the plan is also updated according to the amount of time purchased." Pretty handy. You can read more about that renewing your plan early here – note the separate tabs on that MailerLite help page for Classic and New. I should also mention there is a fourth way you can save money and remain at MailerLite – for New and Classic users – which is to downgrade your plan to a lower tier, something that might be possible if you engage in some list culling. My email on how to optimize your mailing list by (carefully!) culling inactive subscribers is here. My recommendation:Stick with MailerLite Classic if you can, renew before July 10 if you can't. Consider switching to an annual plan if you can manage it, especially if you are on the new platform, because you will lock down a year of reduced pricing and get a discount for making annual payments instead. Not everyone might be in a position to do that, of course, and could be considering alternatives regardless. Let's run though those. MailerLite AlternativesAuthors looking at alternatives generally fall into two categories – which are quite different.
The simple fact is that most of MailerLite's competitors charge more for an inferior service, and even with this increase, it's still hard to beat. For example, the standard plans at Aweber, MailChimp, and ConstantContact all cost more – in some cases significantly more – and they simply aren't as good at MailerLite, particularly in the all-important task of getting emails into readers' inboxes. Even after the price increase, that remains the case. But if saving money is an imperative, you can explore cheaper options like SendFox and Author.Email. Just be aware that cheaper platforms like these usually involve a number of compromises – such as reduced features and are often more bare-bones in terms of email creation. I also suspect that deliverability won't be quite as good as it is with MailerLite. Also please note that (a) there's a waiting list for Author.Email right now and (b) SendFox in particular has some quirks which are not for everyone (and not for me specifically) – especially how they will throttle your account if they don't like your performance. Do your research and see if it's right for you. Those are not affiliate links – I'm not recommending these services; I don't use them personally, so I'm not in a position to recommend them. These suggestions are provided for informational purposes for those for whom saving money truly is an imperative. You're not exactly overflowing with options here – that's just the way it is. Unless, that is, you are in a position to spend more money, and then the equation becomes about the feature set, and what you might actually use. Premium AlternativesWhy might anyone want a premium service? Well, they can offer a range of premium features, which can appeal to some authors with larger lists especially, or unique needs. Or anyone who sees value in things like closer integration with Facebook for either lead generation ads, or custom audiences. Depending on the platform and the plan, premium features might also include various e-commerce features for those who sell direct, who run courses, or those who want to have a paid tier with exclusive content for certain subscribers. There's often a higher tier of support, more data to optimize deliverability and some platforms are getting quite creative with the features on offer – particularly for non-fiction authors. ActiveCampaign used to be considered the deluxe choice among premium platforms – with prices to match. However, I've heard consistently bad reports of a deterioration in service. To the extent that everyone who I know that was previously using them has now left. Some of the others previously mentioned (like MailChimp) have premium tiers/plans as well, but I also don't recommend them as a premium service for similar reasons to the above – either deliverability is poor in relation to MailerLite, as well as having certain business practices which are unpalatable (like MailChimp charging for unsubscribes unless you proactively archive them). Also worth noting that MailerLite itself has a premium tier – although not one I have tried, personally, as it is connected to the new platform and I don't really want to switch. But the option is there for you to explore if you are interested in more premium features but don't want to move your list. In other words, options are thin on the ground at the premium end of the market too. Indeed, the only premium service which I'm comfortable recommending is the one I use to run this newsletter – ConvertKit. That is an affiliate link as well, but I have been a ConvertKit user for two years now and I'm very happy with the service – indeed I upgraded recently to the Pro plan, which is even more expensive, but that has some very interesting new features I am experimenting with (and I'll talk about that soon). ConvertKit is significantly more expensive than MailerLite though, so I only recommend making the leap if you genuinely think you will benefit from its added features. For comparison, the 3,000 subscriber tier at ConvertKit is $49 a month. 5,000 subs is $79 a month. 10,000 subs is $119 a month, and 20,000 is $179 a month. Although again it's worth noting there are significant savings to be had if you can commit to a yearly plan – two months free, so essentially a saving of 16% on those prices above. That's still a significant price differential with MailerLite – even after the new pricing is taken into account. The difference varies based on your list size but, as a rough guide, ConvertKit costs almost twice as much. So you have to carefully weigh whether the premium features are things you would actually use. For me, the difference maker was integration with my course platform, and that's not going to be relevant for most of you – but the other big draw was the more robust automations. I found MailerLite's automations to be a little fiddly, and quite fragile, and have had no issues with my automations since making the switch. You can check out the full feature set here (aff link) and decide for yourself if those are appealing. I'll be talking about some of those features soon – as ConvertKit has launched a number of experimental features recently. Some are cool, some are good ideas which don't quite work… yet. But it's good to see some fresh thinking in this space. Final ThoughtsSo those remain my two recommended providers: MailerLite and ConvertKit, depending on whether you value those premium features or not. That has been the case for a few years now but things can change quickly in this space so I always keep an eye on developments. And perhaps MailerLite's price increase will create room for a new competitor. We shall see, Dave P.S. Writing music this week is Alice with Un oiseau magnifique.
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Friday, June 23, 2023
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