Recently, I closed my MailChimp account. An account I had since 2011! 2011, team, do you remember the good old days? And if you receive the Suger News, you would know I switched to a new kid on the block, FloDesk. I’m going to talk a little more about it later, but first I wanted to let you know why I went looking for a replacement in the first place.

Now, to be fair, I’ve been with MailChimp for nine years. There was a lot to like about the platform, including a lot of the analytics and integrations. But after the integration with Shopify was ended and there have been issues with accurate tracking and sign-up form options. There wasn’t one specific reason that I decided to keep my eyes open for an alternative. A lot of little things; things that should work but don’t.

And the cost, which is always a problem when the bigger you get, the more expensive it is to keep your list. Plus, there are very few additional features or bonuses with your upgrades. When I spoke with my clients who use MailChimp about what they are paying and whether they believe it was worth the money, most had similar feelings to me. It seemed to work, and we hadn’t found better. Then I saw a tweet about FloDesk.

A little more about FloDesk

The tweet came from a fellow blogger who sells their book via their website. I knew immediately that it would work for me. That said, I haven’t done a lot recently with eBooks or Online Courses, but they are on my list for 2020. After a brief look around, I went about setting up the Suger News as a test. A couple of hours of work and I had three fully functioning lists with sign up forms and welcome series emails. I decided that night to shut down my MailChimp and bring my account over.

But that wasn’t all. 

Soon I discovered how much easier it was to deliver PDF content directly through emails and found my way around the templates and analytics. Bit by bit, I wondered if my product-based business clients would benefit from how slick and easy to use it all was. So, I reached out and asked one of them if I could try the program for them. They were paying over USD 200 per month for their MailChimp subscription; we excited to try out something that might cost them only slightly more than that a year.

(with a sign-up code, see below, wink wink)

I warned them that I didn’t feel that we would get the same level of sales analytics. However, since we were tracking it through Google Analytics and the Shopify Dashboard that it was worth a look. They agreed and later that week we set them up and officially put their MailChimp account on pause. It only took two weeks of the new emails going out for them to decide to switch. We didn’t miss the analytics, and their brand fonts were already available as standard in the program (along with heaps others) making it simple to design everything from more straightforward sales emails to lengthy updates.

They too were sold on FloDesk. 

And then, the final; example I have is from a friend who desperately messaged late one night saying she was at the end of her rope with MailChimp. She had written, designed and set up a free download around working from home that people were signing up for but it wasn’t delivering to them. Getting people to sign up and then not providing the content they signed up for is always a bad look. So, I jumped into her MailChimp to see if I could locate the issue. After some digging, a few tests and coming at the problem from every angle I knew to come at it from (she had probably tried them all herself too) I was stumped. It’s just one of those things that MailChimp sometimes does, I told her.

But if you want something fast, do I have the program for you! 

And after some quick consideration, a play in the software, that night she set up her free download, sent an email to all those that hadn’t received it, and was back up and running. It was about that time that I thought I should sit down and write this post. After all, there are a lot of you that write a blog or have your own business. Maybe you’re battling it out with some out of date program that is too complicated for what you need or want also. So, here we are. For me, for the people I’ve talked about and a handful more, this has been a great solution. Maybe it will be for you too. Below the screenshots (provided in FloDesk as part of their Affiliate program, open to anyone with an account) I’ve put my link if you want to try it out.

If you want to sign up to FloDesk, I have an affiliate link. You will receive 50% off your subscription. Which makes it just $19USD per month no matter how big or small your list is. Want to see how it works? Create your account with that link to lock in the savings, and use the two-week trial. Check it out, let me know what you think. And if you read the Suger News, don’t you agree that we’ve been looking pretty flashy recently?

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Melissa Walker Horn

Hi! I’m Melissa Walker Horn. Around here, they call me Suger. I’m the Chief Blogger and doer of all the things here at Suger Coat It. Blogging since 1901; I love a casual ootd, taking photos, and writing about things that irk or inspire me. I love wine and cheese, long days at the beach and spending time with my family. I make stuff for the internet over at Chalkboard Digital. You know, living the sweet life.