Why I decided to use Flodesk for my email marketing
I’m a seriously techy person but there are two platforms I’ve never been able to get on with…
…Wordpress and Mailchimp. Now when I say techy, I mean, I can understand and write HTML, CSS and Java Script. In my house it’s me that sets up any tech, including my kids online gaming accounts which are beyond baffling at the best of times. So I am what I would describe as tech literate, right? Wordpress and Mailchimp though…I’ve just always found them really hard work. Now obviously with Wordpress it’s simple because I build websites in Squarespace so it’s rarely something I need to worry about. Mailchimp though, that has been tougher.
The value of email marketing
I’ve known for a while that email marketing was a trick that I was missing when it came to my business. After all, I’m pretty good with my content marketing but not at letting people know that I had content coming out. When I have had forms on my website I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how many people would sign up but then rarely rewarded those lovely people with any decent content. The reason? Mailchimp, the market leader filled me with dread. I didn’t get it and tried a number of times to get it to work for me but fell at the first hurdle every time. Don’t get me wrong, I can see how it works for people who manage to make it work. I also think that if you’ve already got a list in Mailchimp and all your segmenets set up then a policy of ‘if it aint broke, don’t fix it’ is best applied. For clients of mine in this situation who are already in bed with Mailchimp I highly recommend my friend Vicky at Flic Email. Vicky is an email expert and specialises in Mailchimp so is able to work her magic and get your systems flowing. Say hi from me if you speak to her! I wanted to find a solution that I’d be able to run myself as my business is really integrated and so I wanted something I could manage myself if I needed to.
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Enter Squarespace
When Squarespace introduced Squarespace Camapigns (their email marketing solution) I got very excited. Amazing! I thought. An integrated solution that will allow me to immediately send out email bursts as I create blog posts buuuuut it again I didn’t find it particularly user friendly. It was a little better than Mailchimp and I think if I’d really persevered I might have been able to get it going but it just felt like hard work you know. Ultimately I wasn’t using it, emails were not going out, so the product failed for me.
Ok let’s give Flodesk a go…
I’d been seeing people sending emails from Flodesk and a lot of blogs singing its praises and so I decided to give it a whirl. I actually signed up using an affiliate link (like the one I am sharing with you below) which allowed me to have 50% discount for LIFE! The offer also meant that I’d be able to have unlimited subscribers and full access to all features. The plan is $38 per month so $19 with the 50% discount which worked out about £13 per month.
All this is well and good but will I actually use it? Well so far, yes! Here’s how I am using Flodesk with my Squarespace site:
Forms - I haven’t changed all my forms because for enquiries I’d rather just get those direct to my inbox and don’t necessarily want to add everyone to a list. I did however use the ‘embed’ option for my Newsletter sign up in the footer of every page of my site (like the one at the bottom of this page). I simply used a TEXT block to the side for the "Can I share something with you?’ and then added a CODE block and pasted the embed code in and it populated without any issues. Now as soon as people sign up to my Newsletter they immediately get a Welcome Email as opposed to the complete silence of before. At some stage I’ll probably set up a bit more of a sequence but I’m happy I have this in place for now as it’s a vast improvement.
Thank you email - For clients that buy my One Page Website template after they’ve paid for the product in Thrive Cart they are sent an email. I managed to create this automation through a Zapier Zap, so that have made a payment in Thrive Cart get added to my One Page segment and are then sent a Thank You email. This bit sounds more complicated than it is but having this whole process automated is going to save me so much time in customer service emails and cross referencing emails with purchasers and membership accounts.
My advice for getting started
Please note this advice for a Squarespace site so if you use a different web builder these instructions might vary.
If like me you are struggling to get your email game on here’s how I would approach things.
Sign up for a Flodesk account with 50% discount by clicking on the button below.
Set about adding your brand colours and fonts, add a logo file that you can use.
Start with a simple Welcome email for your Newsletter form. I write mine out in Apple Notes first so I have an idea of what I want to say before I start adding so I’m not writing and styling at the same time. Don’t worry about a welcome sequence for now, delete those options, you just want one email going out to say thank you to people signing up to your newsletter. Once you set this up you’ll feel far more confident about adding more workflows and sequences.
Before you change your page / footer you’ll just need to add some code into the HEADER section of your site. Just go to SETTINGS > ADVANCED > CODE INJECTION and then paste the code into the HEADER box and hit SAVE and you’ll be good to go.
Now you need to change your existing form. When it comes to saving your form I would add the CODE block just above or below your existing NESWLETTER / FORM block first and paste the code straight in there. Then once you’re happy with how it looks you can delete the exisiting block. NOTE: You’ll need to save and come out of the edit window to be able to view the changes before the Flodesk form populates properly.
After that you’ll be all set, I hope if you’ve been struggling like me you’ll find Flodesk as easy to use as I have. Happy emailing!
