Sometime this summer I saw a few people I follow on Instagram sharing about a new email marketing platform called Flodesk. I was right in the middle of getting ready to host a summit, and I had so many other things going on that even though it looked cool I intentionally put it on the back burner to research.
A few days after my summit ended I took the leap and started migrating my email list from MailerLite over to Flodesk, and I’ve been using it for nearly two months.
Today I wanted to show you how to use Flodesk with WordPress and give you my honest review in case you’re thinking about making the switch.
MAY 27, 2020 UPDATE – Since writing this post, Flodesk has introduced many new features that I mention them not having below. I’m truly blown away at how quickly they’re working to catch up with some of the industry leading email marketing platforms. Some of the new features include: ability to resend to people who didn’t open your emails, better analytics for your emails, and great features coming soon. If you want to check out Flodesk and get 50% off (forever), you can do so here!
Using Flodesk with Genesis eNews Extended
Regardless of what platform you’re using for your email list, I always recommend installing the Genesis eNews Extended plugin on your site to create forms for your sidebar or footer.
Flodesk recently added a new functionality to their opt-in forms that allows you to easily be able to use the Genesis eNews Extended plugin.
Flodesk has even made it super simple for you to copy your settings over by adding a simple “copy” button you can click for each field you need to carry over.
Once you’ve added your settings to the widget, you can simply click the Save button on your widget. I highly recommend testing your form after updating the settings. You wouldn’t want to miss out on subscribers if you find out later that it’s not working for some reason.
Creating custom pop-ups with Flodesk
The real fun with this tutorial is using your Flodesk form and creating a custom pop-up using the Popup Anything On Click plugin.
Several of the opt-in forms I have around the blog are hosted with popup forms that appear after you click an image or a link, so it was a bummer to me that at first I couldn’t accomplish this with the existing embed code that you got from Flodesk.
However, they recently launched a new feature where you can grab the HTML code for your forms, which means you have much more freedom to use them.
Getting your raw HTML code
In your Flodesk account, you’ll want to go to the form you want to embed in the popup on your site, and click Embed.
On that page, you’ll click the Advanced Options link. This will open a new window where you’ll want to select the option to Get raw HTML code.
After that is where things might get a little confusing. You’re given the option to Disable Javascript and Disable CSS. There are some limitations on some popup plugins that you could use, but I’ve tested the Popup Anything On Click plugin, and you don’t need to disable Javascript with it.
Disabling CSS is a little more straightforward for most of you, I’m sure. If you check that box you’ll lose the design options that you’ve selected for your form in Flodesk – specifically your fonts and colors. If you know how to write CSS to recreate what you want (or something better), then I’d select that box.
After you click Next, you’ll be given the your HTML code. Click the Copy button to select all of the the code and copy it.
From here you can easily add your HTML code into a new popup in your WordPress dashboard. After adding it, you can scroll down and customize the settings for what you want a reader to click on to make the form pop up (image, button, or just text).
There are a few other settings you can adjust like whether you want the popup to take up the full screen, how quickly it pops up, and more.
My honest review of Flodesk
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I’ve been using Flodesk for my own email list for about two months now, so I also wanted to share my review with you in case you’re considering making the switch yourself.
Things I’m liking
First and foremost the platform is growing so quickly! I can already see the additional features, templates, and simple tweaks that they’ve been adding to Flodesk. It’s also very apparent that they’ve been listening to their users, even if they can’t fix everything right away.
Gorgeous emails
I absolutely love that I can make my emails a little fancier and easily do things straight in the Flodesk platform that I would have had to do by making custom graphics for any other platform.
Having a more styled look to my emails certainly makes me feel like my emails stand out more, even though I know that may not necessarily be the case as more people start to move over.
Easy to use with tripwires
I’ve had setting up a tripwire on my to do list for a while now, and I actually finally set one up last week.
If you’re not familiar, a tripwire product would be something that you offer for a limited time at a deeply discounted rate after a reader subscribes to your email list.
I was a little worried about whether or not this would be possible with Flodesk, but it is! All you have to do is add the URL for your tripwire sales page directly into your form settings.
Workflow + email templates
If you’re relatively new to setting up your email list or maybe just need some help with writing your emails, Flodesk offers some templates to start with. This is really great for your welcome sequences because it’s going to give you an idea of what you should be sending when someone first subscribes.
Plus, the templates for your regular emails are not only in collaborate with some of your favorite people (like Jenna Kutcher), but they’re also built on the goals of your email. Things like:
- Welcoming subscribers
- Sharing inspiration
- Sending subscribers to your shop
- Announcing webinars, sales, etc
Current pricing structure
This is where Flodesk has every other platform totally beat. Every single other email marketing platform I’ve tried (and I’ve worked with 5 other platforms) charge you more as you grow your email list. This totally makes sense, but it’s almost like you’re being punished for growing your list.
As of writing this, Flodesk currently offers you unlimited subscribers for just $38/month. That means that you don’t have to worry about the cost of having an email list increasing as you’re trying to grow your brand.
Even better, though, is that you can use my affiliate link and get 50% off your plan, meaning you could potentially cut the cost of your email list in half, send beautiful emails to your list, and feel excited about growing your email list again for as little as $19/month.
Where Flodesk is lacking
Just like any other new platform there are some features that Flodesk doesn’t have just yet. For this reason I’m not necessarily recommending that everyone jump ship right away. Especially not if you need or want the following features.
No reporting on your growth
If you really like to track how your opt-ins are working for you and see a visual of your growth each day / month, you’ll have to keep waiting.
As of writing this post, Flodesk currently doesn’t have any way to track how your email list is growing without manually keeping track of new subscribers and where they’re coming from.
No advanced automation / rule features
A ton of my peers on Flodesk have jumped ship from ConvertKit, and frankly, I don’t blame them. However, if you’re currently using ConvertKit and you need advanced workflows or rules to segment, tag, and send specific emails to subscribers wait before you make the move.
While Flodesk does have workflows, they’re more simple – like delivering a welcome sequence or moving people between segments.
There are also no ‘rules’ in Flodesk, which is also a bit of a bummer for anyone needing more advanced email marketing features. This means there’s no easy way to create a segment based on certain conditions.
I will say, though, that I was an early user for ConvertKit when they launched, and I remember that they didn’t start out with all of these fancy things either, so hopefully Flodesk will eventually add these types of features.
Not a ton of information on individual subscribers
Last but not least, I was a little surprised to see that there’s not a ton of information given about the individual subscribers on your list.
You can see things like their lifetime open and click rates, when they subscribed and where they came from, segments, and things like that. However, you can’t see more details like the specific emails they’ve been sent.
Do you really need that information? No, maybe not, but I like to be able to quickly see what a specific subscriber has been most interested in and that’s where seeing the details of an individual email is helpful.
My verdict…
If you don’t need advanced email marketing features and you don’t mind the bumps of a new platform, I definitely recommend moving over to Flodesk. I’ve been loving it so far, and I can see it quickly becoming a real competitor for the other platforms.
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