Newsletter Tips and Tricks – An Interview With Mailerlite

1) We know Mailerlite is a great newsletter service, especially for those on a budget, but we're curious, what do you think is the biggest draw for customers?

I’m very proud of the product we’ve created. Yes, we do offer competitive pricing, however, if you ask our customers what they love the most about MailerLite, I think it’s the ease of use and of course our award-winning customer support. 

One of our company values is that we focus on people and that not only means focusing on those who work here, but also on our clients. We strive for a human connection in the way we talk to our customers and I think it shows. We also try to simplify, to create advanced products that keep up with customers’ needs and avoid unnecessary clutter.

2) What are some features on Mailerlite that you think are underutilized or you wish more users knew about?

Great question! Everyone loves our drag & drop email builder and signup forms, but MailerLite goes way beyond email marketing and has digital marketing tools to help our customers grow their business online. Did you know that we offer a website builder as well as give our clients the option to offer paid subscriptions or sell digital products? I think these features can be incredibly powerful and more clients should use them!

3) Bloggers like to say that email lists are the only thing you truly own as you are less dependent on algorithms and the changing whims of companies. Do you have any best practices for bloggers to help convert more signups?

Oh, we definitely agree with that one! Not only does social media experience outages, but you can have your page deleted (which happened to us!), and in these scenarios, your email list is the only thing you have to stay in touch with your audience.

Now you need to remember that when you’re asking for someone’s email address, you’re also asking for their time as well as space in their probably already-full inbox. With that in mind, you should be very clear on what you’re offering in exchange and what value you’re bringing to your subscribers.

You can build high-converting signup forms by being specific, being clear and offering something valuable.

We have the most wonderful content team that has written quite a few articles on this topic, so if you would like to dig deeper, you can start here or here.

4) Are there any new features in the works you can share with our readers?

Yes! Currently, we’re working on leveling up our automation tools with features like multi-trigger workflows so you instantly react to a variety of subscriber actions, as well as predefined automation templates that let you create workflows quickly by simply filling in fields. On top of that, our team is working on a Facebook Audience integration that will show ads to the most relevant audiences and their lookalikes.

5) What do you think Mailerlite does particularly well? What separates you from other email marketing services?

We’re not just looking to get as many new clients as possible, we’re focused on helping our existing customers grow. We’re constantly producing valuable content, educating our clients on email marketing in general as well as MailerLite’s features (shoutout to the MailerLite Academy!), and listening to our clients’ feedback. It might sound cheesy, but at the core of everything we do is a genuine effort to create the best possible product and experience for our clients.

6) Where have you seen other content creators have success with MailerLite? Is it in utilizing templates, making use of automations, or is it as simple as using ML consistently?

There are many things you have to keep in mind to be successful and consistency is definitely one of them! It’s great to stick to a regular schedule (even if it’s only one newsletter per month) so your audience knows when they should expect to hear from you. If you’re only sending one newsletter per year, most recipients might forget that they even subscribed and report your emails as spam. Consent, unlike good wine, doesn’t age well.

I also have to mention maintaining the quality of your subscriber list. Unsubscribing should always be easy, your audience should be able to reply to your emails and share their feedback, and you should remove inactive subscribers yourself.

Then there’s the fun part – making your newsletters engaging, exciting and interesting to look at! We do offer many stunning pre-built templates; however, you have all the tools you might need to craft something that’s truly personal to you and your brand.

Automation is key as well, especially confirmation and welcome emails. Did you ever sign up for a webinar and then didn’t receive the confirmation email? That happened to me recently – I still don’t know if my registration was successful or not.

So take the time to craft that one automation to welcome your new subscribers and thank them for joining you. It’s so easy and it does let your new subscribers know they’re in!

7) How can creators use MailerLite to understand their success? What data should they be paying attention to and where can they access that?

Some might say that data is king and we agree. Just as a starting point, each year we aggregate all the data we have and share the email marketing benchmarks by industry.

It’s very helpful to know what's considered a good open rate, click-through rate, and even the unsubscribe rate in your field. Not only to know what you should aim for, but also to be able to compare.

Additionally, we share data on email cadence. You want to aim for the perfect balance of sending newsletters frequently enough, but not too often (spoiler alert: the open rate drops when too many newsletters are sent).

With the new Apple Mail Privacy Protection in full swing, open rate is no longer the most important indicator of your performance and you shouldn’t be worried about that. You should shift your attention to your click-through rate as well as other metrics, such as user activity on your website.

There are also other ways to feel the pulse of your subscribers, such as including surveys as well as encouraging your subscribers to reply to your emails.

If the subscriber engagement is declining, you might need to re-think your email marketing strategy. Take an objective look at the emails you’re sending and what value they give to your subscribers.  

On top of that, you should look at your bounce, unsubscribe and spam complaint rates.

Here’s another great article from our content team on what these metrics mean and how to improve them.

About Martyna: I’m partnership manager at The Remote Company (featuring Mailerlite and other services). When I’m not working on building and growing partnership programs for all our products, you’ll find me hunting down the best sunsets and ceviche!

We'd like to thank Martyna for joining us for this great interview about Mailerlite. To join the newsletter service, click here!