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email marketing Article

It would appear that the cows have come home: in a surprising move, Sitecore yesterday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire <a href="https://moosend.com/">Moosend</a>, an e-mail marketing automation and campaign management platform used by a diverse set of customers. This includes leading brands such as Domino’s, Interpublic Group, and Sephora, among others. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of May. 
“Moosend perfectly complements Sitecore’s industry-leading core offering to create a personalization powerhouse for modern enterprises," said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzikakis/" target="_blank">Steve Tzikakis</a>, the CEO of Sitecore. "Moosend’s state-of-the-art marketing automation and AI-powered customer engagement features will streamline Sitecore’s ability to engage, nurture, and convert customer relationships to deliver personalized experiences across every channel. The combined offering will make it easier for marketers to deploy and measure campaigns and automate workflows across the entire customer journey – a game-changer for <a href="https://www.bcg.com/publications/2020/responsible-marketing-with-first-party-data" target="_blank">the majority</a> of brands not yet set up for lifecycle marketing.” 
Acquisitions have become almost commonplace among the leaders in the CMS and DXP categories, particularly with solutions that expand a platform's capabilities around data. According to Sitecore, this move was driven by the ongoing shifts in data-driven personalization – and the risks and challenges posed by privacy. While data is essential to personalization, there are mounting concerns around privacy due to breaches caused by problematic data collection methods. This, along with other factors, have businesses questioning the value of personalization at scale. 
In fact, back in 2019, Gartner <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-12-02-gartner-predicts-80--of-marketers-will-abandon-person" target="_blank">predicted</a> that 80% of marketers would abandon personalization efforts by 2025 due to the increased complexity and a lack of consumer trust. It was a gloomy outlook for both marketers and technology vendors, but clearly on point in a world of scaling data privacy governance. 
Consumers are often unaware of how and when their data is being collected and where it is used. They’re also experiencing overload from increasingly cluttered inboxes and mobile notifications, causing them to ignore even the most carefully customized message. The resulting conundrum has left CMS and DXP platforms struggling with how to serve personalized experiences while meeting the consumer expectation of privacy and trust across multiple dimensions. 
“It’s a paradox of modern times," said Tzikakis. "Consumers expect brands to cater to them as unique individuals, providing a consistent experience everywhere and rewarding loyalty in deeper ways; at the same time, they want privacy first – more control over data, less confusion on how it’s used, and an end to creepy targeting and algorithmically garbled messaging that only a bot would love.” 
Recognizing the depth of the privacy problem, Sitecore aims to facilitate both the modern art and science of earning customer relationships through experiences – to make consenting to data-sharing an afterthought. If they can deliver on this vision, they may have a significant advantage in shaping the future of the industry.
The acquisition of Moosend is just the latest move in Sitecore’s ambitious $1.2 billion growth plan. In a highly publicized purchase less than two months ago, the DXP leader <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-acquires-boxever-and-four51/" target="_blank">acquired</a> two companies on the same day: Boxever, a SaaS-based Customer Data Platform (CDP) providing decisioning and experimentation, and Four51 – a digital commerce pioneer that powers custom, highly scalable e-commerce B2B marketplace solutions. With the addition of Moosend, it appears that Sitecore has amassed everything it needs to deliver a complete, end-to-end SaaS-based digital experience platform – and elevate their competitive posture. 
<h3>About Sitecore</h3>
Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world’s smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies including American Express, ASOS, Carnival Cruise Lines, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oréal, and Volvo Cars rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/">Sitecore.com</a>.

Sitecore Acquires Moosend, Adds AI-Powered Email Marketing Automation

paris-tuzun

It’s impossible to deny Wix.
Just ask supermodel Karlie Kloss, the star of their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4meDcOLeWSs">2019 Super Bowl ad</a> – and founder of a <a href="https://www.kodewithklossy.com/">code camp for young women</a>.
In 30 seconds, she shared her personal Wix website with millions of viewers, highlighting features like the Wix Pro Gallery and SEO Wiz (both catchy names for an event that involves a lot of catching). 
Needless to say, it was a touchdown.
Kloss isn’t the first celebrity to promote Wix as the world’s premier website building and content management platform. A quick YouTube search will bring up the likes of Jason Statham and Gal Gadot in a 2017 Big Game spot. And it’s no surprise they can foot the bill for these heavy hitters and massive media buys: at last count, Wix is host to 160 million websites.
That’s worthy of a Super Bowl ring. Or five.
Wix has certainly established itself as the go-to solution for small, do-it-yourself entrepreneurs (think local florist or photography studio), competing with other “pre-fab” solutions like <a href="/squarespace-7-review/">Squarespace</a> and <a href="/weebly-review-2016/">Weebly</a>.
Like these platforms, Wix has always lead with simplicity. Basic templates and attractive themes allow for mobile responsiveness and limited control over images, color, content, and other dimensions. You can easily add features like photo galleries or browse the Wix App Market for some nifty integrations. It’s also one of the only platforms that allow you to animate elements and offers an AI-driven design bot that (sort of) assists with simple tasks.
When it comes to offering more advanced designers the freedom to explore and customize – while still delivering a low-code experience – Wix has generally fumbled the ball. But the game might be changing with Editor X.
<h3 id="introducing-editor-x">Introducing Editor X</h3>
Previously available as a closed beta program, Wix recently launched its new Editor X, specifically built for web designers and digital agencies that are seeking to push the aesthetic limits without the hassle of coding from scratch. Much of the emphasis has been on adopting drag-and-drop feature sets, which has been the main focus of many CMS platforms – the most popular being <a href="/gutenberg-2-years-later-is-wordpress-better-off/">Gutenberg</a>.
Wix has now entered the competitive field with Editor X, combining advanced drag-and-drop capabilities with cutting edge responsive design, flexible grids with full breakpoint control, and advanced CSS editing and control (in fact, you don’t even need to know CSS). For designers who are seeking to create more bespoke, hand-crafted experiences, Editor X could be a win.
“Gifted and talented creators have the ability to see the invisible and create the unimaginable,” said Wix Co-founder and CEO, Avishai Abrahami. “Until now these creators’ only option was platforms with restricted design freedoms or limited business web infrastructure that demanded code and multiple plugins. With Editor X, we’ve built the world’s best CSS editor and designed a radical new creative landscape for designers and web professionals, one in which the technology keeps pace with designers’ visions and enables them to swiftly create breathtaking websites, applications and digital experiences that continually raise the standard of the web.”
Here's a short video introduction to Editor X:
<figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card kg-card-hascaption"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bpEHKYd51cY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><figcaption>Introducing Editor X</figcaption></figure>
<h3 id="what-features-come-with-editor-x">What Features Come with Editor X?</h3>
<a href="https://www.editorx.com/">Editor X</a> is made with designers and agencies in mind. It offers advanced layout capabilities that allow you to create more complex website designs for any device – all without using code.
While that’s the main selling point of Editor X, it actually comes with a number of additional features and capabilities for development, business solutions, digital marketing, and SEO.
Main Features
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/HVzjSdXdJCfiAg_T3SxrcCqzypCRDEhp2tyjBcSsc9noz5agWsbPDz5Jx8FF9TM1NZdXVsjScpkEqT0kGvdA5uavmE79DPZWq34zUt8xXy-RAd2MAG142nDy-xCZGKxv_qdnwBMwZA8GNJUPng" alt="A picture containing electronics, table, monitor, deskDescription automatically generated" /><figcaption>Editor X Responsive Views</figcaption></figure>
Editor X manages to solve some of the biggest challenges facing modern designers and web professionals – from custom code to no code. The core <a href="https://www.editorx.com/features">features</a> include:
<ul>
<li>Breakpoint Precision: Create custom breakpoints, rearrange layouts, choose what to show or hide, and fine tune sites at every viewport.</li>
<li>CSS Grid: Design with CSS – without even thinking about CSS! Editor X brings a truly accessible, easy-to-use gateway to CSS.</li>
<li>Flexbox Technology: Let your content automatically adjust to every screen in single, multiple, and repeating layouts.</li>
<li>Custom Code: Integrate custom code and connect to internal/external APIs.</li>
<li>Integrated Business Infrastructure: Access Wix’s expansive range of business solutions to manage multiple sales channels, set up online bookings and scheduling, improve SEO performance, and more.</li>
</ul>
Design &amp; Layout
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/2F6sAkhXXmMn6_jYC4rKjBcvMrQfnsK-lqI1ACjWUfHJL-aKce6TkUJ-tfyqBaSf4RcVQ_v5grWu8mHz_YnusRc_VjLQ0V_BJhbVQU7vjQu36VQ0GZ3Od_aY9ya29C-dnFy3DWliYPFzrbGzow" alt="A screen shot of a computerDescription automatically generated" /><figcaption>Editor X Aligning Elements</figcaption></figure>
Editor X was built to expand the Wix design potential. It offers granular layout capabilities that allow you to create complex website designs for any device, all without using code. Some of the coolest design features include:
<ul>
<li>Grid Layouting: An advanced two-dimensional layout system based on CSS grid.</li>
<li>Docking: Anchors elements to a specific position as the viewport changes.</li>
<li>Stack &amp; scale: Reorient media for seamless responsive behavior.</li>
<li>Text scale: Create scalable font sizes as part of a design solution.</li>
<li>Flex Layouter: A smart layout system that relies on Flexbox technology for automatic reorganization of content while resizing.</li>
<li>Custom Breakpoints: Tailor designs to any viewport, not just classic devices.</li>
<li>Flexible canvas: Leverage resizing handles to instantly see and customize your design across viewports.</li>
<li>Advanced sizing control: Define your element as fixed or fluid, using wide support for modern CSS units.</li>
<li>Wix Design System: Features sections with built-in responsive behavior matched to the color palette of your site.</li>
</ul>
Development
Editor X also provides plenty of tools for developers who want to add custom code and build data rich websites. Some of these features include:
<ul>
<li>Dynamic Pages: Design one-page layouts or create unlimited pages – each with their own content, URL and SEO.</li>
<li>Database APIs: Use data APIs in your website’s front-end or backend code to manage and organize data.</li>
<li>Built-in IDE: Make coding more productive using the built-in IDE, equipped with syntax highlighting, code completion and more.</li>
<li>Custom Interactions: Create unique user interactions by triggering events when visitors perform specific actions.</li>
</ul>
Business Solutions
Running an online business always requires a few third-party applications. With Editor X and the Wix platform, you can have all of it in one place. Add an eCommerce store and accept payments, or a member section where customers can sign in and manage their personal accounts. You can also offer live chat, set up automations to collect leads, and <a href="https://www.editorx.com/features/business-ecommerce">so much more</a>.
The Wix App Market offers a wide range of integrations like form generators, social plugins, marketing tools and more. But builder beware: like open source marketplaces, many of the apps are made by third parties – and aren’t guaranteed by Wix.
Web Solutions
On Wix, every website you build is completely hosted – and includes an SSL certificate (which is being deprecated and replaced by TLS). Wix provides automatic updates, so your websites stay secure without any hassles or concerns over managing your own security requirements.
You can also search, purchase, and register domains directly through Editor X.
Marketing &amp; SEO
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/19u-wog6LhGCOi3lLpgMVChee4T3Kcx2xuCEK1NLbBzoDAUZrbNpoGNFI0jlt6xL1zv5LZM0ne1hPlxoBP-KpJVvx6a8ajhu_nkAP0MLsJvuDrAKl4XPe3FVk7Ba8lwxR5lpklq4BxR3ZZiCdA" alt="A screen shot of a clockDescription automatically generated" /><figcaption>Editor X SEO Settings</figcaption></figure>
In addition to providing basic SEO tools such as XML site maps, structured data, canonical URLs and 301 redirects, Editor X offers custom SEO plans and email marketing. Every website comes with a tailor-made SEO package that helps ensure your websites rank decently on Google. You can also drive traffic with professional email marketing campaigns, and review how visitors interact with your client sites by tracking visits through their built-in analytics tools.
<h3 id="performance">Performance</h3>
So far, Editor X looks a bit like “Weapon X.” It’s got everything that’s been missing from Wix and gives designers and agencies a more customizable platform to build on. Why choose anything else?
One word: performance.
When testing the <a href="https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.editorx.com%2F">page speed</a> of <a href="https://www.editorx.com/">editorx.com</a>, the score is staggering 34 out of 100 – almost exactly the same as the Rotten Tomatoes score for “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” That’s not good.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/nsje8VvBnPAjtAcOsfn-F19_BGM9JgOsUeJs4MOxkeNski7caip-zddZcI1bb1brGYdJlwChaywa25b1oTQ69St5e7LN_nL6mZAAK-4QP79S128N8e4orDa6JNhvT62ri_R6IX7iO4w1IAK4qg" alt="Editor-X Page Speed Screenshot" /><figcaption>https://www.editorx.com's Google Page Insights Score</figcaption></figure>
This is not a problem unique to Editor X, of course. All website builders since Dreamweaver have been plagued by the code bloat problem. In case you’re not familiar, code bloat is unnecessarily long or wasteful code that slows down websites. A lot.
When Squarespace pioneered code-free website building and attracted millions with its style and aesthetics, it seemed like everyone could build websites with no working knowledge of HTML and CSS. Over time, as it became more complex and conflated, the entire platform evolved into a page-loading nightmare.
If performance really matters, you might want to think twice about Editor X. 
<h3 id="conclusion">Conclusion </h3>
Editor X was conceived with designers in mind. And it tends to deliver with a richer, more complete set of tools and greater domain over the design experience. Even a small business or solopreneur that craves more control could get a lot of value out of Editor X. The problem lies with performance: if page speed and loads times are critical – and you have a larger, more expansive website – you might want an enterprise-worthy solution that can handle the demands of a content team.
Ready to try it out? Click <a href="https://users.editorx.com/signin?sendEmail=true&amp;view=sign-up&amp;originUrl=https:%2F%2Fwww.editorx.com&amp;loginCompName=Signup_H&amp;referralInfo=Editorx_Signup_H&amp;postLogin=https:%2F%2Fmanage.editorx.com%2Faccount%2Fsites&amp;overrideLocale=en&amp;forceRender=true">here</a>. 
<h3 id="about-editor-x">About Editor-X</h3>
<a href="https://www.editorx.com/">Editor X</a> is an advanced creation platform for designers and web professionals. The platform combines cutting edge responsive design with smooth drag and drop. Those that want to can add custom code and use a powerful CMS to build data-driven sites and complex web applications. Editor X offers an unparalleled range of integrated business solutions from a leading eCommerce infrastructure to professional marketing and SEO tools. Editor X is part of <a href="https://www.wix.com/">Wix.com Ltd</a>.
<h3 id="about-wix">About Wix</h3>
<a href="https://www.wix.com/">Wix</a> is leading the way with a cloud-based development platform for over 170 million registered users worldwide. Wix was founded on the belief that the Internet should be accessible to everyone to develop, create and contribute. Through free and premium subscriptions, Wix empowers millions of businesses, organizations, artists and individuals to take their businesses, brands and workflow online. The Wix Editor, Wix ADI, a highly curated App Market, Ascend by Wix and Corvid by Wix enable users to build and manage a fully integrated and dynamic digital presence.

Wix Introduces Editor X, Offers Designers Advanced Tools for Building Custom Websites

Ghost has always been an excellent blog platform but since the <a href="/ghost-3-0-brings-subscriptions-memberships-and-more/">release of Ghost 3.0</a>, the development team has been slamming out the features on a regular basis to make it even better.
This latest feature is the ability to send native email newsletters with Ghost using their new Members &amp; Subscriptions feature (which you can read more about <a href="https://ghost.org/members/">here</a>).
The way this works is simple; when you write a new post, you can now choose to deliver the post to subscribers via email as shown below.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 Native Newsletters" /></figure>
This isn't just a quick email notification, however, you can even set a custom subject line, preview the email before it goes out and send yourself a test one to make sure everything looks OK.
The dev team have included a stunning new email template that does a great job of making the content look beautiful. If you use the members function within Ghost to offer paid subscriptions, then content specifically marked as paid only will only go to that subset of users and the same goes for free content of course. 
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image-1.png" alt="Ghost Email Template" /><figcaption>Here's a look at the email template.</figcaption></figure>
There is an unsubscribe link within each email and users can, of course, choose whether or not to subscribe from within their profile on your website.
There's more information about this feature over on the Ghost blog where they first shared the news so <a href="https://ghost.org/blog/native-email/">go check it out</a>.

You Can Now Send Email Newsletters Natively With Ghost

cms-critic-staff

<a target="_blank" href="https://flodesk.com/c/2FQH39">Flodesk</a> says they’re “the world’s most intuitive email builder,” and they’re not exaggerating. With Flodesk, you can create beautiful emails that match the overall style of your brand in minutes, even if you have no technical, design, or marketing skills. But because Flodesk is still so new, it can’t quite match its competitors in terms of power. Read our full Flodesk Review below.<h2>Getting Started</h2>Setting up an account with Flodesk is easy. Every new user gets a 30-day free trial, which is available via the homepage. Once you fill out the sign-up form, Flodesk sends you an email verification link. Click on the link — and you’re in!<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot1_b0gn4a.png" />The dashboard is clean and extremely easy to navigate. However, you still might not necessarily know where to start, especially if you’re new to email marketing.Luckily, Flodesk understands that mastering a new site takes time, which is why it sends you a helpful email telling you how to make the most of your account. The email comes with instructions on how to:<ul><li>Set up your logo and brand.</li><li>Design a welcome email.</li><li>Embed a form.</li><li>Put it all together with a workflow (a series of automated emails).</li></ul><h2>Design</h2>Flodesk uses a visual builder, so you don’t need to know HTML code to craft an eye-catching email. In fact, the best thing about Flodesk is the variety of stunning email templates available. You can choose a pre-formatted template based on your “goal,” such as “Share News” or “Make Money.”<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot2_il3ujd.png" />Customizing your chosen template is a breeze. Simply click on any part of the email to duplicate and delete blocks and tweak things such as:<ul><li>Email layout</li><li>Backdrop and canvas color</li><li>Font type, size, and color</li><li>Line height and letter spacing</li><li>Link color</li><li>Border color and thickness</li><li>Padding thickness.</li></ul>You can save your brand’s logo and colors, further simplifying the process of adjusting templates to suit your needs. You can also upload PDFs, as long as they’re under 10 MB, and include your real-time Instagram feed at the bottom of your emails.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot3_m7cnrp.png" />If none of the templates do it for you, you can start your email from scratch, adding text (Flodesk has more than 100 fonts available, but doesn’t let you upload your own) and images as you see fit. Flodesk integrates photos seamlessly, without asking you to compress or resize them.Before you send an email, you can preview it on desktop and mobile, ensuring that it displays smoothly across all devices.<h2>Usability and Support</h2>Flodesk has a minimalist user interface. At the top of the page, you have four categories: “Emails,” “Audience,” “Forms,” and “Workflows.” These are the four features that you’re most likely to use daily.More functions, including domain authentication and brand preferences, can be found under your username icon on the top right-hand corner of the page.Flodesk has an extensive Help Center with detailed answers to commonly asked questions as well as technical how-to’s. A search button ensures that you don’t have to sift through countless articles to find a solution to your problem.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot4_lvl9op.png" />If you can’t find an answer to your question using the Help Center, you can message Flodesk on Facebook. I got a response to my query in less than three hours on a Sunday. Alternatively, you can join the Flodesk Insiders Facebook page to start a discussion with other users or email the customer support team, which promises to respond within 48 hours.<h2>Key Features</h2>In addition to pre-made emails, Flodesk is also great for making forms. Flodesk offers its users a range of form templates, from pop-ups to inline forms to full-page landing pages. Embedding the code into your website is straightforward, but you can also publish the form URL directly to the web.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot5_jyszuc.png" />Flodesk’s “Workflows” feature lets you send a series of emails to your subscribers automatically. You can set a “Time Delay” specifying the amount of time (whether minutes or hours) that should pass before Flodesk sends the next email, but there’s no option to choose a specific date or time.You can also set a “Condition.” In this case, Flodesk will only send an email if a subscriber opens a previously sent email.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot6_fdlrvy.png" />Segmenting your email list is simple, perfect for those who have several sign-up lists.Flodesk has a comprehensive statistics area, with details on each subscriber, including when and how you acquired them and their device preference. You can also see how many emails they opened, but not which ones. Also, you can’t resend an email to a subscriber that didn’t open it the first time. (Editors note: I reached out to Flodesk via Facebook to comment on this as it seemed like an odd thing to restrict. Here's their response:We do offer workflows that allow you to send to unopens after a period of time you specify—so we do offer it, just not in the one-off campaign area.)<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot7_nu5rob.png" />Email statistics are available via the “Email” section. Here, you can see the open rate, click-through rate, and the number of email addresses that bounced among other things.One big feature that Flodesk is currently missing is A/B testing. There’s no way that I could find to test several subject lines or email types. Other email marketing services, such as ConvertKit, Mailchimp, and Mailerlite, include this function.Another negative is Flodesk’s lack of integrations. At the moment, it only supports <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/shopify">Shopify</a> integration, although <a target="_blank" href="https://zapier.com/">Zapier</a> should be added within a month as well.<h2>Pricing – This is where Flodesk Shines</h2>Flodesk’s pricing is simple. There’s just one plan which costs $38 per month. It gets you unlimited emails and subscribers, as well as access to every feature. This is unusual as most email marketing platforms increase your bill as soon as you grow your subscriber list. The ability to scale up without extra cost makes Flodesk great value for fast-growing businesses.Editor's Note:<blockquote>“As you no doubt know, email marketing can get incredibly expensive as you grow in subscribers. Flodesk's model of one flat (and reasonable) price regardless of how many subscribers you have is not only excellent, it's the best value out there in my opinion.” ~ Mike Johnston</blockquote><h2>Pros</h2><ul><li>Price doesn’t change even if your subscriber list grows</li><li>30-day free trial</li><li>Gorgeous templates for emails, pop-ups, inline forms, and landing pages.</li><li>User-friendly interface.</li><li>Great customer support.</li><li>Email automation.</li><li>Email segmentation.</li><li>In-depth statistics.</li><li>Coding knowledge isn’t necessary.</li><li>Easy Instagram integration.</li></ul><h2>Cons</h2><ul><li>No way to perform A/B testing.</li><li>You can’t resend an email to a subscriber that didn’t open.</li><li>Lacking in integrations (although Zapier is due within a month) but this can be attributed to how new the platform is.</li></ul><h2>Final Verdict</h2>Flodesk has a lot going for it. It has an intuitive user interface, a vast range of stunning templates, and friendly customer service. While it’s a little behind its competitors in terms of features — it doesn’t have A/B testing and integrates with Shopify only — it’s still in the early stages of development. If you’re a small business owner with growing ambitions but no coding knowledge, then using Flodesk is a no brainer.<a target="_blank" href="https://flodesk.com/c/2FQH39">Try Flodesk for yourself.</a>

Flodesk Review - Email Marketing at an Unbeatable Price

laura-martisiute

There's no doubt that there are plenty of excellent email marketing platforms out there but one of the most common issues I've come across when using them is deliverability of emails. As such, I've been on the lookout for a solid platform that gave me a good drag and drop builder alongside the power of Amazon's email servers. I believe I've found that with MailGet so allow me to show you how it works in this MailGet Review.
For the longest time, I've used a standalone email marketing software called Sendy (see my <a href="/sendy-review-cheap-inexpensive-email-marketing-for-the-masses/" target="_blank">Sendy review</a>), that has worked reasonably well for me up until recently. Lately, I've been on the lookout for something with more automation (such as automatic unsubscribe, bounce handling, etc). However, I'm also very much committed to using Amazon SES for my email delivery as I feel it is more reliable than other architectures. I recently stumbled across MailGet and I believe I've found that solution.
<h2>Getting Things Configured</h2>
With Amazon SES services, my emails always get through properly and now, thanks to MailGet, I can use both an intuitive email marketing platform alongside Amazon for the best of both worlds.
Here's a quick video showing the basics of how MailGet works:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tybd0QNL4aU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Connecting Amazon is incredibly simple and the MailGet folks have full, detailed instructions with screenshots to help you get it done quickly and easily. I found it super simple to configure.
You aren't just stuck with Amazon though. If you prefer, you can use other third party providers such as Gmail, Mailgun, Postmark, SendGrid, Mailjet, Mandrill and others.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mailget_review_-3855x0-is.png" alt="mailget review" />
Furthermore, MailGet also offers MailGet Bolt which is the same service but with their own built-in SMTP saving you from using a third party SMTP server entirely!
Need Bounce and Spam Handling? This one is a lifesaver. MailGet provides you with full instructions including the URL's to use to configure automatic bounce and spam handling for any of the supported SMTP providers. This one for me, is huge.
Add on Google Analytics integration, <a href="https://zapier.com/" target="_blank">Zapier</a> integration (super useful) and even Wufoo (although frankly I'd probably just use <a href="https://www.formget.com/">FormGet</a>, since it's made by the MailGet folks) and you have a very well put together email marketing platform.
<h2>List Cleaning Tools Too!</h2>
Ok, how many of you DON'T have subscriber lists that have spam subscribers or rogue emails in your list that are no longer valid. Raise your hands.
I don't see any hands. That's what I thought.
MailGet includes some super useful list cleaning tools that I absolutely love. MailGet uses several methods to clean your lists:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mailget_review_-4.png" alt="mailget review" />It's as easy as clicking a button and letting MailGet go to work. Tell me you don't love this.
<h2>Designing your Emails</h2>
Aside from the configuration being easy to use, the next most important aspect is the email design end of things.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mailget_review_-_11087x0-is.png" alt="mailget review" />
From your MailGet dashboard, click on Create Email. You now have several options.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mailget_review_-51147x0-is.png" alt="mailget review" />
For those of you who like to do things the easy way, click on Drag and Drop Email Builder. For those who like to do things the geek way, click on Custom Code Editor and for those of you who just want to type something basic, click on Basic Text Editor. The Email Templates option shows numerous examples but frankly, I didn't find it super helpful as there's no easy way to apply it to your email other than through copy/paste. For me, the drag and drop builder was better.
The Drag and Drop Email Builder works like a charm and is super simple to use.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mailget_review_-6859x0-is.png" alt="mailget review" />
Once you've finished your email, simply click next and you will be given the opportunity to select which list you want to send to, whether you want to schedule it or send it all in one shot and that's it!
Back on your dashboard, you'll see a handy little widget showing your email and giving you a quick view on how it's performing.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mailget_review_-7.png" alt="mailget review" />
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
That's all there is to it. It's a simple, easy-to-use email marketing platform that works like a charm. MailGet has excellent help and the tutorials will get you through any issues that might arise quickly and easily. Most importantly, however, is their support.
Should you ever come across any issues.. the MailGet folks are close by to help. Simply click on the live chat box in the bottom right and you'll get a rep almost instantly. I was actually surprised how quickly I was connected to someone and during my test, they solved the problem quickly. Well done guys!
Overall, I'm content with it and using MailGet now for all of our email handling for CMS Critic. It's that good. I recommend trying it yourself, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
<a href="https://www.formget.com/mailget-app/">Try MailGet Now.</a>

MailGet Review - Beautifully Easy Email Marketing with Amazon SES

mike-johnston

If you are in the market for an inexpensive, yet powerful email marketing platform for your business (or multiple brands) then you are in luck. In this Sendy review, we'll provide you with all of the details about this low cost alternative.
Email Marketing platforms such as <a href="https://www.aweber.com/">AWeber</a>, <a href="https://www.constantcontact.com/">Constant Contact</a> and others are great solutions but they can end up getting costly as your subscriber count increases. Fortunately, there are alternative solutions out there. In our case here at CMS Critic, we found that as our subscribers grew, we were creeping up on over $100 / month for a traditional cloud based email marketing platform. We decided to explore alternatives and ended up landing on a great self-hosted email marketing solution called <a href="https://sendy.co/">Sendy</a>.
What makes Sendy great is that not only is it hosted on our own servers (and btw requires very little overhead) as well as using Amazon SES in order to send out the emails. The good thing here is that Amazon SES is extremely inexpensive and highly reliable for getting emails to the inbox rather than getting blocked by spam filters. Furthermore, Sendy itself is an inexpensive $59 one time fee when compared to the hundreds of dollars per month you could be spending on cloud-based email marketing. When you add hosting, Amazon SES costs together, you might be paying $1-10 monthly at the most for up to $10k subscribers.
<h3>Multiple Brands</h3>
Don't think that Sendy isn't powerful because of the cost either. You can set up Sendy to work with multiple brands easily so not only can you use it for your primary business, but you can use it for multiple brands for the same low cost of $59.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot1-11380x0-is.jpg" alt="sendy review" />
<h3>Custom Fields and Multiple Subscriber Lists</h3>
Setting up subscriber forms with Sendy is quick and easy as well. You can not only add custom fields but it will also provide you with passthrough URLs and embed codes for signup forms so you can quickly and easily add more subscribers to your mailing list.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot6894x0-is.jpg" alt="sendy review" />
You can also have multiple subscriber lists allowing you to quickly and easily segment your subscribers. Sendy also supports a number of methods to add subscribers to your list. You can use the API or a subscribe form to pass users to your lists.
<h3>Automatic bounce, complaint &amp; unsubscribe handling</h3>
Bounces, complaints and unsubscribes are automatically handled in real time once your newsletter is sent. There is no need for any manual post campaign cleanups.
<h3>Signup and activity reports</h3>
Subscriber signups are captured within a nice interface that allows you to quickly see what has happened recently with those on your list, if they have subscribed, unsubscribed or are pending confirmation. Another important thing to note is that Sendy allows you to enable or disable double opt-in so you can choose whichever you prefer.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot2838x0-is.jpg" alt="sendy review" />
<h3>Designing your Newsletter</h3>
Designing your newsletter is very straight forward. You can use their WYSIWYG editor to build out what you'd like and insert images as well as some specialized tags so you can personalize things if desired. You can even use an html template builder or find some on the web and paste them into the editor while in “source” view to use them with Sendy.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot3-2756x0-is.jpg" alt="sendy review" />
<h3>Send newsletters via Amazon SES</h3>
Sendy uses multi-threading to send emails via Amazon SES which is not only significantly cheaper than virtually all email marketing platforms on the market but also has a high deliverability rate. Most traditional email marketing platforms restrict you based on the size of your lists, but not Sendy.
<h3>Beautiful Reporting</h3>
Once you've sent your campaign, Sendy will show you a number of statistics about your campaign within the reports section. One thing we noticed here at CMS Critic is that once we started using Sendy and personalizing our newsletters, we saw a large boost in the open rate and click through rates on our newsletter. The reporting system within Sendy is excellent and presents the data in a great way.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot4-2773x0-is.jpg" alt="sendy review" />
<h3>Autoresponders</h3>
You can also easily configure autoresponders to specific users.. an example might be to send them an email on their birthday (if you are capturing this). Sendy allows you to create drip campaigns to follow up with your subscribers, send an email annually or one off emails at a specific date.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot7-1828x0-is.jpg" alt="sendy review" />
<h3>Give your client access and charge them to email your subscribers</h3>
Sendy has one very sweet feature that I haven't seen before in any email marketing software and that is the ability to white label the platform and allow your clients to login and send emails to your subscriber list for a fee. You can even set a monthly send limit for them.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sendy_review383x0-is.jpg" alt="sendy review" />
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
Overall, we've found Sendy to not only be an excellent alternative to MailChimp, but to blow it away as far as speed, usability and functionality are concerned. Sure MailChimp has drag and drop but Sendy is fast, reliable and cheap.
If you are looking for something that is powerful, flexible, and not based on subscriber list size like most cloud-based email marketing platforms, this is the software for you. At $59 you can't beat it. From me, it gets a 5 out of 5.
<a href="https://sendy.co/">Grab your copy of Sendy today.</a>

Sendy Review - Cheap Email Marketing for the Masses

Remember that story we shared with you on May 11th about <a href="/twitter-picks-up-staff-from-email-marketing-startup-restengine/">Twitter acquiring the staff of the email marketing firm, RestEngine</a>? There was quite a bit of conjecture circulating as to how they would be making use of these people and now, things seem a bit more clear.
On Monday, Twitter began offering a Twitter email digest which is delivered to your inbox once a week and summarizes the top stories from the popular network.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/email-screenshot-620x514.png" alt="twitter to email" />
According to the announcement:
<blockquote>This summary features the most relevant Tweets and stories shared by the people you’re connected to on Twitter.
Stories feature a design similar to the recently updated Discover tab, emphasizing who shared each story beneath summaries to help you decide which ones matter most to you. Click any headline to finish reading the story, add your take by tweeting directly from the email, and see related Tweets from the people you follow.
This new email digest also features the most engaging Tweets seen by the people you follow, even if you don’t follow those who wrote them. You can see who from your network retweeted or favorited these Tweets and click “View details” to retweet, favorite, reply or view the conversation around them.
We’re rolling out this new email out to everyone over the next few weeks, so keep checking your inbox for new messages from Twitter. Like other Twitter email notifications, you can manage your preferences for this new digest in your Notification Settings.</blockquote>
What's interesting about the wording in this announcement is that it Twitter has deemed it OK to simply opt every one of its users in by default. Take a look at our notification settings, for example:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/optimizely_logo_blue_700x0-is-hidpi_tzsdz9.png" alt="twitter email notifications" />We're not sure how we feel about being automatically opted in to these emails, even if they are weekly. How about you?

Twitter automatically opts all users in to new Weekly Email Digest offering

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