ConvertKit Review: Email Marketing & Top Automation for Creators

This ConvertKit review reveals excellent visual marketing email automation, forms, and landing pages, but with a high price point who is ConvertKit best for?

ConvertKit Rating	4.3/5.0
💸 Pricing	★★★✩✩
⚡ Features	★★★★✩
📧 Email Deliverability	★★★★★
🖱 Ease of Use	★★★★✩
👩‍❤️‍👩 Client Satisfaction	★★★★★
☎ Customer Support	★★★★✩

ConvertKit Review Summary

This ConvertKit review finds that it excels in email deliverability and has all the core email marketing services you will need. ConvertKit has an excellent automation visualization engine and built-in lead pages, which may well be worth the price premium they charge.  But do not expect any CRM functions or payment gateways included; they have a set of 3rd party integrations to cover that through Zapier.

ConvertKit’s focus on email deliverability, intuitive marketing automation, and a slick interface make it a solid service offering.  But with a significantly higher price point than some other competitors, we need to look at what extra they bring to the table.

ConvertKit Review: Features

⚡ Features	Email Marketing Automation
🏆 Unique Features	Visual Automation, Real-time Reporting
🎯 Best for	Content Creators
♲ Subscription	Monthly
💰 Price	$25-$166/mo
✂ Discount	None Available
🌎 Region	Global

ConvertKit Pros

★ Great Visual Automation & Reporting
★ Segmentation, Tagging & Broadcasts
★ Exit Intent Forms
★ Landing Pages With Real-Time Performance Reporting
★ 100K Free Stock Photos
★ Excellent Email Deliverability

ConverKit Cons

✘ Pricing
✘ Limited Support Times

Visit ConvertKit

The Review Process

We have tested 30 of the most popular email marketing software vendors out of a list of over 100.  We have compared over 80 key features and benefits to make a solid and fair comparison. In total, over 2,400 data points have been compiled over our months of testing.  For further details on what we tested, jump to the Main Email Marketing Testing & Comparison Page. 

ConvertKit Pricing

ConvertKit is in 6th place of the 11 vendors in the table below when it comes to pricing. So they are definitely nowhere near the best price points, but their service is targeted at start-ups and creators with new ideas.  For me targeting new businesses should mean you offer a lower price point, especially at the under 10,000 subscribers range.  ConvertKit charge 1c per contact every month (on a yearly contract), compare that to SendX who charge 0.39 cents per contact.

There are two types of pricing models in the email marketing industry.

1. Per Contact Pricing means you are charged for storing a number of contacts; this model usually includes unlimited email sends.
2. Per Email Pricing – this model usually means that you can have an unlimited number of contacts, but you pay per thousand email sends.

All email marketing vendors also offer multiple tiers of service, a basic tier providing email messaging, autoresponders, and segmentation.  More advanced tiers usually provide more in-depth services such as email marketing automation, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Sales Funnels, Payment Gateways, and landing pages.

Competitor Pricing Table – All Email Marketing Services

Value Ratings
Value	☆☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆
Model	Contact	Contact	Contact	Contact	Contact	Contact	Contact	Contact	Contact	Contact	Email	Email
Free-Tier	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	6K/m - $0	9K/m - $0
#Contacts
500	$7.49	$15	$19	$13	$17	$25	$15	$9	$30	$79	30K/m - $9.65	40K/m - $25
2,500	$15	$25	$29	$30	$38	$49	$50	$39	$50	$147	60K/m - $18.95	60K/m - $39
10,000	$39	$65	$69	$76	$81	$119	$99	$111	$110	$297	150K/m - $69	120K/m - $67
25,000	$112	$145	$149	$144	$191	$166	$219	$179	$199	$497	450K/m - $230	350K/m - $173
50,0000	$172	$250	$392	$237	$295	$316	$299	$239	$379	$599=< 125K
Unlimited	$2,999									$99 per extra 100K
Cost per Contact (cents)	0.39	0.65	0.69	0.74	0.81	1	1	1.11	0.67	2.97	NA	NA
	Visit SendX Services	Visit GetResponse	Visit AWeber Services	Visit Benchmark	Visit ConstantContact	Visit ConvertKit	Visit Mailchimp	Visit ActiveCampaign	Visit iContact Services	Visit Ontraport	Visit MailJet Services	Visit SendinBlue

Unlike most email service providers, ConvertKit does not offer complicated tiers of service.  There is simply one service & price, and this includes:

• Email Marketing Automation
• Unlimited Email Sends
• Segmentation, Tagging, Autoresponders
• Signup Forms, Email Templates & Stock Photos
• Smart A/B Testing Integrated Into Automation Flow
• 1-Click Unopen Resends
• Multi-User Roles & Teams
• Free Migrations Service for over 5,000 contacts.

Some Key Missing Innovations

• Geo-location Timezone Delivery
• Smart Delivery Based On User Open Patterns

Things to Know About ConvertKit’s Pricing

What I like about the ConvertKit pricing model is that it is simple and transparent.  There are no hidden charges, and they will even migrate you from another service provider free of charge; this is impressive.

ConvertKit Email Marketing & Automation Features

Like all of the services reviewed, ConvertKit offers a selection of predesigned email templates and a good selection of high-quality images for use in your email campaigns.  The email design process is also fully drag-and-drop, making crafting your message a breeze.

In fact, ConvertKit has a nice collection of newsletter templates and impressive 100,000 licensed images.  This will ensure your emails will look professional and unique.

ConvertKit Service Overview Video

ConvertKit Email Capture Forms

ConvertKit also has a solid collection of predesigned email capture forms that are fully customizable using a drag and drop interface. They also have a plugin for WordPress and Medium or a javascript embed code option.

I created a popup form in just a few minutes using the intuitive wizard, guiding you through the process.  The forms application is more powerful than all the others I have tested.

The ability to endlessly customize the forms is nice.  The most common types of form are supported, including full pages, sliders, and exit intent.  Believe it or not, the email marketing services providers rarely include exit-intent forms, but ConvertKit includes them at no extra cost.

Most impressively of all, you can even customize your forms based on what the contact has already done in the past.  This means if they are a repeat visitor to your site, a member, or even a customer who has already purchased a product, you can tailor a specific contextual message just for them.

Visual Automations In ConvertKit

Most software providers offer Autoresponders, Email Sequencing, Drip Campaigns, Customer Tagging, and Segmentation.  ConvertKit provides all of these services included in the price.

But what truly separates ConvertKit from the crown is the visual automation application, which makes it easy to implement a customer journey through your processes.   Because automation triggers actions, tagging, and segmentation can get complex very quickly, the best approach is via visual representation of the processes.  Watch this video to see it in action.

Visual Automations Video

ConvertKit Reporting & Analytics

ConvertKit has a basic approach to reporting and analytics.  You will have the ability to analyze and improve your campaigns with reporting that allows you to compare open rates, undeliverable, unsubscribe clicks over time, and more.  You can also seamlessly segment your list based on the responses or actions against your email.

Reporting List Growth & Clicks Over Time With ConvertKit – Screenshot

[Related Post – Compare All Email Marketing Services Side By Side]

Of course, you can also see list growth, unsubscribes, and even social shares.  Finally and importantly, A/B Testing, the ability to test the email performance with different subject lines and content, is included in the service.

Visit ConvertKit for a Free 14 Day Trial

 

Advanced Email Features

Is ConvertKit Falling Behind On Machine Learning?

We see a powerful trend in the industry towards machine learning to improve email services.  Take, for example, the excellent innovations by GetResponse, which enables you to target each individual contact with an email delivered at the usual time they open emails, so if your contact reads their emails at 6:30 am weekdays, the email will be delivered then, so it is at the top of the inbox. You can also deliver the email at, for example, 9 am in every timezone; it is called “Time Travel” by GetResponse. ActiveCampaign and SendX also have similar functionality.

So the answer is yes; at this price point, I would expect ConvertKit to offer right time email deliverability & timezone-specific deliverability.

Surprisingly, not all email newsletter providers offer this service.  To view the other vendors offering this service, check out our Email Service Master Comparison Table.

One-Click Unopened Resends

ConvertKit does offer a send to unopened functionality.  This means that if you send a broadcast email, you will get the option to resend the mail to all the people who did not open the email the first time.  Unlike with other providers, ConvertKit restricts this to one resend per broadcast.

ConvertKit RSS to Email

Email to RSS is a simple yet effective way to streamline the communication process with your audience.  You can set it up so that when you publish a new article on your website in a specific category, the email service will be notified and can build a customized email and send it to your audience without you having to do anything.  This is a huge timesaver.

Surprisingly, not all email newsletter providers offer this service.  To view the other vendors offering this service, check out our Email Service Master Comparison Table.

ConvertKit’s Features for Enterprise & Ecommerce

ConvertKit is clearly not aiming at enterprise customers or trying to replace a fully-fledged Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Most email marketers do not really need this level of functionality. So if you are part of a larger team that needs CRM, you will want to consider GetResponse or Ontraport.  GetResponse has a great price point and a complete set of features.

Multiple User Accounts & Collaboration

ConvertKit does allow you to host multiple accounts to enable better workflow and collaboration in the marketing department.  You can add different accounts with different permissions.  Permissions are simple; you either have administrator or contributor privileges.

ConvertKit Integrations

ConvertKit does not have native payment processors or eCommerce functionality like GetResponse, but it does have a set of powerful integrations that enable some of this functionality.

ConvertKit’s strategy is not to build a completely integrated solution themselves but to build integrations to a select group of 3rd parties.  In addition to that, they have a Zapier integration, which enables another 1,500 services.  So you can rest assured all the usual payment processors and eCommerce services are covered, including:

• Stripe – Payments
• Shopify – eCommerce
• Samcart – eCommerce
• WooCommerce – eCommerce
• DEMIO – Webinars
• ClickFunnels – Landing Pages
• WordPress – Web Hosting
• Wishlist – Membership Software
• Zapier – Offering 1,000’s more integrations.

Missing Native Integrations

• Paypal – Payments – Only Via Zapier – Not Native

Security & Certifications

At this stage in the development of the internet, cybersecurity is of utmost importance.  High-profile data leaks and hacks result in large fines to businesses that do not adequately protect their customer’s data.

Email Service Provider Security Compliance Table

GDPR Compliant	✔
SSL TLS Encryption	✔
EU-US Privacy Shield	✔

Ease of Use & Customer Ratings

Using as many independent sources as possible, we have rated the services provided.

Our rating on ease of use and design	☆☆☆☆
Using the independent ratings from Trustpilot Users – we also filtered out obviously biased ratings.	N/A
Customer Twitter Sentiment Index	☆☆☆☆☆
Support (Chat, Email, Phone)	Chat, Email
Support Times	12/5
Response Time	Delayed
Average Ratings of Support Times, Response Times & Accessibility	☆☆☆☆

 

ConvertKit’s levels of support do not justify its higher price point.  With support only via chat or email and service windows, 8 am to 8 pm Monday to Friday in the U.S. timezones. As a customer in Europe or Asia, you will need to wait until the afternoon or evening to get support.  The Twitter sentiment report was very good, with plenty of customers happy with the service.  There were, however, no reasonable reviews on Trustpilot.

Free Migration Service

Finally, ConvertKit will migrate you from your current email newsletter service provider to ConvertKit for free.  One of the biggest problems is that when you have built your contact lists, funnels, and automation with one company, the thought of moving to another provider is a headache of cost and effort.  The fact that ConvertKit provides this as a courtesy is impressive, but you must have a contact list of more than 5000 people to qualify.

ConvertKit Review Summary

ConvertKit excels in email deliverability and has all the core email marketing services you will need. It has an excellent automation visualization engine and built-in lead pages, which may well be worth the price premium they charge.  But do not expect any CRM functions or payment gateways; they have a set of integrations to cover that through Zapier.

[Related Post – Compare All Email Marketing Services Side By Side]

ConvertKit Email Marketing – Full Features Data Sheet

Email Service Provider
Value for Money	☆☆☆☆
Features	☆☆☆☆
Deliverability	☆☆☆☆☆
Ease of Use	☆☆☆☆
Client Satisfaction	☆☆☆☆☆
Support	☆☆☆☆
Total Stars	26
Price Model	Contact
Free Option	No
500 Contacts	$25
2,500 Contacts	$41
10,000 Contacts	$100
25,000 Contacts	$166
50,0000 Contacts	$316
Unlimited Contacts
Cost per Contact (cents)	1
Primary Features eMail
eMail Templates	✔
eMail Images	✔
Email Form Templates	✔
Drag & Drop Email Design	✔
Autoresponders	✔
Marketing Automation	✔
Individual Customer Automation	✔
Customer Tagging & Segmentation	✔
Intelligent Timing Delivery
Time Travel (Global 9am Delivery)
Basic Email Analytics	✔
Powerful Email Analytics
A/B Testing	✔
SPAM Scoring	✔
Advanced Features
Webinar Integration
Hosting Webinar & Recording
Email from RSS Feeds	✔
SMS Marketing
Automatic Product Recommendations
Site Chat CRM Integration
Membership Site Service
Team / Enterprise Functions
Multiple User Accounts	✔
Sales Team Lead Distribution
Salesforce Service Integration
Primary Features Funnels
Surveys/Polls
Sales/Lead Funnels
Landing Pages	✔
Exit Popups	✔
Primary Features Sales & Payments
eCommerce Integrations
Full Payment Gateways
Abandoned Cart Integration
Win Back / Bounce Back
Payment Mgt
Discount Coupons
Referral Program Mgt
CRM & Remarketing
CRM & Deal Management	✔
Cross Platform Journey Tracking
Activity Scoring
Integrations
3rd Party Integrations	80+
Zapier App Integration	✔
Deliverability	☆☆☆☆☆
Security & Certifications
GDPR Compliant	✔
SSL TLS Encryption	✔
EU-US Privacy Shield	✔
Ease of Use	☆☆☆☆
Customer Satisfaction	-
Customer Twitter Sentiment	☆☆☆☆☆
Support (Chat, Email, Phone)	Chat, Email
Support Times	10/5 U.S.
Response Time	Delayed
Customer Support	☆☆☆☆
Visit the Vendor	Visit ConvertKit

ConvertKit - Email Marketing Software Features Table

How We Rated the Service

Email Service Provider Ratings	Price Monthly (15-20% Discounts on Yearly Payments)
Value for Money	Price Rating. Price Per 10,000 contacts
Features	How Complete is the Toolset
Deliverability	Email Deliverability ☆☆☆60% ☆☆☆☆80% ☆☆☆☆☆90% Deliverability Results from multiple sources.
Ease of Use	Our rating on ease of use and design
Client Satisfaction	Using Twitter Customer Sentiment: https://www.csc2.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/tweet_viz/tweet_app/ we rated the tweets about the service.
Support	Average Ratings of Support Times, Response Times & Accessibility
Price Model	Entry Level/ Basic Package Prices – Per Contact Model = $ per ‘000 Contacts “unlimited Sends” or “Per Email Model per ‘000 email sends – Unlimited Contacts
Primary Features eMail
Email Templates	Is there a broad selection of predesigned email templates?
Email Images	Are images for emails available for free?
Email Form Templates	Predesigned website ready templates for capturing new subscribers
Drag & Drop Email Design	Easily design great looking emails without HTML code
Autoresponders	Are timed and action-driven autoresponders available?
Marketing Automation	Ability to automate sequences of emails to customers
Individual Customer Automation	Automation to tailor and personalize email content
Customer Tagging & Segmentation	Ability to Tag, Segment & retarget customers by their actions, locations, time zones
Intelligent Timing Delivery	Service optimizes send times based on when the customer previously opened emails.
Time Travel (Global 9 am Delivery)	The ability to target a specific time globally, e.g., delivery occurs at 9 am according to contacts time zone.
Basic Email Analytics	Reporting to allow reporting on list size, growth, open rates, bounce rates, etc.
Powerful Email Analytics	Ability to see globally and individually the customer journey, actions, onsite and in email
A/B Testing	Multiple sends with different content to test success rate
SPAM Scoring	Does the service check your content to make sure your messages are not flagged as SPAM?
Advanced Features
Webinar Integration	Integrations Available for 3rd Party Webinar Services
Hosting Webinar & Recording	Full Webinar Hosting, Recording & Storage Service
Email from RSS Feeds	Can you generate automatic emails from your website RSS feed?
SMS Marketing	Can you send SMS messages and sequence and auto-respond?
Automatic Product Recommendations	Ability to insert product recommendations into emails – great for eCommerce businesses
Facebook Retargeting	The ability to retarget potential customer on Facebook after they visit your website or signup to your list
Site Chat CRM Integration	Integrated site chat which enables your contacts’ activities or requests to be added into your CRM or Marketing Automation for further sequencing
Membership Site Service	Does the provider offer site membership user management services
Team / Enterprise Functions
Multiple User Accounts	Adding multiple user or sub-user accounts so that you can collaborate with your team
Sales Team Lead Distribution	Sales team workflow to distribute contact and sales lead capture.
	Salesforce Service Integration
Primary Features Funnels
Surveys/Polls	Is there an integrated survey & customer polling service included in the price?
Sales/Lead Funnels	Ability to visualize sales funnels and the customer journey through the pipeline
Landing Pages	Hosted pending pages integrated into your marketing automation
Exit Popups	Advanced exit popup for your website available
Primary Features Sales & Payments
eCommerce Integrations	Native full suite eCommerce integrations available
Full Payment Gateways	Does the provider offer full turnkey payment gateways integrated into the service?
Abandoned Cart Integration	Ability to follow up with customers who did not complete a purchase
Win Back / Bounce Back	An effective solution for launching customer win-back campaigns
Payment Mgt
Discount Coupons	Integrated discount or promotional coupon service-connected to payment gateways
Referral Program Mgt	Can you manage your own referral/affiliate program through the service – normally an expensive 3rd party service?
CRM & Remarketing
CRM & Deal Management	Is there an effective customer contact and relationship management system available?
Cross-Platform Journey Tracking	The ability to track customers activities across different platforms, Website, Facebook, Email, SMS
Activity Scoring	Functionality to allow the grading of contacts/prospects by their activities, e.g., Points Scoring
Integrations
3rd Party Integrations	How many are 3rd party integrations available through the platform?
Zapier App Integration	Zapier provides over 1500 integrations. Is Zapier available with this provider?
Deliverability	Email Deliverability ☆☆☆60% ☆☆☆☆80% ☆☆☆☆☆90% Deliverability Results from multiple sources.
Security & Certifications
GDPR Compliant	Compliant to the EU General Data Protection Regulations
SSL TLS Encryption	The site uses strong encryption
EU-US Privacy Shield	Certified under the EU-US Privacy Shield.
Ease of Use	Our rating on ease of use and design
Customer Satisfaction	Using the independent ratings from Trustpilot Users – we also filtered out obviously biased ratings. Blank means no ratings were available.
Customer Twitter Sentiment	Using https://www.csc2.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/tweet_viz/tweet_app/, we rated the tweets about the service.
Customer Support	Support (Chat, Email, Phone)
	Support Times
	Response Time
	Average Ratings of Support Times, Response Times & Accessibility