Squarespace vs MailerLite vs FloDesk: Which Email Marketing Platform I Use as a Designer
**This post contains an affiliate link to FloDesk.
It’s no secret that email newsletters WORK to help foster and nurture your online audiences. And of course, you may have heard that a newsletter list is the only thing you truly ‘own.’ That is completely true, as you don’t own your followers on Instagram, your stats on Squarespace, or even any of your posts on social media. That means if any of those platforms went down or poofed out of existence, those lists would be gone.
For a more realistic example, what if your Instagram gets hacked or temporarily blocked? That’s happened to several of my friends, and they’ve panicked each time….until they realized that their newsletter list is safe and sound.
You “own” your email list, meaning as long as you have the CSV (comma separated values, or basically an Excel spreadsheet) of your contacts, you can upload that list to any platform. I recommend that you download a .CSV once a quarter. Every email marketing platform has an option to upload a CSV of emails, so your list is always safe.
There are so many different platforms out there for email marketing: Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Kajabi, MailerLite, Mailchimp, Squarespace Campaigns, FloDesk, Constant Contact, and I’m sure I’m only skimming the top. Each has their advantages and disadvantages when it comes to email marketing, so you have to choose the best one for YOU and YOUR business.
Then the question becomes, what email platform do I use for now? I’ve gone through several, so I’m here to help you decide between a few!
The three I’ll be breaking down today are Squarespace Campaigns, MailerLite, and FloDesk, because I’ve used all three.
The size and focus of your business should determine what you use.
Here’s a bit about my business so you know what informed my decision making:
Small team (me + a few contractors)
Revenue of $100k+
Small list for now (Under 1k)
Baseline service offerings
A few courses
A membership
Instagram following of under 3k
I have a lightweight, solopreneurship, which means my needs might not be as robust as a large design studio or even a studio with tons of employees. Knowing that, I simply need a newsletter platform that doesn’t add stress to my workday and allows me to quickly and beautifully send out email newsletters.
I’m also extremely tech-savvy, but that doesn’t come into play with these: all of the below platforms are extremely easy to use!
This is MailerLite: a FREE Newsletter platform that’s not as beautiful as FloDesk, but functions great! I started with only about 150 subscribers. I’ve grown now to 750 with FloDesk!
FloDesk vs MailerLite
The clear difference between these platforms is two different items: beauty and cost.
FloDesk is incredible and gorgeous, but it’s $19/mo (and you have to have this referral code to get that rate!) However, most platforms cost money and it’s worth every penny since an email newsletter is a huge part of online marketing. Your newsletter list is essential for growth!
The fact is, FloDesk is an absolutely beautiful and outstanding email newsletter platform. The interface is crisp and clean, and menus aren’t cluttered and hard to find. I find FloDesk to be a self-care exercise when working for my business.
MailerLite is FREE and a nice platform, but felt clunky and felt like it added weight to my processes that I didn’t need. I had a hard time finding forms and where to go, and creating emails didn’t feel as elegant as FloDesk.
FloDesk is hands-down an elegant and beautiful solution to email marketing, making it simple and fun to work within.
This is Squarespace’s Email Campaigns. It’s decent, but missing a lot of functionality and doesn’t play well with other systems.
FloDesk vs Squarespace Campaigns
Oh, Squarespace Campaigns.
Trust me when I say that I always want to put Squarespace first. I truly, truly want to give them the best shot in the world because I love them so dearly for my own website and I’ve built my business around their web platform.
Squarespace has a wonderfully functional and usable email campaigns system built right in. If you have a small email list that isn’t in need of intense segmenting, workflows, or integrations with other platforms, then Squarespace is going to be your platform.
I was on Squarespace email for a solid year and felt it was just fine for my needs. I sent about 20 emails during this period and they all did well. Here are the pros and cons:
Pros of Squarespace Email Campaigns
Add your blogs with just one click! If you’re a heavy blogger on Squarespace, it’s very easy to add them and link to them. No external links needed, simply click a button and Squarespace plops in your blog!
It’s integrated into Squarespace. You don’t need another login to remember!
The platform is also simple and beautiful. Just like FloDesk, I do believe Squarespace has a gorgeous interface and it’s easy to send over emails.
Cons of Squarespace Email Campaigns
It doesn’t play nice with others. Exporting profiles is incredibly challenging. You’d like it would want to integrate with Teachable, Thinkific, etc, but it does not. Squarespace wants you to stay within its own ecosystem.
...and it doesn’t play nice with itself sometimes. Setting up triggers and systems with products, Member Areas, etc is crucial, and Squarespace tremendously falls short. I found it very challenging to set up workflows for my member areas.
Squarespace is a penny pincher. You’d think that there’d be one singular plan that includes your website, memberships, and email - but there’s not. You have to pay individually for each little tiny thing. The more emails you send, the more Squarespace makes you pay. FloDesk has a flat fee (which is truly how it should be.)
FloDesk - already you can see it’s much more beautiful than the others just from this screenshot.
Okay, Okay. So Why FloDesk?
I love FloDesk because of it’s no-nonsense, but beautiful, approach to email. There’s one flat fee. I can do a lot (or I don’t have to do anything at all!) with my lists, segments, and workflows. The interface is incredibly beautiful.
Here are all of the Pros of FloDesk:
Your branding stays put! You put in your colors and logo once, and then never again. That way, all of your emails are completely branded.
The segmenting system is easy and simple to figure out and use.
The workflows (automations) are equally simple to use. I’ve got tons of workflows that all work beautifully.
Did I mention that it’s just flat out beautiful?
The code to integrate with other platforms is very easy to use!
And, of course, it wouldn’t be fair if I also didn’t do a Cons list for FloDesk:
It’s not free, but very few are these days (Mailchimp has a free tier, and MailerLite is completely free.)
They don’t have advanced segments, A/B testing, or options for changing segments within emails. I’d love to segment my list between Canva / Squarespace, but unfortunately I can’t do that with FloDesk at this time.
Here are the workflows within FloDesk. They’re so easy to use and very beautiful!
Overall, you need to have an email newsletter.
It’s how you engage with a warmer audience and get across lots of information. You only have so much space on an Instagram post or your website, but a newsletter can be longer form information.
Since you should have a newsletter for your business anyway, why not use something that’s beautiful, user-friendly, and makes newsletters a breeze?
