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Flodesk + Shopify: Is Flodesk Right for Your Online Store?

Have you heard about Flodesk? This podcast episode is all about Flodesk, what makes it different from other email service providers, and if it's a good choice for YOUR online store.

Flodesk is an email service provider like MailChimp or Klaviyo. Lately, it seems I’m getting a lot of questions about email providers and what I recommend. It’s such a tough question.

Here’s the thing, every business is different and every software is different. Which means there’s no perfect solution! I’ve set up so many different services for different clients.

But in this episode, we’re going to talk about Flodesk and how it works for shop owners. I’ll also share with you some of my favorite features and some places I hope they will improve the software because it is a newer program and it’s still in Private Beta.

First of all, if you are listening to this and wanting to check out Flodesk, then you are going to want to use the link www.productpowerhouse.co/flodesk That is our affiliate link and saves you 50% for as long as you are using the service, so instead of $38 per month it’s only $19.

In fact, this is one of those episodes that you’ll definitely want to check out the show notes, I’m going to include a tutorial to show you how to get it set up on your Shopify site since Flodesk is in Beta, it’s not in the Shopify app store. But, don’t worry it’s not hard to set up.

Ok, so Flodesk is an email service provider, sometimes we call them ESP in the tech world. To send emails to your customers, you must have an ESP. I’ve heard of people sending mass emails from something like their Gmail account, that is against the terms and conditions of Gmail. If that’s something you are doing. Stop right away. You could get your email account shut down and we don’t want that.

I’m sure you’ve heard of Mail Chimp, Active Campaign, Convert Kit. anything like that. They are all email service providers and each has different features. There are so many options you’ll lose your mind trying to think of them all.

The other day, I was chatting with someone and she mentioned one that I had never heard of and I just nodded along like, yep, sure. I know what you are talking about.

Of course, all services have different options and set-ups, but their core function is all the same. Send mass emails to a list of people you’ve collected.

What makes Flodesk different?

Flodesk was designed by designers for creatives. I think the core thing that makes them different is that they have really well designed and pretty email templates. You simply put your text in, swap out colors and fonts, and the email looks amazing.

I mean, check out these examples from The Advisory Guild and Your Ampersand Studio. Gorgeous, right?

It’s perfect for your welcome sequence, delivering an opt-in, and sending out weekly emails. I’ve been using it for several months, and I really love the way my emails look. I’ll be completely honest, this is the number one reason why I switched from Active Campaign to Flodesk.

What I really love about this, is that the templates are created with HTML. So that means the pretty layout should translate better to the inboxes of your customers. Sometimes my clients will create graphics in Canva and then upload them in their email service and this isn’t ideal because not everyone’s inbox will show the image and text on a graphic isn’t responsive for mobile design. Creating a graphic is an accessibility issue. I’d hate for you to be spending all your time creating a really beautiful graphic but not get the results you are hoping for because the email isn’t delivered to your customers' inbox correctly.

For shop owners, Flodesk is a great tool to help to build, grow and serve your email list.

The second biggest selling point in my mind is the simplicity. Flodesk is still in private beta, so they are constantly adding new features, but everything about using the platform is simple and easy.

The entire platform is streamlined. It’s easy to set up a workflow, it’s easy to create a new opt-in, it’s easy to create a new email. I mean it, everything is really easy.

I’m also a HUGE fan of the price point, it’s only $38 for unlimited subscribers, which is unheard of in the industry. Plus if you use my referral link you can get it for $19 per month! You can’t seem me, but I’m totally winking.

For reference, I was paying $49 on Active Campaign. You won’t hear me ever bash another service, I thought Active Campaign was just fine, and would totally go back to it if I needed to. I switched for those gorgeous design layouts, the lower price no matter my list size, and the ease of doing it all.

Where does Flodesk need to improve?

But let’s be honest, Flodesk is not for everyone. They are still a new service which means they are missing some features, especially some that are important for some shop owners. Some shops need different post purchases sequences based on customer tags or product tags. I’m hopeful that Flodesk will add these features as they continue to build the service.

Another thing Flodesk doesn’t offer that I’d love to see them offer is abandoned cart sequences. Right now it’s very complicated and requires another tool to make this happen inside of Flodesk.

Which is not the end of the world because we can use the built-in Shopify settings and even the new Shopify Email service to accomplish those steps without much problem. I just prefer to have them all in one place. And I think it would be really nice to have those gorgeous templates to help sell customers on finishing their purchase.

And lastly, I’d love to see more granular analytics. I love to be able to track signs up from my opt-ins monthly, see what subscribers have gotten which emails and such. Which isn’t currently available but they are making improvements.

In fact, I feel pretty confident that they are working on these types of improvements regularly and it won’t be long until we see these added features. In the few short months that I’ve been using their service, they improved analytics immensely. They also swapped out templates to be even more diverse and beautiful.

Ok let’s summarize.

Flodesk is a great choice for shop owners who want a simple, streamlined email service to build and grow their email list. It’s great for delivering freebies, welcomes sequences, and regular newsletters. They have a decent collection of gorgeous email templates, and you can create your own templates. You might have to use an additional Shopify app for abandoned cart emails.

Flodesk is not great, if you need more complex workflows with tagging and triggering capabilities or you use granular analytics. You won’t get that with Flodesk at least not yet. I also wouldn’t recommend trying it if you are perfectly happy with your email service. I mean why try to fix something that isn't broken?

But if you are just starting an email list or want to simplify your emails, then I can’t recommend Flodesk enough! Now, don’t forget that you can use my referral link to subscribe for only $19 instead of $38. The link is www.productpowerhouse.co/flodesk or check the show notes.

You can also pop over to the show notes for a tutorial on connecting your Shopify account to Flodesk so that all of your Shopify customers and subscribers will be imported into Flodesk. It’s really easy, promise.

And if you try out Flodesk, let me know! I’d love to subscribe to your email list and check out your gorgeous new emails. You can find me on Instagram or in our Facebook group, Product Powerhouse Community!