As a content creator, you will surely know how important list building and email marketing is. Most of the business happens on emails and if your email marketing strategy is not good, then you are in for a disaster.
And, in the world of email marketing, choosing the right autoresponder is an important decision to take and it can make or break your business.
With countless options available, finding an affordable and efficient solution is crucial.
You don’t want to burning a hole in your pocket because at the end of the day profitability is all about scaling your profits and reducing your costs.
I have tried out multiple different autoresponders in the past, starting from MailChimp to Mailercloud and everything in between.
And then I finally settled for two of my favorites – Aweber and Convertkit.
But that was until I found another superb autoresponder that just blew my mind away.
And that is BirdSend.
Since then I have absolutely been in love with the autoresponder and have been moving my list slowly over to them.
But like I always advice, never put all of your eggs in one basket. So I have two other autoresponders as well that I am using which is something I will talk about in another post.
But for this post, it is about BirdSend.
Is BirdSend a good ConvertKit alternative?
Let’s dive in and find out in this detailed BirdSend review!
The Importance of Autoresponders
Autoresponders are the backbone of any email marketing strategy.
If you are to consistently engage with your subscribers and send them regular emails, you need to have things automated and scheduled.
And that is exactly what autoresponders do.
They automate email sequences, manage subscribers, and track engagement, allowing businesses to nurture leads and drive conversions effortlessly.
However, these tools often come with hefty price tags, making cost optimization a point of concern.
If you are looking at optimization your cost and improving profitability, then you will have to look at options that are cost effective.
And lowering email marketing expenses can free up resources for other growth initiatives and help you with improving overall business efficiency.
ConvertKit: The Automation Champion
If you are into any form of internet marketing, it is unlikely that you wouldn’t have heard of ConvertKit.
ConvertKit has earned its reputation as a preferred autoresponder among content creators and marketers primarily because of its powerful features
Some of the top features of ConvertKit include:
User-Friendly Interface: They have a clean and user-friendly interface which easily gives your access to most of the information about your email marketing campaigns.
Automation Capabilities: Convertkit has very advanced automation features that allow for complex workflows which also helps in segmenting your audience and managing your list easily.
Landing Pages: The landing page creator is very intuitive and comes with a lot of customizable templates.
Community Support: Convertkit has a very strong community support and very good customer support as well.
Integration: This is one of the things that I like about them. They seamlessly integrate with various tools and platforms. Their integration with Thrive Suite is something that I really liked.
BirdSend: The Best Convertkit Alternative
BirdSend was created by Welly Mulia who is an internet marketer and creator. I have been following him for more than 10 years and he has had a credibility of creating good products.
It was while I was looking for an affordable alternative for the autoresponders that I was using like Aweber and Convertkit that I can across BirdSend.
Now BirdSend isn’t the only other alternative out there. There are many others, but there were a few things that I was particularly looking for –
Sending reputation – I didn’t want my emails to land in the promotions folder or, Junk email. So the reputation of the autoresponder had to be good.
Email sending limits – A lot of the autoresponders base their plans on sending limits. While they will give you the ability to store hundreds and thousands of contacts, they will limit the number of emails that you can send. That wasn’t something I wanted.
Interface – Most autoresponders were using a common theme for their interface and it wasn’t very user-friendly and intuitive. I wanted something that was easy to navigate, use and understand.
To put it in easier terms, since I was using Aweber and Convertkit for so long, I wanted something that could match them or, beat them.
BirdSend emerged as a compelling Convertkit alternative as it met most of my requirements.
It offered similar features to both..
..and that is why I felt that it is the best Convertkit alternative for content creators like me!
Why BirdSend is a Good Convertkit Alternative:
I loved some of the features that BirdSend was offering, but in order to check for the deliverability, I had to import my list first and try them out.
So I imported part of my list and started using them for a few weeks.
BirdSend has a policy of limiting the number of emails that go out together, for the first time as a new user. Which means that if you are sending out a broadcast as soon as you join them, your broadcast will be spread out over several hours.
This is to ensure that the system is warmed up to the behavior and that you don’t spam the system as soon as you join.
I liked this policy of theirs, because it ensures that all users of their platform have good sending reputation.
I used them for almost a month and sent out a broadcast every 3 days.
I was super-impressed with the response rate which was the same as both the other platforms.
While I might not know the exact deliverability (Convertkit gives you that data if you are on their topmost plan which is a hefty price), what I can look at is the open rates which should give me a fair idea of how many inboxes the email landed into.
Based on my evaluation after using the service for a couple of months, here are the things that I find the best about BirdSend:
Cost-Effectiveness:
BirdSend is probably the most cost effective autoresponder out there. Like what I mentioned a little while back, most other autoresponders who offer a similar service for a comparative price.
In fact, there is a significant amount of savings compared to ConvertKit, making it ideal for budget-conscious businesses and the best Convertkit alternative.
High Deliverability:
Deliverability has always been a point of concern with most email autoresponders. If they are low cost, their deliverability was always low, primarily because of the amount of spamming that happens on their platforms.
BirdSend has a lot of restrictions on the kind of emails that can be sent from their platform. This helps in keeping their email reputation good and ensures that your emails land in inboxes, not spam folders.
1-Page Sequence Builder:
This is a feature I absolutely love and comes in very handy if you are creating sequences that you want to be sent out automatically.
That is how their 1-page sequence builder looks.
You can create all of your emails in a single page without having to go from one point to the other. It simplifies the creation of email sequences.
You can compare that to how it looks on Convertkit
You will find that it is very similar to how it looks on BirdSend with a few additional information like open rates, click through rates etc.
Revenue Tracking:
A few of the top autoresponders give you the option of tracking revenue, but that is mostly applicable only for eCommerce customers.
But BirdSend has the option of tracking the revenue that is generated from your emails. So if you are promoting certain products in your emails and want to track the amount of sales that comes from it, then BirdSend can give you that data.
Subscriber Preferences:
This is another handy feature that I really like.
Convertkit for example, has an option of letting users unsubscribe with one click.
But there is a caveat to it.
Assume your subscriber is on multiple lists. Let me say they are interested in multiple things like for example, in affiliate marketing and podcasting and hence they are in those two different segments.
Now if they want to unsubscribe from the Podcasting emails, and hence click on the unsubscribe link in your Convertkit emails, then they are unsubscribed from everything instead of being unsubscribed from only podcasting emails.
But with BirdSend the subscriber will have an option of deciding which list to unsubscribe from. That way, they can stay subscribed to the affiliate marketing emails and unsubscribe from only the podcasting emails.
It is a much better way of handling subscribers and it allows them to manage their preferences easily.
BirdSend Review: The Good and the Bad
Now that we saw some of the features of BirdSend and why I love them let us look at the things that are good and the ones that are not so good.
Positives of BirdSend:
Cost Savings: This is one of the absolute best positives of BirdSend. You will see a substantial amount of savings on your autoresponder costs and this could help you improve your profitability.
Ease of Use: They have a very simple and user-friendly interface, even for non-tech-savvy users. Managing your lists, creating sequences and designing automations are all pretty easy and simple.
High Open Rates: They have at par or, sometimes even better open rates in comparison to some of the other autoresponders out there.
Their sender IPs have excellent reputation and since they have a lot of restrictions in place to prevent spamming using their platform, the deliverability is extremely good.
Customer Support: I am a fan of good customer support and I value such brand very high. BirdSend has a very responsive and helpful support team and I absolutely loved their customer support.
Migration Support: I absolutely love their customer support. Their migration support is also extremely helpful and they can migrate everything including your sequences from almost all autoresponders pretty easily.
The transition from other email providers is smooth and you will also get continuous updates about the migration from the BirdSend’s support team.
Negatives of BirdSend:
While there aren’t really any negatives, from a review perspective I will have to knit pick to point out some negatives for the platform.
Learning Curve: While I did not see a huge learning curve especially after using some of the other autoresponders like Convertkit and Aweber, some users who are new to the entire automation world, sequences etc. can experience initial challenges.
Feature Rollout: BirdSend is a newer platform in comparison to some of the others who have a more established base. Also it is run by a small team of about 7 people. So they are still adding features and it might not be as quick as some of the other more established ones.
Yet they are continually working on improving the platform by delivering more and better features.
Templates: To be frank, this is the only one area where I felt that they lacked a bit. They don’t have an option of designing templates or, even ready made templates.
Their emails are pretty straightforward and minimalist from a design perspective. And they attribute this to their philosophy of “creators should focus on content creation and not spend time on designs”.
While I agree to that philosophy, they could still have made a few template designs available or, at least given the option of designing templates on our own!
Detailed BirdSend Review – Convertkit alternative for Content Creators!
Features: BirdSend offers essential tools such as pop-ups, A/B split testing, tagging, and automation. The 1-page sequence builder and revenue tracking stand out.
So from a feature perspective they are almost there, except for the availability of templates.
Some of the features are even better than that of some of the top autoresponders out there.
Ease of Use: BirdSend is designed to be intuitive, but some users might find an initial learning curve, especially if migrating from another service.
Beginner users might also find it a little difficult to get started but that will still be much easier that any other autoresponder out there.
And you have their support team always available for help in case you find yourself stuck at some points!
Support: The customer support team is amazing for their responsiveness and assistance, especially during the migration process.
I reached out to them for multiple other aspects and they were extremely helpful and even went out of the way to help.
The only drawback was that they are only available on email and since the work on a specific time-zone, their availability might not be 24/7.
Pricing: BirdSend is significantly more affordable than ConvertKit, offering up to 5 times the cost savings. They are affordable and economical than most other email autoresponders out there and offer better features as well.
Deliverability: They have excellent IP reputation which help in high email deliverability, thus ensuring that your messages reach the intended inboxes.
They have a lot of restrictions in place that prevents people from using their platform for spamming. This too, helps in maintaining a good IP and sending reputation.
BirdSend vs ConvertKit: Point by Point
- Cost:
- BirdSend: More affordable, substantial cost savings.
- ConvertKit: Higher price point.
- A/B Testing:
- BirdSend: More control, features like “resend winning email”.
- ConvertKit: Standard A/B testing only
- Revenue Tracking:
- BirdSend: Detailed sales and revenue tracking per email.
- ConvertKit: Limited revenue tracking capabilities.
- Subscriber Management:
- BirdSend: Topic-specific unsubscriptions.
- ConvertKit: Basic subscriber management.
- User Interface:
- BirdSend: More intuitive and uncluttered.
- ConvertKit: Clean and user-friendly but slightly less intuitive.
Conclusion
Convertkit is one of the strongest player in the autoresponder market.
And with some of the top marketers investing in the platform, their budget, resources and a bigger team makes it easy for them to consistently ship out newer features and at a faster pace.
But all of this comes at a cost and you end up paying a lot.
BirdSend is not as big a player as that of Convertkit or, even Aweber. But it offers an excellent alternative with its cost-effective pricing, high deliverability, and user-friendly features.
While they might not be as fast as Convertkit in their feature release, they still ensure that their platform has all the latest and essential features.
So for creators and businesses looking to optimize their email marketing budget without compromising on essential functionalities, BirdSend proves to be a worthy contender.
I would absolutely recommend BirdSend to anyone who is running a one-person, two-person or, even a small business with a small team.
After all our profitability also depends on optimizing costs. Isn’t it?
You can try out BirdSend using the below link, if you liked this review!
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If you have any questions, you can drop them in the comments below and I will respond to them.
BirdSend
$90.00
Pros
- Cost Savings
- Easy to Use
- High Deliverability
- Excellent Customer Support
- Free Migration
Cons
- Slow Feature Rollouts
- Slight Learning Curve
- Less Templates