by Tari Faris, @FarisTari

Welcome back to Making Your Newsletter Work for You series. It is so great to share with you how I shifted my feelings about writing newsletters from dread to joy and at the same time grew my subscriber list from 300 to 7000 in three years. If you missed them, make sure you take time to read PART 1 and PART 2.

Now let’s dive in with talking about the question I am asked most: What newsletter service do I prefer and why? 

There is a lot that goes into the question so let’s break down the criteria I look at:

Does it have a free plan?

If you already have a large list, this is not something that you need to worry about. However, if you are just starting out, this is an important item to consider. You will also want to know when the free plan ends and when it starts charging you for more subscribers.  For example, Mailchimp was the standard for years as a place to start an email list. But when you reach 300 subscribers, they start to charge where other plans offer 500 or sometimes more on the free plan. 

What is the cost at 300 subscribers? 1500? 5000? How high before the next jump in price?

Most email plans charge based on the numbers of subscribers. Those numbers have price tipping points. For example, it will be one price from 1500-4999 subscribers but add that 5000^th subscriber and you start paying at the next level of price. This is something you want to be fully aware of so that you don’t end up with a big bill you were not expecting. If you are a part of a large promotion, then the new subscribers can push you into the next tier of payment. We’ll discuss some of the ways to handle that in PARTS 4 and 5.

Does it offer automations?

What are automations? Automations are emails that are sent out automatically when the subscriber meets certain criteria. For example, when you sign up for my newsletter via my website, it will add you to my list and it will also send you a welcome email where I include an opportunity to download my novella P.S. Goodbye for free. 

If the person goes through the process of downloading the book for free, it will trigger a set of 4 emails that will be sent out each a few days apart. These emails are about P.S. Goodbye, my writing process, and hopefully encourages them to read the new book and not just let it become forgotten on their device.

Once I set up these automations, I don’t have to do anything to keep them running. This allows me to offer a more personal feel to my email without having another item on my to-do list.

NOTE: Be sure to keep these automations up to date. Several times I’ll go back and realize the emails talk about an “upcoming book” that has already been released. (Less convincing it is personal when that happens.) 

Some email programs offer automations, and some don’t. You will have to decide if that is an important feature for you. For me, it definitely is.

Does it provide landing pages?

A landing page is simply a place where people can sign up for your newsletter. Sometimes they look like a webpage. And you will send them a link that will take them to a page to sign up.

Other times it is a page no one sees, but you can set the parameters of what information will be collected and you can use HTML or an integration to feed that information.

Let me explain. I can create a landing page like THIS that is pretty and a clear way to sign up for my newsletter. I might link to this on Facebook, Linktr.ee, or Instagram. Or I might create a similar page but connect to the HTML to my website. This will allow people to sign up directly on my website, but it isn’t Wix that is collecting the information but rather the information goes directly to MailerLite. 

I can also integrate it with BookFunnel. That way, when people click to download my book from BookFunnel, their information is added automatically to my site as if they had used the landing page. Since I have that landing page set up with an automation, then the email for the download of my book will be triggered.  

Does it integrate with BookFunnel?

As you can see from above, integrating with BookFunnel is important for me, and therefore, it’s another option I consider when choosing a provider. If you are unfamiliar with BookFunnel, it’s a book distribution service authors can use to share their audio and ebooks with readers. I could do a whole post on just BookFunnel. Maybe, I will.

Does it have drag and drop technology?

This isn’t a make it or break it, but it does give an indication of how long you will spend doing email and formatting it. I love using the drag and drop and it makes it much easier than creating HTML.

When I consider all the above options, this is the chart I have come up with. 

MailerLite came in first,  and it’s what I ended up going with. Flodesk came in a second and would have won out if they offered BookFunnel integrations. ConvertKit was third but it only ranked that low due to the price point. As my numbers began to rise, I just couldn’t justify the cost. You may wonder why I rated MailChimp so low since it is cheaper than ConvertKit and has all the features. That was less on the chart and more to do with the fact I have had to work with so many people trying to move all MailChimp because they were unhappy that I just would not recommend it.

What service do you use? Are you happy with it?

 See you next month on July 14^th when we talk about numbers. What I did to grow my subscribers from 300 to 7000 in three years and how you can too.

---

Since You’ve Been Gone

Leah Williams is back in the quaint town of Heritage, Michigan, and ready to try again to make her business a success. But blank slates are hard to come by, and a piece of her past is waiting for her there. Heir to the Heritage Fruits company, Jonathan Kensington is the guy who not only made Leah’s past difficult, he also seems determined to complicate her present as well.

Jon is trying to prove to the Heritage Fruits board that he, not his manipulative uncle, should be running the business. The board insists Jon find a new owner for the building that will house Leah’s business. To avoid forcing a buyout of Leah’s part of the building, Jon strikes a compromise with Leah, and the two go into business together. With her vision and his know-how, it might work. And Leah might realize he’s loved her since high school. If only he didn’t keep on shooting himself in the foot by boxing her out of important decisions.

Sparks fly in this romantic story of two people who must learn to trust both each other and the one who called them to this journey.

Available now for preorder! And visit linktr.ee/tarifaris to sign up for preorder rewards!

Tari Faris has been writing fiction for fifteen years but has been creating fiction in her head as long as she can remember. She is represented by Wendy Lawton at Books & Such Literary Management and is a member of ACFW and My Book Therapy. She was the 2017 Genesis winner, 2016 Genesis finalist, and 2014 Genesis finalist. In addition to her writing, she also works for My Book Therapy as a special project manager and writes for LearnHowToWriteANovel.com . When she is not writing or working, she spends time with her amazing husband and kids. In her free time, she loves coffee, rockhounding with her husband and kids, and distracting herself from housework. You can connect with her at www.tarifaris.com