MailerLite Review - Easy Does It.

MailerLite in Detail

Criterion	Rating/Info	Notes
Ease of Use		MailerLite is very easy to navigate with most sections working fast. It has a logical structure and a clean interface.
Newsletter Creation
-Editor		The editor works smoothly and has most things you need. If you want to create columns you can use their ‘products’ feature and customise as needed. You can’t place images in line with the text, which would have been useful within the article block. They also allow you to track changes, which makes undoing mistakes easy.
-Personalization	yes	Simple personalisation is possible, but not if/then/else logic.
-Types of Emails		Classic, A/B testing, autoresponders, recurring newsletters and date-based (specific, and once-off, for things like a membership reminder).
Choice and Flexibility of Template Designs		There aren’t a heap of templates to choose from, but they look good and they are very flexible. They might not have as many features as some other email tools, but we found they had the most important ones.
Marketing Automation		MailerLite offer useful marketing automation, allowing you to create workflows based on campaign actions, such as opens and clicking links, or conditions based on custom fields and segments. While unable to track page visits, this is offered to all users even on their free plan.
List Management		List management is pretty standard with MailerLite, you segment groups by adding several conditions. You manage which lists a contact is part of by unchecking them within the contact’s profile.
Registration Forms/ Opt-in & Opt-out- Process		Very easy to create and use, with several types of forms available, including pop-up, embed, unsubscribe forms and subscribe buttons. You can also create a landing page from this section too. More below.
Reports and Analysis		MailerLite has the basics of reporting available, but no dedicated section. Rather you reach it either within campaigns, or subscribers (where you can find handy individual stats on each list). It is lacking in most advanced options though, such as geo-tracking, social or ecommerce tracking, but it does have click-mapping and Google Analytics tags can be added.
Languages		MailerLite is available in 10 languages, and their support in 7.
Further Features
-Spam- and Design-Testing		These are not available.
-Bounce Management	yes	After five soft bounces, or one hard bounce, subscribers are automatically moved to a bounce folder where they can be managed.
-Blacklist	no	This is not available.
-Storage Available for Data and Images	unlimited	There’s no limit on the size or amount of images you can store.
-Social Media Integration		Social media integration is basic, with only Facebook integration available, allowing you to add a sign-up link on your page. You can also add social buttons within your newsletter.
-Newsletter Archive	no	This is not available.
Pro Features
-Authentication	yes	SPF and DKIM (Domain Keys).
-Own Domain?	no	Not available.
-Different Access Levels	yes	There are four options available, plus a fifth, custom, option available allowing you to choose exactly what a team member has access to.
-Integrations	yes	MailerLite only have a few integration options available, yet they do allow access to the developer API which will help integrate it within other apps. Also, they support Zapier, which can connect to a multitude of services.
-Landing Page Editor	yes	This is a relatively unique feature. It can either be hosted by MailerLite, or on your own domain. You design it in exactly the same way as the newsletter, so it feels logical and is very easy to use.
Support		Using email and chat is very fast and friendly, with the same few agents responding to your requests. The knowledge base was thorough, yet they could make it a little easier to navigate by highlighting your search terms within the results.
Overall Rating	4.1/5	MailerLite is a fast and easy to use email tool, with enough features for a small business. Keeping in mind that you can have up to 1,000 subscribers for free, it’s not a bad deal.

© EmailToolTester Matrix

Conclusion:

MailerLite really shines in the areas of user experience and simplicity, and it has enough features for most small business needs. Of course, being cheaper than a lot of other tools means that there are some drawbacks: The reporting is a little thin, which also holds true for its integrations and social features. Some advanced features, such as spam/design testing, are not available, but they do offer marketing automation to all users which is a big plus.

If you think you can get away without a few advanced features, then it’s really hard to go wrong with their ‘Forever Free’ plan. Often a tool will only offer restricted features on a free plan, yet MailerLite allows ‘access all areas’ to users independent of what plan they’re on. And even if you want to add more than 1000 subscribers, their pricing is still competitive. The only minor drawback of the free plan is that outgoing emails will show a small MailerLite logo.

Basically, MailerLite does simple better than any other tool out there, and if that’s what you’re after then you don’t need to look any further.

> Try MaillerLite now for free for up to 1,000 recipients.

Updates

13 Jan 2017 - Marketing Automation.
07-12 Sep 2016 - Initial Tests.
 

Last Update: 13 Jan 2017 | Steve Lamattina