AWeber vs ConvertKit: Email marketing comparison review

Marketing is challenging but crucial for any business. It could be the most stressful task for any business, whether it be online or physical, because not all entrepreneurs have the knowhow, experience, or special skills required to create and manage marketing campaigns.

Fortunately, there are programs such as AWeber and ConvertKit to address such dilemmas and simplify the process of creating eye-catching, informative, and compelling marketing tactics.  

AWeber and ConvertKit are automation tools specializing in email marketing. Both platforms are used by new entrepreneurs and by businesses with more established brands. 

In this article, we compare the performance and features of AWeber and ConvertKit, two of the top leading marketing specialists and assistant web services. As we analyze the utilities and undress the layers of each program, you will learn the following: 

  • The functions of each tool
  • The best usage for each platform
  • The pros and cons of each platform
  • Which of the two is best for you

Background 

To begin the review, we look into the foundation of each program. 

AWeber

AWeber is a pioneer in email marketing service. Founded in 1998 by software engineer Tom Kulzer, he developed AWeber with the aim to address a gap in automated response softwares and assist business owners with sales leads and customer support. 

Today, AWeber has accumulated a strong following from medium to large businesses whose aims are to strengthen their relationship with their contacts, online and offline. (READ More: AWeber: Everything you need to know)

ConvertKit

Frustrated with his former job, Nathan Barry decided to pursue the things that he loved to do the most: teach, design, and build his own products. He founded ConvertKit in 2013 to help content creators build their brand from the ground up and have regular communication with their audience. 

One of the defining features of ConvertKit is its modern take on email marketing. Its whole interface experience is targeted to users, such as freelance multimedia artists, bloggers, and content creators, who plan to have a platform for their content. (READ More: ConvertKit: Everything you need to know)

Functionalities and Features 

AWeber

Main Benefits

  •     Flexible Customer Support 

o   The company deploys a group of email marketing specialists who act as the help desk for beginners. They are known to be quick, responsive, and reliable in helping address your marketing troubles. AWeber also offers informative webinars for users to watch and learn from. These webinars are like digital training camps for users to release their potential in online entrepreneurship. 

  •       Superior Autoresponders

o   This is AWeber’s prized feature. Their email automation is unlike no other. Users can store information and records about their contacts, making it easy for them to make insight-based decisions. (READ More: How to set up an autoresponder in AWeber)

  •       Unique Campaign System

o   AWeber is also equipped with a unique campaign to allow its users to accomplish customer engagement with an optional follow-up series every time they release marketing campaigns on their contacts. They also offer compelling email templates to catch the attention of a collective group of audience that fits perfectly to the user’s business.

Additional Features 

  •       Email Marketing Automations:

o   Autoresponders

o   Direct Email Marketing

o   Permission Email Marketing

o   Bulk Email Marketing

o   Business Email Marketing

o   Best Email Marketing

o   Email Marketing Campaigns

o   Blog Newsletters

  •       Email Analytics & Email Marketing Analytics
  •       Sign Up Forms 
  •       Customizable Features such as: Sign Up Forms, Email Newsletters, AWeber Mobile App, Drag and Drop Editor, HTML Email Templates
  •       Contact Categorization 
  •       Application Integration

AWeber excels in email marketing as a whole. Their unique campaign system aims to increase sales for your business. 

ConvertKit

Main Benefits

  • Contact Information Tagging
  • Automation Workflow Triggers
  • Comprehensible Email Broadcasting

Additional Features

  • Automation Tools

o   Automation blueprints

o   Automation rules 

  • Customizable Domain/Landing Page

o   Customizable landing page design

o   Drip email marketing

o   Email scheduling

o   Personalized emails and e-newsletters

o   Visual editor

  • User-Friendly Interface

o   Drag-n-Drop Builder

o   Easy and Comprehensive Interface that is evident in the Landing Page Builder, Email Composition, and Contact Management

  • Email Marketing Automation

o   Broadcasts, Drip email marketing, Post-specific Opt-In Forms, Email scheduling, Email sequences, and Incentive Emails

  • Contacts Management

o   Subscriber exclusion

o   Lead Tagging

  • Analysis and Data Tracking

o   Click through tracking

o   Open rate tracking

ConvertKit has more capabilities when it comes to page and site management, making it easy for visual bloggers, content creators and artists to post their work for people to see and subscribe or purchase, whichever applies. 

Strengths and Weaknesses 

There’s hardly a perfect program out there. You will find that some of AWeber’s pros are something that ConverKit does not currently offer.  

AWeber

            PROS

  •       Easy email automation process
  •       Affordable – suitable for newcomers and beginners
  •       Exquisite reporting capacity
  •       Unlimited mail storage

            CONS

  •       Issues regarding data importation process
  •       Unsubscribers are still included in your subscriber count
  •       No free plans

ConvertKit

            PROS

  •       The tag-based subscriber segmentation system
  •       Rudimentary interface experience 
  •       Standardized automation rules and blueprints or workflow

CONS

  •       Limited A/B testing capability
  •       Limited personalization choices for form editing and email templates 

Price Plans 

To make the comparison easier, we focus on the most affordable options that each program offers. One thing to note is that their plan offers is based on the number of active potential leads and subscribers. 

AWeber

  • $19/month – Up to at least 500 subscribers 
  • $29/month – 501 to 2,500 subscribers 
  • $49/month – 2,501 to 5,000 subscribers 

All these plans include all of AWeber’s features. (READ More: AWeber Pricing Plans)

ConvertKit 

  • $29/month – 0 to 1,000 subscribers
  • $49/month – 1,000 to 3,000 subscribers
  • $79/month – 3,000 to 5,000 subscribers 
  • For bigger lists, get a custom quote

Each plan already includes the following as an additional feature alongside the number of subscribers verified based on the chosen plan. 

  • Email Automations
  • Automation rules and workflows
  • Landing page Builder and personal pages
  • Online Webinar Courses
  • Customizable Forms

If you need to try before you can decide whether you want to fully commit to any of the platforms, both ConvertKit and AWeber offer free trials. 

AWeber vs ConvertKit: Final Verdict

Even though both programs are categorized as email marketing software, their digital marketing approach is different from each other. Both programs have an upper ground on their respective field of marketing.

 

AWeber is the winner by default when it comes to email marketing. We recommend it for businesses having a hard time generating sales and leads. AWeber has a much longer and stronger experience in email marketing than ConvertKit. They offer various marketing automation that pair nicely with different types of businesses and customer preferences, transactions, and conversion can be done with no hassle. 

ConvertKit, on the other hand, may be more effective when it comes to building websites and landing pages. Due to ConvertKit’s freshness in the market, it typically caters to small-time freelancers or content creators that need a useful website. Their subscription management is also better, unparalleled to AWeber’s contact management, which is not one of AWeber’s strongest points. ConvertKit would be the right choice for users who need a strong site-building software with program and data integration and contact incentive. 

Choosing between the two will mostly depend on what you need at this point in time. Both programs have strong features. If you wish for the most effective alternative (and if you have the money to invest), you can fuse and use both programs simultaneously by integrating AWeber into ConvertKit. This way, you can benefit from these two marketing programs. It would be best to do this as a power move if you’ve successfully established your brand and trademark into the business world. 

To do this, simply build your domain or landing page at ConcertKit. This will stand as your base of operations for your business, and this is where most of your necessary data will be stored, making it easy for you to access your essential credentials. Once done, sign up and apply to AWeber’s contents and use their platform as your marketing specialist and integrate your AWeber data into your home base in ConvertKit.

 

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