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Drip vs. Convertkit: Why I Switched to Drip from ConvertKit

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4 Email Marketing services in 4 years...

When it comes to email marketing services and tools, I can be extremely hard to please.  I have very specific requirements when it comes to my email list and email marketing and if I'm not getting them, I tend to move on quickly.  I also have a little bit of "shiny object" syndrome as well, so this doesn't help matters at all. 

It was only a little over a month ago when I wrote a post here about Why I Switched to Convertkit from Active Campaign.  You might be wondering why I am now contradicting that post with this one.  

First off, I am not saying you should cancel your Convertkit account to switch to Drip.  Convertkit is great for all the reasons I already talked about in my previous post, but being an advanced marketer I missed some of the advanced features I had come accustomed to while using ActiveCampaign.

Why I Switched to Drip

A few hours after I posted my article about switching to Convertkit from ActiveCampaign, I was emailed by a friend of mine who had just finished reading the post.

He said, "Mike, I like Convertkit too, but have you tried Drip?"

He went on to tell me about Drip and how it compared to Convertkit.  I ended up being very intrigued and decided to check Drip out and do my own evaluation.

What I found was an email marketing service which was almost identical to Convertkit, but had the advanced features and integrations I needed to run my business the way I always have.​

Free Forever Plan

One of the things which stood out to me right away was Drip's Free Forever Plan and their Free Trial setup.  

The Free Forever Plan is exactly that.  Its free forever.  The catch?  You can't have more than 100 Subscribers.  The reason I like this is because it gives users as long as they need to really check the platform out.  You can really evaluate everything at your own pace.  This is especially important for someone starting out who doesn't have any Subscribers yet.

This plan allowed me to setup an account and go in and really see how Drip works without any pressure or worrying that my trial was going to end.  I was able to evaluate everything without rushing through it all.

The Free Trial for all the other paid plans is 21 Days.  If you have more than 100 Subscribers, you will need to pick one of their paid plans and all paid plans come with a 21 Day Free Trial  

This is pretty nice as well, but my recommendation is this:  Get the Free Plan first, evaluate the service, then import your Subscribers into Drip when you are ready.  This way you can really figure things out before you have to start paying for anything and its exactly how I started.

Drip vs Convertkit

I moved to Convertkit because it is simple.  It is very easy to use and if you are a novice in email marketing and want a simple solution to get started it is the perfect email marketing service for you.

I highly recommend Convertkit for all the reasons I posted before, but it was still missing a few things for me.  The crazy thing is, Drip and Convertkit are setup almost exactly the same way.  The biggest difference is there are simply more features in Drip that let me optimize my email marketing automation processes and seamlessly integrate my landing pages/ funnels and other advanced marketing processes.  Features I missed when I left ActiveCampaign.

​Integrations

The Drip Email Marketing service integrates with your site on a much higher level than Convertkit.  It allows you to really track your Subscribers actions and use events on your site to setup advanced automations.

Along with this you get a lot of integrations with a lot of the web's most advanced tools.

Drip is owned and operated by the landing page marketing powerhouse Leadpages.  Leadpages also owns the marketing automation service Center.  

All of these have direct integrations with Drip and I needed them because I am a Leadpages user, but my main concerns were the integrations with the tools I use every day.  Wishlist Member (direct integration), ThriveLeads (with Thrive Themes) (direct integration), and ThriveCart (direct integration), not to mention Shopify which I have been using quite heavily lately along with Facebook Lead Ads.

All of these integrations help maximize building my email list​ and with Drip, this process has become much easier.

Here are a few Drip integrations which may catch your eye:

Drip Integrations 1
Drip Integrations 2

*They also integrate with Zapier, which opens the door to thousands of integration possibilities.

Automation

Where Convertkit uses Automation Rules which are independent of each other, Drip allows you to do the same thing, but you can also construct complete Automation Workflows for your landing pages, product launches, complex marketing campaigns and funnels based on Subscriber actions, events, purchases, and much, much more.

Drip Workflows

Convertkit and Drip allow you to use a lot of the same Triggers for the Automation rules, but with Convertkit you can find yourself building a lot of Rules versus being able to simply construct a single Automation Workflow like you can in Drip.

Now, if you have a blog and don't have a ton of products or are just starting out, this probably doesn't mean anything to you.  For me however, this is a big part of what I do.  I build out campaigns with emails, but then like to tie these to purchases, pages visited on my site, downloads of ebooks, follow ups, abandoned carts, and more.

Both tools are very similar, but the advanced Workflow setup is very similar to what I was using with Active Campaign, its a lot easier to use, and I absolutely love it.

Broadcasts and Campaigns

Convertkit calls these "Broadcasts and Sequences".  They are virtually the same.  Broadcasts allows you to send individual emails to your entire list or list segments you build based on user Tags and other criteria you set (like purchases, downloads, etc.)

With Drip the options for segmentation of Broadcast and Campaign emails seem almost endless.  The Targeting here is incredible and it blows away anything else I have used in terms of selecting who gets specific emails

The Campaigns section allows you to build out email "sequences" just like you can in Convertkit.  It isn't as drag 'n drop as Convertkit, but its very close to being just as easy.  In fact, I transferred over all my email sequences into the Campaign section of Drip in about 45 minutes.  It was very easy.

The thing which stands out here in Drip's favor is the reporting.  The reporting is heads and tails above what Convertkit provides.  You really can see inside how your Campaigns and Broadcasts perform individually.  

Drip Email Campaign

Conclusion: Drip vs Convertkit

Convertkit and Drip are very similar.  Almost too similar in fact.  You get the feeling that someone copied off someone when building their services.  I switched to Drip because it had that little bit extra I needed as far as marketing automation was concerned and it still has the incredible ease of use I was looking for when I switched from Active Campaign to Converkit.

Now after using it for a couple months I can honestly say I no longer am feeling the need to look anywhere else for an email marketing service.  Drip does everything I need and then some.​  I can even do lead scoring now, which I have found to be a key element in the segmenting of my email subscriber list.

So, if you are not happy with what you are using or if you are in the market for a simple, yet powerful email marketing service which can maximize your email marketing automation and subscriber management, I highly recommend getting started with the Drip email marketing service now.​

Get Drip Here Now!
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Mike Johnson
 

Mike is a Wordpress Power User and Developer with over 40 Plugins, Themes, and Wordpress tools authored by him and his team. Mike is also the creator of some of the most powerful Blogging and Internet Marketing training available on the web with titles such as the Auto Blog Blueprint, Profit Marketer, and much more!

Click Here to Leave a Comment Below 14 comments
rngordon - November 16, 2016

Nice article. So how do you feel Drip compares to Active Campaign? You mentioned that it was more cumbersome thank ConvertKit but what about vs Drip? I’m looking st Drip a little closer these days since Lead Pages bought them.

Reply
    Mike Johnson - November 17, 2016

    I think Drip is better in a lot of ways and for the same reasons I mentioned in my other post. The Automation Workflow builder is definitely better. Less cumbersome and quicker to setup automations. With AC you have to create each email individually. This was always one of my problems with AC. AC has better HTML email templates. Drip is pretty much a text based HTML editor (which fits my business model better). The event based marketing that Drip provides and the integrations it can be used with is definitely better than AC. I like the reporting in Drip better too. When it comes down to it, I think the only thing you could say is better about AC is it is more broadly accepted across the web as far as integrations go and it has a lot of nice email templates.

    AC is strictly list based platform, so you get a lot of redundant subscribers across different lists. With Drip you have a single subscriber who has taken a lot of different actions, versus being on different lists. I love that feature. You can separate subscribers in segments of any type and that helps really fine tune your marketing.

    All in all, now thinking about it, I would call Drip a combination of AC and Convertkit. Easy to use with a lot of power when you need it.

    I hope that helps.

    Reply
Millyissa - January 18, 2017

I just started my blog (makingmilly) and set up an account with madmimi for my newsletters. It also has 100 free subscribers and many features, but I haven’t gotten into the limitations yet (new user). Do you know if it is as good or better than drip, or do you just know that dip is amazing?

Reply
    Mike Johnson - January 18, 2017

    I actually used MadMimi about 3 years ago. I stopped because I was constantly frustrated by the lack of flexibility in the service. 3 years is a long time, so I can’t compare them to Drip directly. On the integration side of things I can. MadMimi is not supported as widely as Drip is. If you like to send fancy, templated Newsletters, MadMimi is great for you, but if you want to do “event” based marketing, then Drip, Convertkit, ActiveCampaign, etc., are all better answers. Event based marketing is being able to setup automations and send emails based on user actions in emails and user actions on your website. This is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal and its a place I feel MadMimi falls short. I actually just looked at their website and the features and even the site itself don’t look like they’ve changed since I was a member.

    That being said, if it works for you and you are comfortable with it, continue using it. I know that for me, Drip is easy to use, but also very powerful when I need it to be.

    Reply
      Millyissa - January 21, 2017

      Thanks Mike! Considering I’ve only sent out one email to one subscriber (my sister-in-law), I think I might as well just switch over early and learn a more powerful system to start with. You’ve got some great information here.

      Reply
        Mike Johnson - January 21, 2017

        Thanks. I appreciate it. Getting your systems set right before you really get started can save you a lot of headaches for sure.

        Reply
Erik Heyl - December 16, 2017

How does AC compare to Drip for split testing (campaigns and email messages)?

Reply
    Mike Johnson - December 16, 2017

    Both are about equal here. Drip has Subject line split testing and AC calls it email split testing, but the reality is, both are based on Opens which is the result of your subject lines. You need a large list to be able to split test enough people to get a good result profile. If you are doing affiliate promotions for a specific product as a long term project, I can see this benefitting. Otherwise, I don’t use this very often (even though I probably should).

    Reply
      Erik Heyl - December 16, 2017

      Cool. I’ve been trying to decide between the two. I like AC but Drip has the edge in pricing with integrations at the next step up from free, whereas AC is far more pricey. It’s tough when you’ve got Shane (of Thrive) recommending AC (he did a LONG video comparing 7 different services for split tests on Youtube) and Dr. Ben Adkins has a Living Emails course around it as well. But heck with it, Drip it is, and SiteGround.

      That exchange rate though… UGH.

      Reply
        Mike Johnson - December 17, 2017

        AC is good, don’t get me wrong. The place where Drip blows them away is in ease of use. It is just easier. AC is clunky in comparison in my opinion. Email creation is quick. You are making the right choice.

        Reply
Lisa - May 14, 2018

Is there an easy way to learn Drip? I could it rather confusing. Esp when trying to figure out the liquid language.

Reply
Mike Johnson - May 14, 2018

I recommend using their tutorials. They have a very robust Knowledge Base and support is very responsive as well.

Reply
Sue Donaldson - July 7, 2018

I need to leave mailchimp bc I’m trying to send an extra opt in and it doesn’t allow. But I’m worried I won’t understand how to do drip. Are there tutorials before I make that commitment?

Reply
    Mike Johnson - July 8, 2018

    Yes there are, but better yet, you can test it for free as long as you need to as long as you have less than 100 subscribers.

    Reply

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