I’ve had some questions lately about email.
And about BerserkerMail in particular. Which is the email platform I use for daily email.
I know email isn’t every freelancer’s thing (at the moment anyway 😉).
But thinking about starting an email list — or at least knowing what’s involved — can be useful for your business planning. And maybe for what you recommend to clients.
Chances are they’re going to be super-perplexed about this whole email marketing thing. And may need your guidance.
So… I was asked:
How easy is BerserkerMail to set up and use?
I watched a video of someone trying to explain ConvertKit, which is free but supposed to be one of the easier ones to use. I thought it looked way too complicated.
I’m getting ready to fire up my list for my adoring fans ( all 5 of them) and want this to be easy.
It’s exciting to be at this stage of getting an email list going. Congrats!
First up…
ESPs (Email Service Providers) all have to be complex to some degree due to the nature of what they do.
BerserkerMail’s main focus is dealing with the complexity.
Take their website headline:
“Navy Nuclear Engineer-Turned-Software Designer Invents Platform That Plays Into The Sexiness Of Email Copywriting, Marketing, & Automation… while slapping the complexity completely out of it.”
I’m now very biased… but I can report that:
I cringe when I have to use other email software.
My wife will attest to the cursing she hears from the other end of the house… usually with the word “Klaviyo” somewhere in the mix.
I use Klaviyo for client email. And it’s as slow as a hippo wading through treacle.
It takes a million clicks to do anything. And then there’s waiting for the page loads when you do.
Just yesterday I did a test load and send for a simple email.
Using BerserkerMail this took me 10 seconds. Yes: 10 seconds!
In Klaviyo it took me 70 seconds.
Same email content. Pretty much the same experience for the recipients.
BUT the thing is…
For BerserkerMail I was going at a relaxed pace.
With Klaviyo I was going as fast as I could.
And I wasn’t stopping to check I’d entered things correctly as I normally would.
Over the course of a year… that’s 1 hour when using BerserkerMail.
With Klaviyo… it’s 7 hours.
But reality is… it’ll be much higher than that.
Because I skipped some of the pre-flight checks I’d normally do in both.
And Klaviyo’s are just more unecessary clicks again, compared to BerserkerMail.
Might not look like a huge difference over a year.
But what it shows is the level of friction that’s built into email platforms like Klaviyo.
ConvertKit is a bit lighter on the clicks than Klaviyo. But still a far cry from BerserkerMail.
BerserkerMail’s core aim is to be as frictionless as possible
The founders eat their own dog food. And use it for daily email themselves.
They’re wanting to make it as quick as possible to send an email. And…
One extra click is one too many.
I initially chose BerserkerMail for two reasons:
1) The speed that I could send daily emails.
2) If it’s good enough for master daily-email marketer, Ben Settle, then it’s good enough for me!
In terms of ease of setup… I found BerserkerMail pretty straightforward.
Their helpdesk staff are second-to-none. No question is too stupid!
Even the operations and helpdesk staff use BerserkerMail for their own businesses!
But to get started you WILL have to do some things:
• Sign up for their test drive. (Always using my affiliate link of course! 😉 https://milham.me/berserkermail. You can get your own one when you’re a customer!)
• Set up some default settings for your account.
• Make an opt in form. This is probably the fiddliest part… especially if you’re a bit anal — like me — about making it look right.
• Make a very simple campaign (automation) to at least send one welcome email.
• Get some subscribers in there.
Then you’re ready to email!
I suggest you start with zero subscribers and get people to sign up on your form.
Reason being… you’ll be able to get the $100 setup fee refunded.
They charge this for doing an initial list scrubbing for every new customer.
This benefits every user on the system. As rubbish emails will be drastically reduced.
Be aware that price shopping is always going to show BerserkerMail as a “premium” option.
But…
There’s more to “cost” than saving a few dollars each month.
My time is more valuable to me. Which is why I’m happy to pay for it.
Currently it’s $30 per month for up to 250 contacts.
I’d suggest carefully reading the BerserkerMail home page. Especially the bit about no images.
I love the no images thing. Not just because of better deliverability. But it’s just one less thing to think about.
And it doesn’t tempt me to “say” something with an image… that I really should be saying with my copy.
Just know what you’re getting in for with that feature.
If you like the style of the emails I send… then everything you see you can do with BerserkerMail.
Including readable font size. Fixed width. And… emojis are just fine 🥳
I also like their company philosophy. Not beholden to investors or big tech. And they’ll never go public.
Thanks to BerserkerMail… I’ve been able to deliver up this delicious morsel today.
Hope it was a tasty treat!
Chris “Going Berserk With Email” Milham
P.S. This demonstration from the creators of BerserkerMail may help…
Don’t be fooled by the lack of “bling”:
If you like what you see…
Sign up for a test drive here:
https://milham.me/berserkermail
[affiliate link]
Ready to build your email list? Go here…
EmailForTheWin.com
Chris Milham