EPISODE 51 OF WHAT WOULD THEY DO? THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE PODCAST FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
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Thinking about switching email platforms, but overwhelmed by the tech or afraid of breaking what’s already (sort of) working?
In this episode, I take you behind the scenes of my email setup and explain why I chose Drip as my go-to platform for retention, loyalty and subscriber delight. From Flodesk to Drip, and from sending newsletters to building strategic, behavior-driven journeys, this episode walks you through what makes Drip different and how it’s helped supercharge my business (and my clients’).
You’ll also hear how Shelley Hitz, a Retention Lab member, made the leap from email frustration to full-blown email strategy in Drip with me by her side.
If you’ve ever felt boxed in by your current email provider, or if you’re curious what it actually takes to make your email platform work for you (not against you), this one’s a must-listen.
What we cover:
Why I left Flodesk (despite the unbeatable pricing)
The non-negotiables that made me choose Drip over ActiveCampaign, Kit, and others
What makes Drip so powerful for service providers, course creators and membership owners
The mistake most people make when switching email providers
How Shelley switched platforms without the overwhelm by joining Retention Lab Incubator
Why choosing a better tool isn’t enough
Soundbites:
“It’s not just about choosing a more powerful and more suitable platform for you and hoping for the best. The platform alone won’t fix a leaky funnel or a disengaged list. The secret to successful email marketing is not necessarily the platform. You need to pair it with the right strategies.”
“I moved across to Drip from Flodesk in late 2023 after a lot of research. Flodesk, simply wasn’t stacking up for me anymore and really didn’t allow me to pull off the somewhat more complex strategies that I was trying to dream up in my business. Drip was totally reasonable on price. Their level of support is unlike anything I have ever experienced with any other tech company, tech platform I have dealt with. And it has hands down opened up unlimited opportunities for personalization and for customer delight in my business, the more I dig into it.”
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Episode Transcript:
Nadine Nethery (00:00)
Not all email platforms are built to support remarkable customer experiences and customer journeys. So in this episode, I am going to share with you why Drip has been my secret weapon for years and how you can make it work for your business too. Over the past few years, I have received this question so many times, either by my one-on-one clients or most recently from
amazing driven online business owners who decided to join Retention Lab. Nadine, what made you choose Drip? So in full transparency, I moved across to Drip from Flodesk in late 2023 after a lot of research. Back then Flodesk offered this amazing unlimited subscriber price tag, so no matter how many subscribers I added to my list,
I still was only paying 19 US dollars at the time per month, which is incredible, particularly when you’re looking at consistently growing lists or substantial lists to begin with. The problem was that Flodesk, while I loved the builder, the designer, the functionality simply wasn’t stacking up for me anymore and really didn’t allow me to pull off
the somewhat more complex strategies that I was trying to dream up in my business. And when I was researching, I looked at all the major players here, Kit, Active Campaign, and I came across Drip via Dama Jue you know, mentioned it in one of our emails, and I looked into it and Drip was totally reasonable on price.
Their level of support is unlike anything I have ever experienced And it has hands down opened up unlimited opportunities for personalization and for customer delight in my business, the more I dig into it. So I have been with Drip for over two years and every time I implement a new strategy, more ideas come up and more opportunities simply because
Yeah, there are just so many features, so many cool personalization opportunities hidden in plain sight that all the support documents don’t really tell you about. So Drip definitely is the retention and customer delight engine behind my business. And if you have never heard of Drip, like me in 2023, you’re absolutely not alone. Most of my customers are with Kit.
So formerly ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign or Flodesk. I’d say they’re the top three providers that I get to sneak into as part of my one-on-one client projects. So Drip is an email marketing platform that’s built for businesses that want to do more than just send newsletters. And having you listen to this podcast, I have a sneaking suspicion that is absolutely you.
So Drip is designed for course creators, for membership site owners, service providers, and even e-commerce brands. Pretty much any brand who wants to smarter email funnels, automate remarkable customer journeys, and create 100 % personalized experiences based on what people actually do. So their behavior, the signals they’re sending you. I’ve talked about this plenty of times in…
previous episode. So in short, I would say Drip helps you send the right message to the right person at the right time without manually micro-managing your list. And I want to give you one example here or a few examples from within my business just to show you how powerful Drip can be. So I am running a robust reward program.
exclusively in Drip. I also have a loyalty style coffee card system, all made possible by the powerful Drip features. So if you can’t picture what I’m talking about, I’m talking like a Starbucks type stamp cart where based on actions, based on activity, based on purchases, you collect a stamp and when you reach certain milestones, you get a reward.
So I’m running that exclusively again, inside Drip without fancy extra tools. And I also let my subscribers decide their path through my offer suite. And while ActiveCampaign/Kit can totally make that possible. Drip just makes it so logical, so easy. And if you’re ever stuck, Drip support is only one chat message away. I’m in Sydney, Australia, in case you didn’t know.
So timezones not to make it tricky to get a response. So I often, even in Sydney, get a reply within minutes. It is incredible. I’m not alone, a lot of people are catching on to Drip. I’ve seen on threads recently a lot of people going, you know, has anyone heard of Drip? Can someone tell me their experience? That same penny dropped.
for my retention lab member, Shelley Hitz of Christian Book Academy. Shelley supports people who want to write and publish their first book via digital resources, courses, and she also has a thriving membership where she guides hundreds of members through this writing and publishing process. So Shelley originally joined retention lab on the Starter Tier
because she was curious about the customer focused retention strategies she had found me via because a lot of people come into my world via the actual strategies that I share and unpack in the lab. But she didn’t expect how quickly her mindset and basically her entire approach to email marketing would shift. So Shelley at the time of joining had considered changing email platforms for a while.
because her current email provider, I’m not gonna name names here, was hard to deal with in her own words and had increased prices drastically on her after being with them for years, paying hundreds of dollars every month because she has a considerable list size. So she was really frustrated. And what gave her the final push to make the move over to Drip were the powerful automations.
and that personalized subscriber journey approach I suggest in Retention Lab, which I all pull off with ease right inside Drip. So while other email providers can handle most of the strategies, none are as robust and easy to navigate as Drip, I have to say. But the prospect of moving platforms felt super overwhelming to Shelley.
you know, moving hundreds of workflows, automations, tags, segments across without some sort of, guidance, support from someone who had done this previously. Yeah, just felt totally undoable. So that’s when Shelley made the decision to upgrade to the incubator tier of
retention lab for my full support so she could make the move with my guidance and also then strategically implement all the formulas inside retention lab. And what we did is we walked through every feature, every field, every automation, every powerful possibility together and also explored how the powerful formulas slash strategies that I share in the lab
could apply to her business model, to her subscribers, to her clients. And I even gave her access to my Drip templates so she didn’t have to build things from scratch. I worked her through the ins and outs via video walkthroughs and I gave her step-by-step strategies that really made Drip not just a tool, but her retention engine.
And fast forward a few months, Shelley now has not only moved across to Drip, but she’s also fast tracked her user status from total beginner, not knowing where to start, having to work her way through everything in isolation to having automations and customer delight, totally implemented working for her in the background. And she feels like she can totally take it from here. And that took no time at all.
And ultimately when your email platform is finally working for you rather than against you, and you’re not feeling like you’re getting ripped off and struggling and you’re left hanging, you not only free up time, but you also increase renewals and retention and you create that kind of experience. Your customers and members never want to leave behind. Shelley was lucky to avoid the one mistake.
people often make when switching platforms. A lot of people I come across approach it very, very intuitively. They make a decision, they decide to leave, they cancel their plan and they get it done. Not necessarily putting the right thought process into it and knowing what’s going to happen after that move. So for me, it’s not just about choosing a more powerful and more suitable platform for you and hoping for the best.
The platform alone won’t fix a leaky funnel or a disengaged list. So if you’re leaving your current provider behind, because you feel like your open rates are struggling, know, people aren’t buying that alone won’t fix it. So the secret to successful email marketing is not necessarily the platform. You need to pair it with the right tool.
and with the right strategies. And while Drip is super powerful, you need to know where to look, how to go about the implementation and how to connect all the dots. And that’s where Retention Lab comes in to the picture because every strategy and formula comes with detailed instructions to make them happen in Drip, but also other providers.
So I actually share templates of my workflows, templates of my automation. I walk you through how you set it up in Drip. And if you want to take it that step further, You can upgrade to the incubator tier like Shelley did and make the move with me by your side
including one-on-one calls and also audits of your customer journey and funnels once you’ve implemented them. So we can map out your automations and the moments that matter, and we can also build experiences together that retain, reengage and reactivate. And in the incubator, it gives you just that extra opportunity
to apply the strategies, the formulas that are working in my business specifically to your audience, your business model and your approach to business. So whether you are migrating from Flodesk, MailChimp, ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, I can show you how to turn Drip into your most powerful retention engine with my tried and tested strategies by your side. And if you have…
considered switching email providers and Drip has never come to mind I invite you to drop me a DM on Instagram via the link in the show notes and I’ll answer any questions you might have. Plus mention podcast episode 51, which is this one. And I will share a special offer with you to join me inside Retention Lab so you can see for yourself what’s.
possible in Drip because it’s going to blow your mind. ⁓ If you’ve enjoyed this episode and this little, you know, personal look inside my business, what I am using to engage my email subscribers successfully, I would love you to subscribe, leave a review and share this episode with anyone who might be considering a move to Drip or even switching email platforms in general.
And as per usual, thank you so much for tuning in and I will see you next week.
