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Last Updated on 1st February 2024
Email marketing — love it or hate it, it’s a necessity for any online business that wants to thrive.
A lot of small-time and beginner marketers avoid using email in the beginning. It can seem daunting, time-consuming, and expensive. But take it from the earlier you can start building a list, the better off you will be further down the line.
If you’re gonna incorporate email marketing into your business (and you definitely should if you want to build a scalable, long-term asset) then you will need to use an autoresponder service.
Besides now being a legal requirement for email marketing, using an autoresponder will also make your list-building efforts considerably easier. Unfortunately, many fall short, in my opinion — I’ve tried quite a few of them.
In the past, I’ve found myself settling for “good enough,” but since this is such an important part of my business, I am always on the lookout for the next best autoresponder to test out.
It’s a marketer’s dream to find that holy grail solution — something that’s easy to use and affiliate marketing friendly with exceptional deliverability rates.
The latest contender for the cup? SendLane. Is it a good fit for your online business, too? Let’s find out. This SendLane review will cover everything you need to know about this up-and-coming automated marketing solution.
If you’d prefer to watch a video demo of SendLane so you can see everything it can do in real-time then you can watch this SendLane demo here.
In my opinion, SendLane offers an excellent solution for small to medium businesses. It has excellent workflows and automation features, and is intuitive and easy to work, so much so that anyone should be able to use it effectively in a short space of time. SendLane also has plenty of powerful features that are usually only available on superior autoresponder services at higher prices. This autoresponder is known for having great deliverability rates.
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Things to Consider Before Buying an Autoresponder
Like most things in business — and life — finding the right option for you depends heavily on your preferences and needs.
Where SendLane really shines is in its simplicity of use and exceptional deliverability rates.
However, if you’re a marketer who handles massive campaigns for large organizations, then SendLane may not provide all the features you need.
In this case, you may be better off with a higher-priced service that offers more automation, analytics, and bells and whistles, such as HubSpot.
However, if you’re looking for a powerful tool that’s easy to use and excels at its core features — email broadcasts, automation, and outstanding deliverability rates — SendLane might be perfect for you.
It’s an excellent fit for small to medium-sized businesses, and affiliate marketers looking for a simple user interface with plenty of automation options.
Yes, SendLane is affiliate marketing friendly! I heard this directly from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.
This is a big consideration if affiliate marketing is a core part of your business. Unfortunately, most autoresponder services don’t like affiliates and will shut you down for simply including an affiliate link in your emails. It’s happened to me…
Still not sure if SendLane autoresponder is right for you? Consider the following while you read through the rest of this SendLane review.
- The number of customers: How many emails will you be sending out, and how often?
- The complexity of the rules: Are you satisfied with basic features like timed sending, or do you need to get fancier?
- Analytics: Make sure you choose an autoresponder that provides you with focused analytics reports, instead of overwhelming you with unnecessary stats.
- GDPR-compliant: Make sure that you stay on the right side of the law and protect your customers’ privacy.
SendLane Review: A Closer Look
SendLane is an easy-to-use autoresponder with some very high-end tools. It features advanced contact tagging, which allows the system to automatically group subscribers by geographic region, or pretty much any other criteria you desire.
Advanced list-building options such as this are fantastic to give your marketing efforts a laser focus with precise market targeting.
These features alone can considerably improve both your open and your conversion rates.
Its simple interface also makes it a fantastic option for novice marketers or people running their own businesses who need to handle the marketing on their own.
In my opinion, it does take a bit of time to fully understand the system, but the results are well worth it. Having said that, all the autoresponder services I have used to date do have a bit of a learning curve.
SendLane Pros and Cons
Here’s a quick overview of the pros and cons of using SendLane to give you a flavor.
- Intuitive design
- Exceptional deliverability rates
- Excellent support
- Plenty of automation options with tons of triggers to choose from
- High-end landing page and email editors
- Simple to use drag-and-drop editor
- Integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, Zapier, and ClickBank available, with more coming in the future
- Can get expensive as your subscriber list grows
- No onboarding process when you first install the software
- Some aspects feel clunky
SendLane Features and Benefits
By now, you probably want to know more detailed info on SendLane’s features and benefits. So here goes…
Drag and Drop Editor
One of the features I like the most about SendLane is its simple-to-use drag-and-drop editor. It makes creating visually ravishing emails simple and hassle-free, which I find fun and a big time-saver.
You can choose from a wide variety of email elements and customize them in any way you see fit to best represent your brand and help your conversions.
There are currently about 20 templates, which is about standard among popular autoresponders in 2020.
While you can customize these, I do wish SendLane offered a slightly more extensive catalog of options. It’s not a deal-breaker though as you can also create your own templates from scratch if you want to.
Landing Page Creator
If you want more than just an email editor, you’ll appreciate SendLane’s landing page creator. Unlike the email editor, you get over 50 templates to choose from with an impressive range of designs.
This is a great feature as it can save you money on third-party page builders like ClickFunnels, depending on your needs, of course.
Some templates even include countdown timers, videos, and pop-ups, which is really cool. However, I struggled to figure out how to add them to other templates.
Some people may appreciate this feature, but if you’re looking strictly for an email tool, chances are you won’t use this feature at all.
Advanced Contact Tagging and Automation
SendLane goes well beyond ‘drip-feed’ email functionality and lets you set up workflows that change your email delivery depending on what your subscribers do.
You can also tag subscribers based on where they live, their sign-up source, the device they use, and pretty much any other custom tag you can think of.
Even better, this incredibly powerful functionality is very simple to set up and use, even if you’re new to the world of marketing.
For me, this is one of the most important considerations when it comes to choosing an autoresponder. If it’s intuitive and easy to use then it’s a big plus in my book.
Standard Reporting and Analytics
Most marketing software gives you plenty of analytics to chew over, and SendLane is no different, offering data on:
- Open rates
- Click through rates
- Bounce rates
- Your most active subscribers with the highest open rates
- People who unsubscribed, and their stated reason
Most of these analytics work in real-time, so you’ll always have an up-to-date view of what’s going on in your marketing campaign — without being overwhelmed.
SendLane provides a manageable amount of data presented in an easy-to-read format. Because of this, it is so much easier to act on your data to make improvements where you need to.
What I particularly like about the data SendLane provides is that you can set up all your different campaigns and have it track all the clicks and conversions on your website as well as the conversions that come directly from your emails, as you can see below.
SendLane’s data can even help you track all the clicks and sales that are coming from each of your email campaigns, and report on how much each subscriber has spent with you.
As you can see from the screenshot below, this subscriber made a purchase via email of $99.
This is super powerful, especially if you run an eCom business or if you create your own digital products!
Automatically Optimized Send Times
Unlike many autoresponders that ask you to figure out the best time to send your emails, SendLane will optimize the process for you, which is awesome!
The program analyses previous email open rates and suggests the perfect time to send the next one.
Best of all, you can set up this functionality on an individual email basis, tailoring every single person’s experience to their particular habits, if you want to go that deep. Alternatively, you can save time and just let SendLane optimize the whole sending process for you.
Creating a List of Contracts
Lists are key to customizing your email campaigns.
SendLane lets you add contacts to as many lists as you like, and duplicates don’t count towards your contact limit.
This is important to be aware of as some autoresponders like Aweber will count contacts multiple times if they are subscribed to more than one of your lists. This means that you will quickly reach your subscriber limit and then need to upgrade to a higher-priced plan. But with SendLane, you don’t need to worry about this.
You can even set different rules for each list, giving you granular control over your entire subscriber base.
Once you’ve set up your lists, you can also automate adding new subscribers to each particular list as they sign up.
SendLane allows you to create a form for new sign-ups or integrate your existing website API in some cases.
Email Broadcasts in SendLane
Email broadcasts are the bread and butter of email marketing, and SendLane’s process is streamlined and simple.
The broadcast tool gives you over 20 marketing templates along with customization for when to send out the email.
Email Automation in SendLane
We’ve touched upon this briefly when discussing automation, but SendLane offers a very powerful workflow tool that allows you to send emails in a very focused manner.
Workflow setup is pretty simple — you can either start with a template or from scratch.
Not only does SendLane have a comprehensive list of triggers, but it also allows for if/else functionality, which is pretty powerful.
If/else workflows let you customize your workflow even further. The simple flow-chart layout makes understanding the process significantly easier for people just starting in marketing.
API and Integrations
API, or ‘application programming interface,’ is a method for a particular program to talk with other programs.
If you want to integrate SendLane functionality with another program, you can use their well-documented API to do so quite easily.
SendLane also allows other programs to talk to it, such as Shopify, WooCommerce, and ClickBank.
They are still working on adding more integrations with other common platforms, like WordPress, which is surprisingly still missing. However, if you use Zapier then you can integrate SendLane with pretty much anything.
Onboarding
SendLane takes the ‘throw them in the deep end approach to onboarding, in that they don’t offer any form of a tutorial, which is a shame.
Luckily, the user interface is simple to use, and the processes are streamlined enough that you should be able to figure it out by yourself.
If you feel entirely lost, then you can click the red help button to contact customer support or check out some SendLane tutorials on YouTube.
Automation
Naturally, an autoresponder has to hit automation out of the park.
SendLane provides plenty of robust automation tools with a simple user interface to make your life easier.
The platform’s workflows are clear and effective. In my opinion, it provides everything that most digital marketers will need.
Deliverability
SendLane has a very aggressive list of culling and hygiene processes in place to reduce the number of dead or false email addresses you have to deal with and pay for during a campaign.
The program also generates easy-to-follow deliverability reports, allowing you to see how many of your emails are actually delivered.
You can see exactly how SendLane’s deliverability compares to its competitors in this SendLane comparison chart here.
Ease of Use
Despite the lack of onboarding, SendLane is surprisingly easy to use. Even its most powerful features are simple to figure out.
With plenty of click-and-drag functionality and clear visuals, most users, even beginner marketers will probably get the hang of things on the first use.
Social Proof
While I could go on about the features I liked and didn’t like about SendLane, it’s also worthwhile to find out what other people think.
I scoured the internet to find out what people on the ground, such as entrepreneurs and small business owners, think of SendLane.
Most people overall seemed to like it a lot.
The reviews weren’t glowing across the board — I’d question their authenticity if they were — but, overall, most SendLane reviews are quite positive.
Here are some of the SendLane reviews I found from business owners and marketers:
Customer reviews from launchspace.net.
SendLane Pricing
As you no doubt understand by now, SendLane offers way above average functionality and provides several ways to help you increase your subscriber base and generate higher revenue from your campaigns.
Due to this, and the additional new features that SendLane has added to their service, they have recently changed their pricing structure.
Previously, SendLane’s starting price was $25 per month, which was about the middle of the road compared to its competitors.
While SendLane’s new pricing structure is higher, they do offer a very attractive starter bundle for new members, which is $497 for the year. This works out at just over $41 per month.
While this can seem like a lot to beginner marketers, those who have been in business for a while and understand the importance of the features that SendLane offer will likely see this as a great deal.
On the starter plan, you get everything on SendLane’s more expensive growth plan for your first 6 months.
Below is a screenshot of their pricing table.
You can see SendLane’s full pricing page here.
SendLane Alternatives
SendLane offers a heaping plate of appealing features, but if it doesn’t meet your needs, there are plenty of other more time-tested autoresponders out there.
Here are some alternatives that you may also want to consider.
Aweber
The main difference between the two is the presentation and price.
While SendLane definitely has more advanced automation features, Aweber offers quite a few more templates, as well as a more competitive starting cost. This can be appealing for beginners who don’t need fancy automation processes.
It is a superb option for small businesses who want to dip their toe into email marketing without spending too much money.
SendLane, however, is a better option for marketers who want more powerful automation and a few nice extras that Aweber doesn’t have.
Aweber:
- More affordable–starts at $19/month
- Larger support team
- More standard email templates
- Affiliate marketing friendly
SendLane:
- Comes with a landing page builder
- Better automation features
- $25/month starting price
If you’re looking for an email-focused product with plenty of support and a more affordable starting price, check out Aweber here.
GetResponse
GetResponse is an industry leader when it comes to email marketing. It’s the ideal solution for large-scale operations that handle thousands of emails per day and companies that want an all-in-one solution.
SendLane is a more customized tool that’s perfect for smaller businesses, e-commerce owners, and digital agencies that need powerful automation without many other marketing tools.
GetResponse:
- High deliverability
- Customized plans for added flexibility and scalability
- GetResponse has been on the market for years, with the track record to prove it
- Affiliate marketing friendly
SendLane:
- Approachable and user-friendly interface
- Email timing optimization
- Tagging and list-based automation
If you want a cheaper starting price option than SendLane with similar functionality, GetResponse may be the right choice for you. Check out GetResponse here or read my GetResponse review.
Mailer Lite
If you want an autoresponder that is very low priced and even has a free forever plan, but with good functionality then Mailer Lite is a good option.
It’s important to note MailerLite is not marketing-friendly, but if your business does not revolve around promoting affiliate offers then this is not a problem.
One workaround to using an autoresponder that does not allow you to put affiliate links directly in the emails is to create a landing page with your affiliate link, and then link to the landing page from your emails.
As mentioned earlier, the autoresponder service offers a free forever plan with limited functionality. However, when you do start paying, it is considerably cheaper than many other options on the market.
Pricing starts at just $15 per month for up to 2,500 subs! This starting plan also comes with unlimited user accounts and you can send an unlimited number of emails. It is also easy to use, which makes it a great choice for beginners.
Mailer Lite:
- Free forever plan
- Easy to use
- Send unlimited emails on the lowest price plan
- Not affiliate friendly
SendLane:
- Better automation for personalized email marketing
- Primarily built for affiliates and B2C businesses
- Provides useful analytics data and web activity tracking
If you run an eCommerce, drop-ship, or digital product business, you’ll appreciate the powerful features that Mailer Lite brings. You can check out Mailer Lite here.
If you want an affiliate-friendly platform, check out my article on the best email automation tools for affiliate marketers.
Summing It Up: SendLane in Review
Email marketing is a highly valuable lead generation tool and is a cornerstone of any successful online business. However, if you’re using a sub-par, or even just the wrong autoresponder for your needs then email marketing can become a headache.
As you can see from the features that SendLane has to offer, it can simplify your digital marketing efforts, free up your time, help you to generate more customers, and increase profits.
In my opinion, SendLane offers an excellent solution for small to medium businesses. It is intuitive and easy to work with that anyone can use it effectively in a short space of time. It also has plenty of powerful features that are usually only available on superior autoresponder services at higher prices.
If you’re interested in trying out SendLane then you will be pleased to know that they do have a 14-day free trial. While you will need to enter your credit card info to sign up for the free trial, you can cancel at any time before the end of the 14 days and you will not be charged.
If you’d like to try out this autoresponder service then you can get a 14-day free trial here.
Steve West is the founder of entrepreneurnut.com, and has been working online since 2013. He specializes in SEO, YouTube, and affiliate marketing. Besides running his online business, he likes hiking, keeping fit, and eating cookies (which is why he needs to keep fit!)