I don’t know about you, but once you become a business owner and realize you need email marketing and you start diving into the world of email platforms, it gets real complicated real fast. Like, I just want to send emails to my audience, easily segment them, and have a few automated workflows for my opt-ins. WHY is that so hard?? And why does it take forever to create an email that looks halfway decent and matches (as best as I can) my branding? It shouldn’t be this complicated!!

That was me for the first few years of running my business, until I started hearing about this other platform that some of the bigger names online were using: Flodesk. The ads for it looked clean, sleek, and beautiful… but I remember thinking, “Is it really worth it to pay more just for prettier emails?” (At the time, I was on a free plan with another platform).

But eventually, my frustration hit a breaking point and I gave Flodesk a try. And yeah… I haven’t looked back since. Four years later and I refuse to use anything else. I’m now a Flodesk partner (which, disclaimer, means I get a commission if you use my link), but it’s genuinely the only email marketing platform I recommend and clearly I feel passionate about it so I would talk about it even if I wasn’t!

What Makes Flodesk Different

So what was it that was so frustrating about other platforms?

• Overly technical automations
• Not being able to brand the emails properly (limited layouts, ugly buttons, etc.)
• Analytics that were hard to read/understand

And yes, I’ll say it – most platforms out there were clearly created by men, whereas Flodesk you can tell was created ✨ by women ✨.

The email builder

The email builder is a drag-and-drop block system that already has beautiful layout options. You can customize fonts (and yes, upload your brand’s custom fonts!), colors, buttons, and more – and even save your favorite sections to reuse later.

The backend + creating workflows

The backend is super intuitive and actually nice to look at (imagine that). It’s clean, not overwhelming, and makes it easy to segment your audience, build automations, and keep everything organized. One of the hardest things I found before was just making automated workflows work in the way that I wanted them to. But with Flodesk it’s so easy! Just add the steps you want your audience to go through as they go down the line.

Analytics

And did I mention Flodesk analytics puts together your email data in a way that is actually easy to understand? You don’t have to know email marketing jargon to understand what’s working and what isn’t. They’re really helpful and break things down in the way you wan to see them, and also provide helpful explanations.

Improvements + updates you actually want

Plus, Flodesk keeps evolving. New features. Helpful integrations. Smarter workflows. One of my favorite integrations they’ve just launched is an integration with Canva (!) which makes SO incredibly easy to add a graphic or an image that you have in your Canva account to your email – without having to leave Flodesk. You don’t have to worry about exporting it from Canva then re-uploading into Flodesk. Seriously, it blew my mind. Talk about giving the people what they want!

All this to say, it finally feels like a platform made for creative business owners who want things to look good and make sense behind the scenes.

Why Branded Emails Matter

It’s not just about emails being “pretty.”

As a designer, I’ll be the first to tell you—every single interaction someone has with your brand is part of the brand experience. That includes your emails. So how do your emails feel when someone opens them? Are they excited to read them? Or does one glance at a wall of text make them hit delete?

Branded emails do a few key things:

• They stand out in inboxes full of lookalike emails
• They make people want to actually open them
• They make your brand feel more intentional and high-end
• And they increase the chance that someone will actually read what you wrote

And I don’t know about you, but that’s the energy I want in my inbox and from my own brand, always.

The Secret Weapon: Flodesk Email Templates

You want to know what makes Flodesk even better now? You can actually buy email templates already made for you. So if you don’t want to spend time designing your own emails, or want them to match your website seamlessly – we’ve got you. At the Template Shoppe, we’ve created Flodesk email packs that are plug-and-play. Match your website template, or just get something beautiful and on-brand with minimal effort.

Update the text and images. Hit send. Done.

And since Flodesk makes it easy to save sections for later, you can reuse pieces of your email templates again and again. It’s like having building blocks that are already on-brand and ready to go. Ah-mazinggg. I actually show you how to do this in the quick how-to video that you get when you purchase an email template pack!

BONUS: if you purchase a website template from the Shoppe, you can add on the matching email templates at a discounted price! Shop website templates here.

So, is Flodesk Worth It?

If you’ve been burned by other platforms or think email marketing just isn’t for you – I get it. But I seriously breathed a sigh of relief and actually – get this – looked forward to sending emails after I started using Flodesk. It’s simple, it’s powerful, and in my honest opinion, it’s the best email marketing platform out there for creatives. You don’t have to be a tech person. You don’t have to know the lingo. Just log in and do the thing.

So if you’re ready to simplify your email marketing and make it look good while you’re at it, click here to get 14 days of Flodesk free, and click here to shop our Flodesk email templates.