SendLane Review: Will it Improve Your Customers’ Loyalty?

SendLane in a nutshell

What is Sendlane?

Jimmy Kim, Anik Singal, and Zakariah Meftah founded Sendlane in 2013. They were digital marketers dissatisfied with the email marketing software tools available at that time.

Since then, the company has seen much growth and has more than 40, 000 happy customers. Many of those customers are bloggers with ever-growing email subscribers.

In general, this tool is reliable, comes with all the features you could need for a well-designed email marketing plan, and has a modern, intuitive design.

However, it might not be the best solution for a marketer or blogger on a tight budget. There is no free plan (though you can use the 14-day free trial) and pricing starts at $99 and can go up to $259 or more if you want to use extra add-ons.

Sendlane Pros & Cons

PROS

1: Advanced Workflow Automation: Sendlane offers users the ability to use triggers to send emails. The triggers can be based on a variety of subscribers’ actions.

2: Smooth Editing Tools: the drag-and-drop editors for emails and landing pages are easy to use and feel very smooth.

3: Intuitive Design: the modern, intuitive design makes it easy to use Sendlane and is easy on the eye as well.

4: Smart Email Retargeting: thanks to Sendlane’s clever software design, your visitors’ emails are obtained and personalized emails can be sent to them. These emails are based on their behavior, which means retargeting is a breeze.

5: Great Support: you won’t have to worry about getting lost while using Sendlane. Not only is the customer support really impressive, but there is also a knowledge base with tutorials and illustrations.

6: Real-Time Event Tracking: Sendlane tracks every action that your subscribers take with great accuracy. You will be able to keep an eye on events in more detail and measure campaign results much better.

CONS

1: More Expensive Than Competitors: Unfortunately, Sendmail is more costly than most of its competition. If you’re on a tight budget, this might not be the right option for you.

2: Lack of Integrations: despite all the really great features you get, there aren’t many integrations to work with. However, you do get integrations with the most popular software and apps like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Facebook Custom Audiences.

3: Possibly Steep Learning Curve: because Sendlane is so feature-rich, it can be difficult to get to know the platform at first. Fortunately, the guides and customer support should make up for the initial challenges.

Who is Sendlane Good For?

• You want: many features that enhance your email marketing campaigns and the results you get.
• You’re looking to: work with an intuitive, clever tool that will increase productivity and improve workflows. 

Sendlane Isn’t Recommended For:

• Companies that: on a strict budget and can’t spend too much on an email marketing tool.

Sendlane Pricing

Sendlane also has a Starter Pack that you can purchase for a once-off fee of $497. You’ll have access to all the Growth features for six months, after which your package fee will be updated to a monthly payment of $99.

Cancellation/Refund Policy

Sendlane will not refund you for any fees you have paid if you wish to terminate a paid service. If you do terminate a package, you may use it until the end of the paid term (monthly or yearly).

Sendlane Features

You can expect to enjoy a great number of fantastic features when using Sendlane. Here’s a look at some of the most popular ones that are ideal for bloggers:

• Reporting and Analytics

Rating:  4.6/5

Sendlane’s analytics covers all the basics you need from an email marketing tool. You will be able to gather data on click rates, open rates, unsubscribes, link clicks, bounces, and most active subscribers.

Although the analytics is pretty basic, it is nice to manage real-time event tracking for your emails.

• Advanced Contact Tagging 

Rating:  4/5

This is a powerful feature that makes Sendlane stand out from its competition. You can create workflows and modify your email marketing funnel and behavior based on the actions your subscribers take.

For example, if a subscriber meets a specific condition (such as clicking a link on your blog), an automatic action can be taken, like adding that subscriber to a specific list.

• Drag-and-Drop Email Editor

Rating:  4.7/5

The drag-and-drop email editor that you get to use with Sendlane is polished and very easy to use. There are no odd layout issues, or input lag — it’s very smooth.

You are given control over every part of the layout of your emails and while this can be a bit overwhelming, it’s a great feature to have.

There are email templates to choose from if you just don’t know where to start. With that said, there aren’t all that many templates, which is a bit disappointing.

• Email Broadcasts 

Rating:  4.5/5

Although sending broadcasts isn’t a unique feature, Sendlane offers a streamlined and simple process. You create marketing campaigns, choose which lists to send them to, and pick a template.

All email marketing tools allow you to send a broadcast, and it’s a good place to start when looking at a tool. You will edit your emails and choose when to send out your emails.

You can schedule the emails for a later time or send them right away.

• Sendlane Email Automation

Rating:  4.9/5

Sendlane has two options for automation: workflows and autoresponders. Workflows can be a bit more advanced but offer you more customizability while autoresponders are classic sequences that let you specify the time between your emails.

You can create your own autoresponders if the default ones do not have what you need. Workflows consist of triggers that activate actions.

• Intuitive Interface

Rating 4.8/5

Sendlane’s interface is user-friendly and intuitive, and it’s one of the tool’s best features. The team behind the platform has added many new features to the interface in 2019, such as a pop-up form builder and a visual workflow builder.

All these elements come together to give you an interface that won’t confuse you and make your marketing a bit easier.

• Deep Data Capabilities

Rating:  4.3/5

This is a great feature, especially for those using Shopify. Deep Data Capabilities make it easy to record your customers’ behavior in your store. Website visits, purchases, money spent, and more are recorded for your convenience.

All the data is synced in real-time for the most accurate and updated information you need.

•  Sendlane Integrations and API 

Rating:  4/5

Sendlane’s API is well-documented to make it easy for you (or your developer) to integrate it with your blog or website.

There are more than 30 integrations currently on offer from Sendlane, including ClickBank, WooCommerce, Shopify, and Zapier. Unfortunately, there is no WordPress plugin, which can be bad for many bloggers using the blogging site.

• Cross-Channel Marketing

Rating 4.8/5

Sendlane ensures that it is easy to do cross-channel marketing with the intelligence-driven capabilities it makes use of. You will be able to automate every aspect of your marketing.

• Creating Email Campaigns and Managing

Generating and running an email marketing campaign can be done using these features.

• Emails sent/opened and links clicked

You can track who clicked any emails or links that you sent out, and who didn’t

• Deliverability rate and delivery by time zone (spam)

It’s possible to automate delivery so that customers receive their messages at the same time of day, regardless of location

• Creating and importing email lists

You can upload an excel list of contacts in moments

• Split tests and A/B tests

There are a number of demo tests can you run, or create your own

• Personalization

There’s a wide range of options for personalizing emails based on their previous interactions, or lack thereof 

Customer Service

You can call, or use the 24/7 online chat function for support, although both of these options are only available to existing customers.

Sendlane Alternatives

Should you feel that Sendlane isn’t the best email marketing tool for you, here are a few alternatives you might like:

MailerLite:

MailerLite lets you create advanced email marketing campaigns thanks to features like automation, landing pages, and surveys. It is a simple solution for all kinds of businesses that is also easy to use.

Constant Contact:

Constant Contact offers intuitive marketing applications aimed at helping small businesses expand customer bases and build relationships. It’s a popular choice for quality-driven email marketing campaigns.

Aweber:

AWeber is an easy-to-use email marketing tool and offers a friendly user interface. You can set up email series for new subscribers, build landing pages, and so much more.

Conclusion

Sendlane is an effective, easy-to-use email marketing service that is ideal for marketers and bloggers alike. It might be more expensive than other options, but it has so many features on offer that the price is justified.

If your business is open to a new avenue for increasing brand loyalty, SendLane may be what you’re looking for. You’ll be able to target your former customers with content catered to their individual tastes, but on a scale much larger than you yourself could achieve. The main downside to this service is that it’s rather pricey, so you’ll have to be confident the increased custom will offset your monthly costs.