I was going to post exactly this. Sketchy review indeed.
Name one thing inaccurate in my article. Happy to update it if you can!
Readit Newssteve-benjamins commented on I tried every top email marketing tool sitebuilderreport.com/ema... · Posted by u/steve-benjamins
steve-benjamins commented on I tried every top email marketing tool sitebuilderreport.com/ema... · Posted by u/steve-benjamins
This is completely ridiculous dude, Op you are so critical of everyone else trying to make a buck don't you think there should be a bloody big disclaimer/ acknowledgement about your own twisted incentives there.
Ohhhh and on this step we eliminated all the companies that don't have an affiliate program.. hmm but we'll say it's because they don't have feature x....
ITS THE FIRST LINE OF THE PAGE!
steve-benjamins commented on I tried every top email marketing tool sitebuilderreport.com/ema... · Posted by u/steve-benjamins
I am not sure if this report is accurate and not biased. Brevo is so bad both in terms of quality of service and support.
trust me, I was working with Brevo for 4 years!
Oh very interesting. I’d love to learn more — any specific thing you’d suggest I look at?
steve-benjamins commented on I tried every top email marketing tool sitebuilderreport.com/ema... · Posted by u/steve-benjamins
Their comment seems much more directed at the incentives and outcomes of affiliate/content marketing than it does at you personally, so it’s weird to pretend it’s a personal attack.
Especially when you underscore the incentive issues with your closing question: if the only reason you can imagine going to the effort of a substantial review is financial incentive, that in itself is a pretty good criticism.
He’s not criticizing me he’s criticizing my incentives. Sure. You’re being pedantic, but sure.
I’m suggesting a more productive argument would criticize the substance of my article — not my incentives.
steve-benjamins commented on I tried every top email marketing tool sitebuilderreport.com/ema... · Posted by u/steve-benjamins
I wasn’t criticizing you specifically, but yes, your article does seem dishonest.
Your evaluation criteria was downright silly (1), you didn’t actually try most of these tools, and your “top pick” has the highest affiliate payout (and longest affiliate window) on the list.
In fact, I have no idea how this article hasn’t been flagged since low quality affiliate listicles generally don’t make the front page here.
(1) Strict pricing models and not supporting web fonts like Inter are features, not bugs. Cheap platforms have crap quality shared IPs and 70%+ of inboxes (including most Gmail/outlook clients) don’t support web fonts at all. You’re designing something nobody will see correctly: https://www.caniemail.com/features/css-at-font-face/
This is an article outlining my subjective experience. My criteria is not silly — it’s based off of my experience with Mailchimp.
I don’t want an email marking tool that:
• Charged overage fees • Uses dark patterns to charge me more
steve-benjamins commented on I tried every top email marketing tool sitebuilderreport.com/ema... · Posted by u/steve-benjamins
>why would anyone go to all this work if not for some financial incentive?
People die for altruistic causes. I don't think its unheard of for people to run websites for fun or fame.
You’re suggesting a realistic outcome is people running software review sites for fun or fame?
steve-benjamins commented on I tried every top email marketing tool sitebuilderreport.com/ema... · Posted by u/steve-benjamins
Seems odd that 4 out-of-the 5 criteria are price related, and only 1 of 5 is related to how good the actual product is.
This post seems less about “trying every email marketing tool” to actually just being about “what’s the cheapest tool”.
The cheapest tool is Flodesk. Not MailerLite or Brevo.
steve-benjamins commented on I tried every top email marketing tool sitebuilderreport.com/ema... · Posted by u/steve-benjamins
He does not critize you. He criticizes making reviews financed by affiliate links.
I made a review with affiliate links.
steve-benjamins commented on I tried every top email marketing tool sitebuilderreport.com/ema... · Posted by u/steve-benjamins
I see these same affiliate listicles every time I try to find software for any use case these days. Basically every Saas category has now turned into a giant affiliate marketing cesspool. Doesn't matter if it's GPT-written blogspam on Google search or highly produced "creator" content on Youtube...it's all the same motivation behind the content: buy via my link.
As much as people hated the display advertising common on the old internet, I'd actually argue this is far worse.
Instead of clear delineation between what's an ad and what's content, combining the two together just creates even more sinister incentives. Even the most good-hearted, honest and trustworthy "creators" can't escape those incentives over time. I've seen so many of my favorite creators head down that path I just expect it at this point.
Even the formerly trustworthy Wirecutter has lost its reliability post-NYT acquisition, clearly favoring products that offer affiliate payouts.
Instead of criticizing my article, you’re criticizing me.
Does the content of my article seem dishonest?
I agree affiliate content should be read skeptically but you also have to be realistic: why would anyone go to all this work if not for some financial incentive?
The listicle tried to paint every other company making money as a scourge and the op as the only good guy trying to find the best deal for users when ophas the most corrupt incentives since those incentives are not even documented in a bloody helpdesk article somewhere.