Flodesk vs Squarespace Email for Creative Entrepreneurs: Which Email Marketing Tool Is Better?
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it 100 times, email marketing is a powerful tool for any creative business today. It guides your audience off of social media (or wandering the internet) and into your brand sphere where you can directly nurture, entertain, and support them.
Wondering which email marketing tool is best for creatives? Squarespace Email Campaigns and Flodesk are two options that are most often used by our clients and I’ll explain which you might decide to use based on their key features, pricing, and design capabilities. Let’s go!
Squarespace vs Flodesk for creatives, here’s a quick look at both platforms:
If you're already a Squarespace user, their email campaign tool is built right into the platform, which makes it the more convenient option. Designed for simplicity, Squarespace Email Campaigns allow you to manage your website and email marketing all in one place. Flodesk, on the other hand, has quickly gained popularity for its beautiful, modern email templates and easy-to-use interface. With a focus on design and creativity, Flodesk is perfect for visually-driven brands.
Ease of Use:
Squarespace Email Marketing works similarly to the website builder while Flodesk has a unique but intuitive design interface.
Squarespace simplifies email marketing for users who are already familiar with its web design platform. If you’ve built your website with Squarespace, adding email campaigns is a natural next step. The interface allows you to easily pull your colours, fonts and content (like blog posts, images, or products) from your site into your emails.
Flodesk excels in ease of use with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor is pretty simple for beginners to master. With its minimalistic interface, you can quickly design and send visually stunning emails without the steep learning curve. Plus, they recently released the option to create template links for email so you can now access or purchase unique templates from independent designers.
Verdict: If you want to stay within the Squarespace ecosystem and quickly create on-brand emails that hook right into your website, their campaigns are a logical, streamlined solution. For those who prefer to have visual-based emails with more intuitive drag and drop design capabilities, Flodesk is the way to go.
Design & Customization:
Squarespace prioritizes clean, professional and on-brand designs while Flodesk is more creatively flexible, unique and customizable.
When it comes to templates, Squarespace offers a selection that complements its web designs—clean, professional, and functional. These templates are perfect for businesses looking for straightforward communication without too much flair. However, customization options are somewhat limited in comparison to dedicated email design tools.
Flodesk is renowned for its stunning templates, designed to be both visually striking and highly customizable. Whether you’re a photographer, creative agency, or online shop, Flodesk’s templates offer the flexibility to align with your brand’s aesthetic.
Verdict: Squarespace’s templates are perfect for brands that prioritize a minimal, professional look, while Flodesk’s designs are ideal for brands looking to wow with style.
Pricing:
You can start with Squarespace for cheaper but Flodesk’s price never increases.
One major distinction between these two platforms is how they price their services. Squarespace offers tiered pricing based on the number of emails sent and subscribers. This can be a cost-effective option for small businesses or those just starting out. View pricing here.
Flodesk stands out with its flat-rate pricing model. For one set price, you can send unlimited emails to an unlimited number of subscribers. This is a particularly attractive option for businesses with large email lists or those who send frequent campaigns. View pricing here & get 50% off your first year with this link!
Verdict: For businesses with growing email lists, Flodesk’s flat-rate pricing can save money in the long run. Smaller businesses or those sending fewer emails may find Squarespace more affordable.
Website Integration:
Both platforms can easily be integrated to a Squarespace website, but Flodesk requires a couple of extra steps.
Squarespace Email Campaigns is fully integrated with Squarespace websites, making it easy to pull your brand colours and fonts as well as content directly into your emails. This seamless connection allows for a more efficient workflow when adding sign up forms and populating content from your Squarespace site.
While Flodesk doesn’t offer direct integration with Squarespace, you can pretty easily embed a sign up form or a pop up, or use external platforms like Zapier to connect the two. You can also manually add content like blog posts and products to your emails.
Verdict: Both are pretty straightforward but keeping everything under the Squarespace roof is just that much easier.
Automation & Segmentation:
If you’re just starting out and need simple functionality, Squarespace does the trick, but if you’d like to grow into more complex sequences and workflows, Flodesk is the way to go.
Automation is crucial for scaling your email marketing efforts. Squarespace offers basic automation features such as welcome sequences and abandoned cart emails, which work well for simple campaigns.
Flodesk, however, shines in automation and segmentation. You can create detailed workflows based on user actions, segment your audience based on various criteria, and automate more complex email sequences. This makes Flodesk a powerful tool for businesses with more advanced email marketing needs.
Verdict: If automation is a key focus for your business, Flodesk’s advanced capabilities outshine the basic automation offered by Squarespace.
Analytics:
Squarespace has more functional analytics that actually tie to your website and Flodesk keeps it more simple & visual.
Both platforms provide essential analytics to measure your campaign performance. Squarespace offers straightforward reporting, giving you insights into open rates, click-through rates, and subscriber activity. If you’re using Squarespace for your website, you can also see how your email marketing ties into your broader analytics dashboard.
Flodesk presents its analytics in a more visually appealing format. While it may not offer the same level of in-depth data as some other platforms, it provides a user-friendly view of your email performance, making it easy to understand your campaign success at a glance.
Verdict: If you need in-depth analytics integrated with your website, Squarespace offers better insights. If you prefer simpler, more visual reports, Flodesk will meet your needs. We suggest looking into the exact analytics that matter to you to see which platform offers that data.
Special Features:
This is an area where Flodesk is currently shining, making your newsletter more fun and incentivized.
Since Flodesk’s primary focus is offering a top-notch email marketing solution, they do outshine Squarespace in the realm of new features. Here are just a couple new features that Flodesk offers to really level-up your email list:
Spinner Forms - Include a spinning prize wheel in your sign up form that allows users to win an offer or coupon
The gamified nature makes signing up fun and exciting, which can significantly increase completion rates
The anticipation of winning encourages more opt-ins
Spinner forms create a memorable experience that sets your brand apart
Convert up to 30% more visitors than standard pop-up forms
Countdown Blocks - Include a live countdown timer in your email
Creates a sense of urgency, driving visitors to act quickly before time runs out (leading to higher conversions!)
Leverages scarcity by making an offer available for a limited time, which leads to increased opt-ins
Countdown forms become a waitlist after the time expires, so users who missed out can still opt-in for future promotions
Increase your form conversion rate by up to 200%
Both marketing tools are great options creative entrepreneurs:
Ultimately, the choice between Squarespace Email Campaigns and Flodesk depends on your business goals.
Choose Squarespace if you’re already using their platform and want an easy-to-use, integrated solution for email marketing. Squarespace is ideal for businesses that prefer simplicity and are looking for a no-frills approach to email marketing, who also prefer a lower-priced option to begin with.
Choose Flodesk if you prioritize design and need a tool that offers advanced customization, automation, and aesthetic appeal. Flodesk is perfect for creative businesses, designers, and those who want to make a visual impact with their email campaigns and who don’t want to pay more as their list grows. We use Flodesk at Lerue Creative for these reasons, so if you choose to as well, be sure to click the link below to get 50% off your first year!
