📑 Table of Contents
- Why Email Marketing Matters for Coaches
- Quick Comparison Table
- ConvertKit (Kit) — Built for Creators
- Flodesk — Design-First Email Platform
- MailerLite — Best Free Plan for Beginners
- Automation & Funnel Building Comparison
- Deliverability & SPF/DKIM Setup
- Affiliate Commission Comparison
- Final Verdict: Which One Should You Choose?
- Frequently Asked Questions
Why Email Marketing Matters for Coaches & Course Creators
If you sell online courses, coaching packages, or digital memberships, your email list is the single highest-converting channel you own. Unlike social media algorithms that change overnight, your email list is an asset you control.
For education-focused businesses, email marketing drives:
- Course launches — Pre-launch sequences, early-bird offers, and cart-open campaigns routinely convert at 5–15% to cold email rates of 1–3%.
- Coaching enrollment — Nurture sequences warm leads into discovery calls and paid coaching engagements.
- Membership retention — Weekly value emails reduce churn by keeping subscribers engaged with your content.
- Affiliate promotions — Recommend tools and courses to your audience while generating passive affiliate income.
The platform you choose determines your deliverability, automation capabilities, and long-term scalability. Let's break down the top three contenders.
Quick Comparison Table
| Feature | ConvertKit (Kit) | Flodesk | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $9/mo (1K subs) | $38/mo (flat, unlimited subs) | Free (1K subs) → $10/mo |
| Free Plan | No (30-day trial) | No (free 30-day trial) | ✓ Yes (up to 1K subs) |
| Subscriber Tagging | ✓ Powerful visual tags | Segments only (no tags) | ✓ Groups & segments |
| Visual Automation | ✓ Visual builder | ✓ Drag-and-drop | ✓ Drag-and-drop |
| Email Templates | Minimal text-based | ✓ 60+ stunning templates | ✓ 50+ responsive templates |
| Landing Pages | ✓ Unlimited | ✓ Unlimited | ✓ Unlimited |
| Checkout / Sales Pages | ✓ Built-in (Creator Network) | ✗ | ✗ (Third-party only) |
| Deliverability Score | ⭐ 97%+ | ⭐ 93–96% | ⭐ 96–98% |
| Integration with Kajabi | ✓ Deep | ✓ Native | ✓ Via Zapier |
| Integration with Teachable | ✓ Native | ✓ Native | ✓ Native |
| Integration with Thinkific | ✓ Native | ✓ Native | Via Zapier |
| Affiliate Commission | 30% recurring | 30% recurring | 30% recurring |
| Cookie Duration | 90 days | 60 days | 90 days |
| Best For | Creators & advanced marketers | Design-focused coaches | Beginners & budget-conscious |
1. ConvertKit (Now Kit) — Built for Creators
ConvertKit (Kit)
⭐ Best for Course CreatorsConvertKit — recently rebranded to Kit — was built from the ground up for professional creators, authors, and course sellers. It prioritizes subscriber tagging, visual automation sequences, and deep integrations with course platforms like Kajabi, Teachable, and Thinkific.
Where ConvertKit truly shines is its creator-focused architecture. Every subscriber gets tagged with their interests, purchase history, and engagement level. You can then build sophisticated automations like "If tagged 'course-interest' AND opened last 3 emails → send webinar invite" without touching a single line of code.
Pricing
- Free: 30-day trial (no free tier)
- Creator: $9/mo for 1K subscribers, $25/mo for 3K, $50/mo for 8K
- Creator Pro: From $59/mo (includes newsletter referral system, advanced reporting)
Key Features for Coaches
- Subscriber tagging — Tag leads by program interest (life coaching, business coaching, health coaching) and send targeted sequences
- Visual automations — Build multi-step funnels for freebie delivery → nurture → sales page → checkout
- Built-in commerce — Sell digital products and coaching packages directly with Stripe integration
- Creator Network — Cross-promote your coaching services to other creators' audiences
- Email sequences — Pre-built templates for welcome sequences, course launches, and re-engagement
Pros
- Best-in-class subscriber tagging
- Excellent deliverability (97%+)
- Deep integrations with top course platforms
- Visual automation builder is intuitive
- Built-in digital product sales
Cons
- No free plan (only 30-day trial)
- Email templates are plain/text-focused
- Landing page builder is basic
- Gets expensive above 10K subscribers
💰 ConvertKit Affiliate Program
30% recurring commission on all subscription payments from your referrals. 90-day cookie. Average EPC: $180 per 1,000 clicks. Join thousands of creators earning passive income by recommending the platform they already use.
Join ConvertKit Affiliate Program →2. Flodesk — Design-First Email Platform
Flodesk
🎨 Best Design & TemplatesFlodesk burst onto the scene with a design-first philosophy that makes every email look like it was crafted by a professional graphic designer. For coaches who want beautiful, on-brand emails without hiring a designer, Flodesk is the clear winner.
What makes Flodesk unique is its flat-rate pricing — $38/month for unlimited subscribers. This is a game-changer if you have a large or rapidly growing list. No tiered price increases as your coaching business scales.
Pricing
- Free: 30-day trial (no free tier)
- Unlimited: $38/mo for unlimited subscribers and unlimited emails — no tiered pricing at all
- Annual: $350/year (save ~$106/year)
Key Features for Coaches
- 60+ designer templates — Drag-and-drop editor with gorgeous pre-built layouts for newsletters, promotions, and welcome sequences
- Workflow builder — Visual automation for email sequences triggered by subscriber actions
- Segmentation — Segment subscribers by interests, purchase behavior, and engagement
- Landing pages — Beautiful, on-brand landing pages for lead magnets and free workshops
- Transactional automation — Automated follow-ups after newsletter sends (great for re-engagement)
Pros
- Stunning email templates (best in class)
- Flat-rate $38/mo for unlimited subscribers
- Excellent for visual branding
- Easy drag-and-drop workflow builder
- No limits on sending frequency
Cons
- No subscriber tagging (segments only)
- No built-in checkout/commerce
- Fewer third-party integrations than ConvertKit
- Learning curve for advanced automations
💰 Flodesk Affiliate Program
30% recurring commission on all subscriptions. Since it's flat-rate $38/mo, you earn $11.40/mo per active referral — indefinitely. 60-day cookie. Affiliates also get free Flodesk accounts and exclusive marketing assets.
Join Flodesk Affiliate Program →3. MailerLite — Best Free Plan for Beginners
MailerLite
💰 Best Value / Free PlanMailerLite is the best value proposition on this list — especially if you're just starting your coaching business. With a genuinely free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers and paid plans starting at just $10/month, it offers 90% of the features of premium platforms at a fraction of the price.
Don't let the low price fool you. MailerLite consistently scores among the highest email deliverability rates (96–98%) and offers a clean, fast interface that doesn't bog you down. It's used by over 1.3 million businesses worldwide.
Pricing
- Free: 1,000 subscribers, 12K emails/mo — completely free, no credit card required
- Growing Business: $10/mo for 1K subs, $20/mo for 2.5K, $35/mo for 5K
- Advanced: From $20/mo (adds conditional content, custom HTML editor, advanced automation triggers)
Key Features for Coaches
- Free plan up to 1K subscribers — Start building your coaching list at zero cost
- Drag-and-drop editor — Clean, intuitive builder with 50+ responsive templates
- Automation builder — Visual workflow builder with triggers, conditions, and actions
- Landing pages & signup forms — Unlimited landing pages and customizable signup forms
- Subscriber groups — Organize by interest, lead source, or coaching package
- A/B testing — Test subject lines and content to optimize open rates
Pros
- Best free plan in the industry
- Excellent deliverability (96–98%)
- Clean, fast, intuitive interface
- A/B testing included on all plans
- Affordable paid tiers as you grow
Cons
- Fewer native integrations with course platforms
- Design templates are less premium than Flodesk
- No built-in checkout / selling
- Customer support can be slow on free plan
💰 MailerLite Affiliate Program
30% recurring commission on all paid subscriptions from your referrals. 90-day cookie. The free plan makes it easy to convert beginners — they start free, upgrade later, and you earn recurring commissions on every upgrade.
Join MailerLite Affiliate Program →Automation & Funnel Building Comparison
For course creators and coaches, automation is where email platforms either shine or fall short. Here's how they compare for building coaching enrollment funnels:
| Automation Feature | ConvertKit | Flodesk | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trigger Types | Tag added, tag removed, form submitted, purchase, link clicked, email opened | Form submitted, link clicked, email opened, segment added | Group added, link clicked, email opened, date-based, API trigger |
| Conditional Logic | ✓ Yes (if/then branches) | ✓ Basic | ✓ Yes (advanced) |
| Multi-Step Funnels | ✓ Unlimited steps | ✓ Unlimited steps | ✓ Unlimited steps |
| Goal-Based Automation | ✓ Yes | ✗ | ✗ |
| Pre-Built Funnel Templates | ✓ Course launch, welcome, webinar | Minimal | Welcome, re-engagement, post-purchase |
| Time Delay Options | Minutes, hours, days, specific date/time | Minutes, hours, days | Minutes, hours, days, specific date |
Winner: ConvertKit — Goal-based automation (where a sequence ends when a subscriber takes a specific action) is a powerful feature for coaching funnels that no other platform in this comparison offers natively.
Deliverability & Technical Setup
Even the best email copy won't generate coaching enrollments if it lands in the spam folder. Here's what you need to know about deliverability:
ConvertKit
ConvertKit maintains a 97%+ deliverability rate across their infrastructure. They automatically handle SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication for all custom domains. Their dedicated deliverability team actively monitors sender reputation and flags potential issues before they impact your campaigns.
Flodesk
Flodesk's deliverability ranges from 93–96%, which is solid but slightly lower than ConvertKit. The trade-off for those stunning templates is that some email clients (Outlook in particular) render them imperfectly. Flodesk handles authentication setup through their onboarding wizard.
MailerLite
MailerLite consistently scores 96–98% deliverability — the best in this group. They provide a guided domain authentication wizard, deliverability analytics, and spam testing tools even on the free plan. Their infrastructure is optimized for high-volume senders.
Pro tip for all platforms: Always verify your sending domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. A warmed-up domain sent to engaged subscribers will outperform any inboxing "trick" every time. Start by sending to your most engaged subscribers and slowly expand.
Affiliate Commission Comparison
All three platforms offer 30% recurring commissions, making them excellent additions to your affiliate income portfolio. Here's how they compare for affiliate marketers:
| Program Detail | ConvertKit | Flodesk | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commission Rate | 30% recurring | 30% recurring | 30% recurring |
| Cookie Duration | 90 days | 60 days | 90 days |
| Average Payout/mo (per referral) | $2.70 (1K plan) – $15 (Pro plan) | $11.40/mo (flat rate) | $3–$6/mo (varies by plan) |
| EPC (per 1K clicks) | $180 | $120 | $95 |
| Min. Payout Threshold | $25 | $50 | $50 |
| Payout Method | PayPal, Stripe | PayPal, Stripe | PayPal, bank transfer |
| Affiliate Dashboard | ✓ Full analytics | ✓ Basic analytics | ✓ Full analytics + links |
| Promotional Materials | Banners, email swipes, landing pages | Banners, social media assets | Banners, email swipes, comparison guides |
Best for affiliate income: If you have a growing audience, ConvertKit offers the highest EPC ($180/1K clicks) and the longest cookie window combined with the most generous promotional materials. Flodesk is the best bang-for-buck per active referral because of the flat-rate pricing: each referral earning $11.40/month forever adds up quickly.
🏆 Promote All Three for Maximum Earnings
The smartest affiliate strategy is to promote each platform to the right audience segment: ConvertKit for serious creators, Flodesk for design-conscious coaches, and MailerLite for beginners on a budget. That way you never lose a commission regardless of which platform your reader chooses.
Check out our affiliate hub for more high-ticket education affiliate programs, or read our blog for detailed email marketing strategies for coaches.
Final Verdict: Which One Should You Choose?
🏆 Overall Winner: ConvertKit (Kit)
Best for Course Creators & CoachesConvertKit edges out the competition for course creators and coaches because of three critical factors: subscriber tagging (essential for segmenting coaching prospects), goal-based automation (perfect for enrollment funnels), and built-in commerce (sell your coaching packages and courses directly).
If you're building a serious coaching business with multiple offers, ConvertKit's architecture scales with you. The 30% recurring affiliate program is also the most lucrative in this comparison with the highest EPC.
🎨 Best for Design: Flodesk
Best for Brand-Focused CoachesIf your coaching brand relies on visual aesthetics — and you want every email to look like a magazine spread — choose Flodesk. The flat-rate $38/month pricing is unbeatable once you cross 3,000+ subscribers. The affiliate program pays $11.40/month per referral forever.
💰 Best Value: MailerLite
Best for Beginners & BudgetStarting out with limited capital? MailerLite's free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers lets you build your list at zero cost while you validate your coaching offer. The deliverability is top-tier, the interface is fast and clean, and you can always upgrade later. The 30% recurring affiliate commissions are a nice bonus once you start promoting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use ConvertKit if I sell courses on Kajabi?
Absolutely. ConvertKit has a deep native integration with Kajabi, including subscriber tagging synchronization, purchase tracking, and automation triggers. Many top Kajabi creators use ConvertKit as their primary email tool while keeping Kajabi for course hosting and checkout.
Does Flodesk support email automation for coaching funnels?
Yes. Flodesk's workflow builder lets you create multi-step automation sequences for freebie delivery, webinar reminders, and promotional campaigns. However, its segmentation is less granular than ConvertKit — you'll use segments rather than tags to organize your coaching leads.
Is MailerLite's free plan really unlimited for 1K subscribers?
Yes. The free plan includes up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month with all core features: drag-and-drop editor, automation builder, landing pages, signup forms, and A/B testing. There's no time limit and no credit card required. It's one of the most generous free tiers in the email marketing industry.
Which platform has the best email deliverability?
MailerLite and ConvertKit both score 96–98% deliverability. Flodesk is slightly lower at 93–96%, partly because some of their design-heavy templates can trigger spam filters in conservative email clients. All three handle SPF/DKIM/DMARC authentication automatically for your custom sending domain.
Can I use these platforms for email marketing to promote other affiliate products?
Yes. In fact, email marketing is the most effective channel for affiliate promotions. Build a list of subscribers interested in education and coaching topics, send valuable content regularly, and occasionally recommend tools and courses you genuinely use. Our affiliate reviews page covers more programs that pair well with email marketing.
Which platform should I choose for managing coaching client communications?
For client communications (one-on-one or group coaching), none of these are designed for that purpose. Use dedicated coaching software like CoachAccountable, Practice Better, or Satori for client management. Use email marketing platforms for your audience — leads, prospects, and newsletter subscribers.
How do I start earning from these affiliate programs?
Sign up for each platform's affiliate program (links above), get your unique referral links, and start recommending the platform in your content. Write comparison articles like this one, include affiliate links in your email sequences, and share your honest experience on social media. For more tips, check out our blog for affiliate marketing strategies.