In my searching for an affordable early-stage-friendy simple mailer I came across this unique, distraction-free minimalist email tool, that I immediately became curious about.
Note: Although Buttondown compares itself to other email marketing tools on it’s page, at its essence it is closer to Substack or Revue. A periodic newsletter publishing tool, a blog delivered over email.
Is Buttondown affordable?
While I am very curious to explore the tool, I’m gonna point out right away that the pricing structure is off.
It’s generally disadvantageous (for you) to merge function tiers with list-size based pricing. It’s better if you can access all features, and the price increases as your list does.
Here, automations are only accessible from the 79/mo-10ksubs Pro tier. That is an expensive starting price. You can start with more advanced automation tools for much less.
Webhooks and integrations are from $29/mo, good till 5k. But you probably need to use these right away, to be able to update tags segment properly.
So I don’t like the steps and the feature tier structure.
Below 29/mo, you can only send out newsletters, one by one. Substack or Revue gives you that for free.
Buttondown UX – made with heart
This is probably the most unique mailer I came across for a long time. It comes across as a love project of a cool, honest guy, with a very strong concept in mind.
It not easy to cut off everything non-essential, and build the cleanest, most pure minimalist tool possible.
And Buttondown achieved exactly that. And I love it.
And it has an unmistakably no bs., straight-to-the-point, open-source vibe. Feels a bit like Logseq or Workflowy compared to the bloated mainstream note taking tools like Evernote.
Welcome dashboard? Tabs on tabs? Graphs? Silly cartoon animals holding a mail in mouth? Nah, f*ck all that.
The settings welcome you, because you need to go through it anyway. A long scroll with a guide on the side to know how long you need to hold your breath.
This initial setup – although looks long – is rather simple and linear. Mostly writing. I like that you can control the sign up experience relatively well, sending welcomes and double options. (This is much needed since you don’t even get 1 autoresponder like in Audienceful.)
This part it still is literally the most complex process you have to go through in the tool.
Beyond – as shown in the left – you are only able to do what you came here for –
Emails. To people.
a Piece of paper with a send button
The editor is as noiseless as it can possibly be.
If you don’t like cluttered, had been traumatized by Microsoft in your youth, this will feel like a runaway resort.
You are essentially getting a markdown editor with a send button. I’m not sure I’ll be fine with that after the pink cloud dissolves, but for now, I’m loving it.
On the top right, you can preview your masterpiece, or turn on a minimal rich text editor, if you are soft and can’t handle the inner tranquility. (I turned it on of course…)
Similarly to Markdown writers, a template is applied to your bare, unformatted text, once it’s sent out.
The design is clean and tasteful (as expected), with much similarity to Substack emails. For one, I don’t like that ‘someone forward you this…’ taking a pee there in the middle, but you don’t have much customization to it. In the settings you can change the link colors.
For anything beyond – changing fonts, sizes etc. you have to tweak the template by adding a CSS code.
This may freak you out, but documentation is friendly and detailed, both giving you a sample code and explaining why you don’t want to bother doing that. (you have to be on the paid tier to apply it)
Segmentation?
Nonexistent in the first two tiers. You get a barebone list of your contacts.
And. That. Is. It.
For an editorial newsletter model where you only send content and include everyone, I guess this is ok. But for email marketing, no.
Auto… sequences
I hoped that tags and automations would add the much needed filtering options, since I’m primary interested in discovering potent email marketing tools here.
But looking at the documentation provided that is not really the case.
Tags cannot be modified by the automations, nor by clicking on a link or a survey point. They are basic interest signals that subs can mark when they sign up.
And. That. Is. It.
What is called ‘Automations’ here is a single Autoresponder function without multiple drip emails. An email is triggered to send, instantly or delayed. You can mimic a drip sequence by adding more of the same trigger with increased intervals of delay.
And. That. Is. It.
Surveys, link in the email – as I understand – can only show a statistic, but can’t trigger preference, alter tags or do anything you’d need in an email campaign.
All this is fine for a newsletter publishing model, or even an affiliate list, but to be honest, it’s so basic, that it should just be included universally for all the paid tiers.
can Buttondown be your email marketing tool?
And this is where we fall back to reality.
I can’t escape the feeling that my sentimental attraction to the minimalist, clean, inviting UX doesn’t change the fact that you’d be overpaying for less.
As simple email marketing tool Buttondown is mis-priced. Despite of all the simplicity and UX sensations at the end $79/mo is overpriced for what you get.
Even for a 10k list, that costs 29/mo with Birdsend, a similar text only tool with early-Convertkit automation features.
And really a lot else is there for half that fee, with more control and better integrations.
So if you sell courses, services, products and need a simple email marketing tool at a reasonable price, Buttondown is heartbreakingly
On the other hand, for a paid newsletter publishing business model it’s awesome.
Blogging by email.
I don’t have a much experience in the other alternatives, other than trying them briefly (Substack, Curated, Revue) but againt that lot, I’d go with Buttondown. (I recently reviewed another great one, called Audienceful)
To me this tool is like what iA Writer is to Scrivener in writing tools; a bit overpriced essentialism, that feels so great to use, but you don’t really get much for your money. If you do love the experience it offers, it can be a “why not”alternative to other editorial newsletter tools, like Substack or Revue.
Zero-noise interface tools has their value beyond the number of functions, as they may inspire your creativity and make you want to do something in it. The lack of customization often forces you to accepts things good-as-is an put your energies in creation.
If that’s the case, and if you run a paid-editorial-newsletter model, I recommend Buttondown as “why not” alternative to like Substack or Revue.
