Hi Reader,
You might have noticed my newsletters have been a bit haphazard lately.
It’s not for lack of time. t’s because I completely lost faith in my email tool, Cit (nformerly Convertit), around the end of September..
Here’s what happened.
Kit started flagging a chunk of my list as “bounced”, and once an address lands in that state it is effectively permanently unsubscribed from all broadcasts.
I understand the intent, deliverability matters, and email platforms have to protect sender reputation.
The problem is that bounces can happen for all kinds of reasons that have nothing to do with whether someone actually wants my emails. Temporary server issues, mailbox limits, corporate filters, overzealous spam protection, the usual internet gremlins.
I originally became aware of it when a number of valued clients, members and subscribers reached out asking why they no longer received mails from me. Well, it was news to me... it was only through these enquiries that I discovered they were in the bounced mails list.
We did some basic tests and in a few cases, direct emails got through, but broadcasts via kit did not. In other cases the new mails from kit did get though so must have been a temporary glitch that caused them to be bounced once and then never hear from me again.
When I started digging through this 'bounced' list I was truly shocked.... Kit was showing them a page of 25 at a time and as I scrolled through page after page, I kept seeing familiar names. Clients. Members. People who have attended my events. People I know by name.... people I know want to hear from me and in some case people who need the logistical emails related to the programs they had paid for!!
That’s when I questioned everything, because if I can’t reliably reach people who explicitly asked to hear from me and paid for my services, the whole system breaks.
The scale was the kicker too.
This affected over 10 PERCENT of my email subscriber base!!
So I pulled back. I hesitated. I got inconsistent. All because I didn’t trust the sending engine.
Enough of my ranting though... This has been a really useful reminder of two things plus a PSA for Kit users:
3 Key Takeaways
First, reliable tools matter more than we like to admit.
It’s one of the reasons I love Ecamm Live so much. I can build a whole show around it, hit record, and it just does the job. When you trust your tools, you create more. When you don’t, everything starts to feel heavier than it should.
Second, inconsistency is usually a signal, not a personality flaw.
If there’s something you “keep not doing”, it’s worth asking, what’s the friction point. Is it unclear, annoying, clunky, fragile, or quietly stressful. Fixing that friction often fixes the consistency.
If you’re using Kit, then check your Bounced e-mails list
Go into your subscribers, then at the top where it says “Subscribed”, switch that filter to “Bounced” and take a look. Check how many people are sitting there. Scroll through and see if you recognise names. You might be surprised, like I was.
On a side note, I had the absolutely worst customer experience I've had in years trying to deal with Kit over this issue... normally their support is great but on this occasions I was let down badly.... that is another story that I probably don't need to get started on right now!
So what next?
Well, this may be one of the last newsletters you receive from me via Kit, because I’m in the process of moving my email over to HighLevel.
Am I confident that this will be a better at email than Kit? Honestly, no, but it is far more than “just an email tool”. It’s more of an all-in-one platform for email, automations, pipelines, event follow-up, nurturing flows, and a complete CRM system among other things.
It had been on my radar for a while as a number of other folks I respect use it as their primary platform. Then, High Level reached out to me and asked if I'd considered making some sponsored content for them. This was just at the time that Id fallen out of love with Kit and felt like the stars aligned so I agreed!
As always with sponsored content I have to have complete freedom to share my opinions and I'll be totally honest about what works and what doesn't
To be clear, I’m not planning on leaving Kajabi any time soon which is where my core business lives: courses, membership, learning, community, the foundations... But Kajabi has never been great as a CRM and I don't like their email marketing interface. (hence me switching mail to Kit last year).
So, I'm hoping that High Level will certainly serve the Email and CRM requirements I have, but also as I've dug further into the platform I see how it can replace a number of other tools I've been using too.
I’ll share what I’m learning as I go, including what’s working, what’s not. Expect to see some videos posted on my channel too.
If you’re curious about GoHighLevel and want to check it out, here’s my affiliate link: https://www.gohighlevel.com/alec-johnson?fp_ref=takeonetech
I'm curious...
What’s the one thing in your business right now that feels heavier than it should, a tool, a process, or a “simple” task you keep avoiding. Hit reply and tell me, I might have a workaround. Talk soon, Alec.
