7 secret MailerLite hacks to save time and enrich your emails
We all have life hacks that we incorporate into our daily routines to make life easier (and better), like packing lunch boxes in the evening or removing scratches on wood with a walnut.
Yes, that walnut thing works!
Much like your favorite life hacks, there are some time-saving tricks you can employ in MailerLite that will help you work faster and smarter. We call them “Lite hacks”.
In this article, we’ll show you 7 Lite hacks you can use to simplify your email marketing routine so you can spend more time doing the things you love.
1. Create a button that adds subscribers to a group (without automation)
Use case: When you want a subscriber to join another email list by clicking a button, but you don’t want to redirect to an external web page.
Lite hack: Create a button that automatically adds subscribers to a group using the event block.
If you’ve used the traditional button block, you know that the button only appears if you add a destination URL. And to move people into a specific group, you have to create an automation that’s triggered when a subscriber clicks that URL.
You can skip the external link and the automation by creating an event button that automatically adds subscribers to a selected group, without the need for a destination URL and automation.
The event block contains a button—except this button is used for collecting RSVPs, and therefore, doesn’t require a destination URL.
By simply removing the content you don’t need, such as the heading and subtitle, you can hack the event block to make it look like a regular old button block—except you won’t need to add a URL.
Then add your design, some additional text or headings around it, and voila!
You’ll be left with an incognito CTA that, when clicked, will show subscribers a short success message and automatically add them to your selected group.
1. Drag and drop the Event block into your newsletter content.
2. In the right-hand sidebar, remove the default value from the Heading 1 and Subtitle fields.
3. In the RSVP success message or URL field, enter a success message you’d like subscribers to see after they click the button.
4. Click the RSVP tab and use the Interest group dropdown to select a group to which clickers will be added.
There’s no need to add a date, location or URL for this button to work. It’s really that easy.
2. Include a PDF file in your newsletter
Use case: When you want to deliver free content like e-books, checklists or any PDF to subscribers in one click.
Lite hack: Add direct download links to your newsletter content.
When it comes to sending bulk emails, attachments are usually a big no-no as they increase the size of your email. This slows down sending and alerts spam filters that may think you’re sending harmful files, which can negatively affect your deliverability.
For this reason, it’s not possible to attach a PDF to your MailerLite emails… but that doesn’t mean you can’t include them in your newsletters.
Have you ever heard of direct download links? They’re links you can generate that allow people to download your PDFs in one click.
The best part? You can add a download link to a button block一so instead of being redirected to an external webpage, subscribers who click your button will automatically download your PDF.
When it comes to subscriber experience, you want the journey to be as simple as possible. And it doesn’t get much simpler than one-click delivery.
1. Upload your PDF to Google Drive.
2. Generate and copy a share link.
3. Use the Google Drive direct link generator to convert your share link into a download link.
4. Copy and paste the direct download link into your button block.
Just like that you’ve attached a PDF to your newsletter without adding too many extra megabytes to your email size!
3. Build a ‘fake’ video block
Use case: Embed videos that are unsupported by the traditional video block like unlisted videos or videos uploaded somewhere other than YouTube.
Lite hack: Use an image block to create a custom video block.
MailerLite’s drag & drop editor contains a video block that allows you to embed published YouTube videos into newsletters that, when clicked, redirect to the YouTube video itself.
You can also create your own custom video block, by enlisting the help of a basic image block.
But if a video block already exists, why make a new one?
Well, there are actually a few reasons to create a custom video block:
You want to embed an unlisted YouTube video
You want to embed a video that hasn't been uploaded to YouTube, Vimeo or TikTok (e.g Udemy, Facebook, Skillshare, etc)
Faking a video block is as easy as taking a screenshot or recording a GIF of your selected video, adding it to an image block then adding your desired URL.
Your subscribers won’t know the difference!
1. Take a screenshot or record a GIF of your selected video (make sure to include the play button in your screenshot).
2. Upload the screenshot to your file manager, and add it to your image block.
3. In the right-hand sidebar, add the URL of your video in the field marked Enter URL.
That’s it! Now when subscribers click the play button on your “video” they’ll be directed to the URL you included in the block settings.
4. Design a custom social media block
Use case: Embed any social media post from any platform in your newsletter.
Lite hack: Use an image block to build a custom social media block.
Similar to hack number 3, in which you use an image block to make a custom video block, you can also use the image block to create a custom social media block.
The MailerLite drag & drop editor already contains 5 social media blocks that allow you to embed posts into your newsletter:
Twitter post
Facebook post
Facebook event
Instagram post
LinkedIn post
While those are great, they’re not as useful if your primary social media platform is, say, Pinterest or Soundcloud.
That’s where the image block comes in. You can take a screenshot of your social media post, add it to an image block and link the image block directly to that post.
1. Take a screenshot of your desired social media post.
2. Upload the screenshot to your file manager and add it to your image block.
3. Copy and paste the social media post URL into your block settings.
It’ll appear as though the post is embedded in your email campaign, but when subscribers click on any part of the image, they’ll be directed to the actual post on your profile.
5. Test an automation multiple times with the same email address
Use case: Test automations multiple times without needing to wait >24 hours between tests or create multiple email accounts.
Lite hack: Create task specific copies of your Gmail address to add your email address as a subscriber more than once.
To avoid accidentally spamming your subscribers, MailerLite automations can only be triggered once in a 24 hour period per unique email address.
This can make testing your workflows seem like a cumbersome process. But with this hack, it doesn’t have to be—and all you need is one Gmail address.
If you don’t want to create multiple email accounts for testing automations, simply add a plus sign (+) and any word or number before the @ symbol in your Gmail address.
MailerLite will recognize each variation as a unique email address, and all emails will still reach your regular inbox.
If your email address is jenny@gmail.com you can add jenny+1@gmail.com or jenny+test@gmail.com, and your automation will recognize them as 2 unique email addresses.
6. Trigger a new automation when a subscriber completes a workflow
Use case: Continue a long automation workflow that has reached the maximum steps limit of 100 steps.
Lite hack: Use the last step of one automation to trigger a second automation.
This nifty hack allows you to bypass the limits of the automation builder and pick up where you left off with a brand new workflow.
The trick is setting your second automation’s trigger to “When a subscriber joins a group” then making the final step of your original automation an action step that moves subscribers to the trigger group.
1. Add an Action step to the end of your first sequence.
2. Set the action as Copy to group.
3. Create a second automation and use the trigger “When a subscriber joins a group”.
4. Select the group into which subscribers from the original workflow were added.
7. Update your email footer in bulk
Use case: Save time by avoiding manually updating your company address in every campaign and automation email.
Lite hack: Update the company details in your email footers en masse by resetting your default settings.
This advanced workaround can save you hours when updating your email footers. Updating the company address in your email footers manually can quickly become an extremely monotonous task.
Save your sanity and update your email footers in bulk.
This is made possible by resetting your default settings. In a few simple steps, you can update your company details in all of your campaigns, automations and even your landing pages.
1. Navigate to Account settings > Default settings.
2. Scroll down to Company details and unsubscribe disclaimer and check the box labeled Force-update company details in drafts, sent emails, ongoing automation emails and published landing pages.
3. Uncheck the box labeled Automatically generate a footer from the company details.
4. You will then be able to enter new company details.
5. When you click Save, a window will appear asking you in which instances you’d like to update the company details. By checking all the boxes, your email footer will be updated everywhere in your MailerLite account.
Share your favorite Lite hacks!
Do you have your own secret set of Lite hacks? Share your clever tricks in the comments below!
The most ingenious hacks will be added to our blog post and the masterminds behind them will receive a mystery prize 🏆
