Is Kartra Right for Your Online Business?

Here at Launch BFF, we obviously love talking about all things launches, offers, sales, funnels, and strategies. There’s a reason we’re called Launch BFF. 

In order to fulfill the name “BFF,” we want to talk about more than just how to do all things launch-related; we want to make sure you’re set up for success with the right tools, too! After all, you can have all the best launch strategies and tactics in the world. But if you don’t have the right platforms or tools to host your offers, everything could still flop. And we don’t want that happening, right?

With all of that in mind, today we’re featuring the platform Kartra. What is it, who uses it, and what are some of the best (and less than best) features? Let’s find out!

What is Kartra?

Before we dive into all the pros and cons of Kartra, let’s take a minute to get on the same page. Kartra is designed to help you with your digital marketing efforts through automation software. You can also think of it as a ‘jack of all trades’ when it comes to building sales funnels. Kartra is also touted for being easy to use and having tons of premade resources to help you learn the ropes along the way.

You can host your entire website on Kartra, as well as build sales funnels and landing pages, automate email marketing, and host courses and memberships. 

As for who Kartra is best for? Anyone, really! But it’s typically best suited for small business owners and entrepreneurs who are starting fresh. If you’re struggling with web design, lead management, or hosting your digital products and services, Kartra can be a great place to start.

Pros of Kartra for new or existing offers

When it comes to the features we like about Kartra, there’s actually a lot to talk about! First, if you’re looking to get a website up and running so you can actually sell your offers, Kartra makes it really easy for sites to come to life. Between the simple site page builder, video tutorials, and checklists, you can feel confident creating your own website without having any tech or coding skills.

Once your website is ready to go, Kartra can also help you with sales funnel mapping for your landing pages. Even better? If you already have an existing site, you can create landing pages with Kartra and simply assign them to your website! That way, you don’t have to start from scratch if you don’t want or need to.

Here are some of the other features we like about Kartra:

• Email marketing and automation. Most products and services can’t just sell themselves (as much as we wish it were that easy). With this feature, you can drive sales, grow your email lists, and more – all automatically.
• Shopping cart management. Your audiences need more than a good offer – they need a good user experience too. Kartra helps streamline the checkout process with an easy-to-use shopping cart experience.
• Affiliate management. Have an affiliate program or want to start one in the future? Great! Kartra helps you manage affiliates as well as affiliate discounts and commission rates.
• Zapier and PayPal integrations. No one likes juggling dozens of different tools. Kartra allows Zapier and PayPal integrations, helping you house more apps and tasks in one place!

Cons of Kartra

Now comes the part where we highlight some of the features of Kartra we’re not particularly crazy about. First, we need to call out that Kartra isn’t the best tool for those who want to host and manage a blog. That’s because there are not a lot of advanced SEO options, and the backend can be difficult to navigate for newbies. 

To that point, Kartra is not the best option for those who want their website to be the most integral part of their business. There isn’t a full range of customizable options, including simple ones like fonts. So if you’re planning to grow your website into multiple pages, launch lots of new offers, and feature different types of content (like blogs, videos, podcasts, etc.), you might be very limited in your options with Kartra.

Part of growing your business and website also means tapping into analytics to see what’s working, what’s not, and where you can fine-tune some of your strategies. With Kartra, this becomes a little bit challenging. That’s because there’s really no centralized place within Katra for your analytics. It also makes it challenging to segment your audiences for more personalized marketing strategies.

Bottom line

To put it simply: A lot of Kartra’s features sacrifice customizability for ease of use. So if you’re just starting out and need something that’s simple, straightforward, and not too flashy, Kartra is a great starting point. But if you need a tool that can grow with your business over time, we suggest looking elsewhere. 

However, like with any new tool or product, it’s always best to try it out yourself to get the full, first-hand experience. So, if you have a dollar to spare, you can try out Kartra during a 14-day trial. In other words: Kartra doesn’t offer a free trial – you literally pay one dollar to try it out. 

Of course, if you want to hear more about our favorite all-in-one platform that does everything Kartra does (but better, in our opinion), check out our breakdown of Kajabi. You’ll even find a free Kajabi trial over there!