ConvertKit Setup

TL;DR

What it is: You set up and configure Kit (formerly ConvertKit) accounts for creators, bloggers, course sellers, and small businesses. This includes building email sequences, designing opt-in forms and landing pages, creating visual automations, setting up subscriber tagging, and configuring commerce features for digital product sales.

What you'll do:

• Configure Kit accounts from scratch (subscriber tags, custom fields, segments)
• Build email sequences (welcome series, launch funnels, nurture campaigns)
• Design opt-in forms and landing pages to capture subscribers
• Create visual automations that respond to subscriber behavior
• Set up commerce features for selling digital products and subscriptions

Time to learn: 2-4 months if you practice 5-10 hours per week. Faster if you already have email marketing experience.

What you need: Understanding of email marketing basics, familiarity with how creators and online businesses monetize audiences, logical thinking for automation design, and patience for client communication.

What This Actually Is

Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is an email marketing and automation platform built specifically for creators. It serves bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, authors, course creators, coaches, and anyone building an audience online. The platform combines email sequences, landing pages, opt-in forms, visual automations, and commerce features into a single tool designed around the creator business model.

Your role as a Kit setup specialist is to take a creator's blank or underused Kit account and turn it into a functioning marketing system. Most creators understand they need email marketing but don't have the time or technical knowledge to set up proper sequences, design effective opt-in forms, build automations that tag and segment subscribers based on behavior, or configure the commerce features that let them sell digital products directly through the platform.

The market exists because Kit occupies a specific niche. It's simpler than enterprise platforms like ActiveCampaign or HubSpot, but still has enough depth that proper setup makes a meaningful difference in results. The platform's subscriber-centric model, where each person exists as a single subscriber with tags rather than across multiple lists, is intuitive in concept but requires thoughtful configuration to use effectively. Creators who set up Kit without a clear strategy end up with messy tagging, generic sequences, and automations that don't reflect their actual audience journey.

Kit's free plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited emails, forms, and landing pages, which means many of your potential clients are already on the platform but not using it well. The paid Creator and Creator Pro plans unlock visual automations, advanced sequences, and commerce features, which is where more complex setup work comes in.

What You'll Actually Do

Projects typically start with understanding the creator's business and audience. A blogger who monetizes through affiliate content has different email needs than a course creator launching a product twice a year. A podcaster building a community needs a different setup than an author selling books directly. The discovery conversation shapes everything that follows.

Email sequence building is the core deliverable. Kit uses sequences, which are ordered series of emails sent on a schedule after a subscriber is added. You'll build welcome sequences that introduce new subscribers to the creator's best content, nurture sequences that build trust over time, launch sequences that promote products or services during specific windows, and re-engagement sequences that bring inactive subscribers back. Each sequence requires thinking through timing, content flow, and where subscribers go after the sequence ends.

Form and landing page design captures new subscribers. Kit provides customizable templates for both embedded forms and standalone landing pages. You'll configure opt-in incentives (free downloads, mini-courses, checklists), design forms that match the creator's branding, and set up delivery automations that send the promised resource when someone subscribes. Proper form setup includes connecting forms to the right tags and sequences so new subscribers enter the correct path from the start.

Visual automations tie everything together. Kit's automation builder lets you create workflows triggered by events like form submissions, tag additions, purchases, or link clicks. A typical automation might trigger when someone subscribes through a specific form, add a tag based on their interest area, enroll them in the relevant welcome sequence, wait for the sequence to complete, then evaluate their engagement to determine the next step. You design these branching pathways using triggers, actions, conditions, and delays.

Subscriber organization through tagging and segmentation keeps the account manageable as the audience grows. You create a tagging structure that reflects the creator's content topics, products, and audience segments. Tags get applied through forms, automations, and link triggers within emails. This structure enables targeted sending so the creator can communicate relevant content to the right subscribers instead of blasting everyone with the same message.

Commerce setup is increasingly part of the work. Kit allows creators to sell digital products and subscriptions directly through the platform. You configure product pages, set up purchase confirmation emails, build post-purchase sequences, and create automations that tag buyers for future marketing. This feature eliminates the need for separate tools and keeps everything within one platform.

Migration projects involve moving creators from other email platforms to Kit. This means importing subscriber lists with their existing data, recreating email sequences, rebuilding forms and landing pages, and setting up automations that replicate what existed on the previous platform. Kit offers free migration assistance on paid plans, but many creators still hire specialists to manage the process and optimize the new setup simultaneously.

Skills You Need

Email marketing fundamentals form the foundation. Understanding deliverability concepts like domain authentication, sender reputation, and list hygiene ensures the emails you set up actually reach inboxes. Knowing why different email types serve different purposes, such as welcome versus nurture versus promotional versus transactional, shapes how you design sequences that move subscribers toward the creator's goals.

Creator economy knowledge distinguishes Kit specialists from general email marketers. Understanding how creators monetize, through courses, coaching, digital products, memberships, sponsorships, and affiliate marketing, helps you design systems that support their business model. A setup that works for an ecommerce store doesn't necessarily work for a course creator with two launches per year.

Automation logic requires thinking through every possible subscriber path. What happens if someone subscribes through two different forms? What if they purchase a product while in the middle of a launch sequence promoting that same product? What if they click a link indicating interest in a topic they're already tagged for? Designing automations that handle these scenarios without sending redundant or contradictory emails requires systematic thinking.

Copywriting basics add significant value. While many Kit specialists focus on technical configuration, being able to write or improve subject lines, email body copy, and call-to-action text means you deliver more complete work. You don't need to be a professional writer, but understanding what makes email copy effective for creator audiences helps you build sequences that perform.

Client communication takes up more time than many expect. Creators are often solopreneurs who know their audience intimately but struggle to articulate their marketing strategy in technical terms. Translating "I want people to buy my course" into a multi-step automation with proper tagging, segmentation, and sequencing requires patient questioning and clear explanation.

Getting Started

Create a free Kit account to learn the platform. The free Newsletter plan gives you access to forms, landing pages, email campaigns, and one automated sequence for up to 10,000 subscribers. This is enough to learn the interface, experiment with sequence building, and understand how the subscriber-centric model works.

Work through available training resources. Kit provides documentation and tutorials covering platform fundamentals, sequence building, automation design, and commerce features. Search for video tutorials on Kit setup to supplement the official documentation with practical walkthroughs.

Build a complete practice account. Set up a mock creator profile with a tagging structure, create a welcome sequence, design several opt-in forms with different incentives, build a visual automation connecting forms to sequences, and configure a sample digital product. This practice work becomes your portfolio and reveals the practical challenges you'll encounter in real projects.

Take on 2-3 initial projects at reduced rates. These early projects teach you things no tutorial covers: how to scope work when the creator has vague goals, how to troubleshoot issues on a live account with real subscribers, and how to communicate technical concepts to non-technical clients. Early client work is where your practical skills develop fastest.

Build a portfolio that shows what you can do. Document your setups with screenshots of automation workflows, before-and-after comparisons of account organization, and descriptions of the problems you solved. Creators considering hiring help want to see that you understand their world, not just the platform.

Position yourself within creator communities. The creators who use Kit congregate in specific online spaces related to blogging, podcasting, course creation, and online business. Becoming visible in these communities as someone who understands Kit and creator marketing generates organic client interest.

Income Reality

Market rates for Kit setup work depend on experience, project complexity, and client acquisition channel. Hourly rates on freelance platforms range from $30-$100, with newer specialists at the lower end and experienced professionals with proven portfolios at the higher end. Clients who find you through referrals or content marketing tend to pay more than those sourced through competitive marketplaces.

Project-based pricing is common for setup work. A basic account configuration with a welcome sequence, a few forms, and simple tagging might run a few hundred dollars. A comprehensive setup including multiple sequences, a full automation system, landing pages, commerce configuration, and migration from another platform can range from $1,000-$3,000 depending on scope.

Monthly retainers provide the most stable income. Ongoing sequence optimization, new automation development, campaign management, and performance analysis for existing clients support retainer arrangements. Building a base of retainer clients creates predictable income alongside one-time project work.

Kit's relative simplicity compared to enterprise platforms means project ceilings are generally lower than with more complex tools. A full Kit implementation is less labor-intensive than a full ActiveCampaign or HubSpot buildout, which means individual project values tend to be smaller. The tradeoff is that projects are faster to complete, so you can serve more clients.

Side hustle perspective: For many specialists, Kit setup works best as part of a broader email marketing service offering rather than as an exclusive specialization. Combining Kit expertise with skills on other platforms, or pairing setup work with ongoing email strategy consulting, increases your overall earning potential.

Where to Find Work

Freelance platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Contra have consistent demand for Kit and ConvertKit specialists. Searching for "ConvertKit," "Kit email," "email automation creator," or "email marketing setup" surfaces current opportunities. Many listings still use the ConvertKit name, so search for both terms.

Creator communities are where your ideal clients spend time. Bloggers, course creators, podcasters, and online business owners discuss their tools and challenges in dedicated forums and groups. Becoming known in these spaces as someone who understands both Kit and the creator business model generates referrals naturally.

LinkedIn works for positioning yourself as a creator marketing specialist. Sharing insights about email automation strategy, posting case studies from your work, and engaging with creators and solopreneurs builds visibility. Many creators search for help when they've committed to investing in their email marketing.

Partnerships with complementary service providers create referral streams. Web designers who build creator websites, virtual assistants who support online businesses, launch managers, and brand strategists all work with clients who need email marketing setup. Building relationships with these professionals leads to warm introductions.

Content marketing attracts inbound interest over time. Blog posts, short tutorials, or video walkthroughs demonstrating Kit solutions position you as an expert and attract creators searching for help. This takes time to generate traffic but builds authority and draws clients who are ready to hire rather than just browsing.

Note: Platforms may charge fees or commissions. We don't track specific rates as they change frequently. Check each platform's current pricing before signing up.

Common Challenges

Vague client requirements are particularly common with creators. Many know they "need email marketing" but haven't thought through their subscriber journey, content strategy, or what they're ultimately trying to sell. Translating fuzzy goals into specific technical requirements demands patience and the ability to ask the right diagnostic questions before building anything.

The ConvertKit-to-Kit rebrand creates confusion. Some clients search for ConvertKit help while the platform is now Kit. Documentation, tutorials, and community discussions reference both names. You'll need to navigate this naming inconsistency when marketing your services and when working with clients who may not realize the platform changed its name.

Tagging structure problems compound over time. Creators who've been using Kit without a plan often have inconsistent tags, duplicate subscribers with conflicting data, and automations that apply tags without clear purpose. Cleaning up a messy account before building new systems takes significant time that's hard to estimate upfront.

Platform simplicity can be a limitation. Kit intentionally keeps things simpler than enterprise email platforms, which means some advanced automation logic that's possible in other tools isn't available in Kit. Managing client expectations when their desired setup exceeds what the platform supports requires honest communication about what's realistic.

Scope creep follows a familiar pattern. "Set up my welcome sequence" becomes "also build a launch funnel, create five landing pages, fix my tagging, and migrate my old subscribers." Clear project scoping with explicit deliverables in proposals prevents this from eroding your margins on every project.

Deliverability troubleshooting is an ongoing reality. Emails landing in spam despite properly configured sequences usually stems from domain authentication issues, poor list hygiene, or sender reputation problems. These factors aren't always within your control, but clients expect you to diagnose and fix them.

Tips That Actually Help

Master the subscriber-centric model first. Kit's approach where each person is a single subscriber with tags, rather than existing on multiple lists, is fundamentally different from many other email platforms. Understanding this model deeply, including how tags, segments, and automations interact, lets you design clean systems that scale as the creator's audience grows.

Build a library of reusable sequence and automation templates. Welcome series, lead magnet delivery, launch funnels, and re-engagement campaigns follow similar patterns across creator businesses. Having tested templates you can customize for each client reduces project time and improves consistency.

Scope projects with specific deliverables. Instead of "set up your Kit account," define exactly what's included: "create subscriber tagging structure, build one 5-email welcome sequence, design 3 opt-in forms, set up 2 visual automations, and provide a walkthrough document." This clarity prevents scope disputes and helps clients understand what they're paying for.

Learn to explain technical concepts in creator language. Creators don't think in terms of "automation triggers" and "conditional branching." They think about "what happens when someone signs up for my free guide" and "how do I make sure course buyers stop getting the sales emails." Translating between these perspectives is a skill that earns trust and repeat business.

Test every automation path before activating. Send test subscribers through each possible branch, verify tags get applied correctly, confirm emails send in the right order, and check that conditional logic handles edge cases. A broken automation that sends a sales email to someone who just bought damages the creator's relationship with their audience.

Pair Kit skills with complementary capabilities. Understanding email copywriting, launch strategy, or audience growth makes you more valuable than someone who only knows the technical platform. Creators pay more for someone who can advise on what to send, not just how to set up the sending.

Is This For You

This works well if you enjoy building organized systems for people who create content. The satisfaction comes from turning a chaotic Kit account into a clean machine where new subscribers get the right emails, buyers get properly tagged, and the creator can focus on their content instead of their email tool.

You should have genuine interest in the creator economy. Understanding why a blogger needs a different email strategy than a course creator, or why a podcaster's subscriber journey looks different from an author's, makes your work more effective and your client conversations more productive.

Detail orientation matters for the technical work. Configuring tags, designing automation branches, testing sequence logic, and ensuring forms connect to the right workflows requires precision. Small mistakes send wrong emails to wrong people, and in the creator world, audience trust is the core business asset.

Client communication is a significant part of every project. Creators are often working alone and appreciate someone who can guide the conversation, suggest what they need, and explain what they're getting. If you prefer to receive detailed technical briefs and work in silence, the collaborative nature of creator projects may not suit you.

This fits well as a side hustle because the work is asynchronous. You build sequences, design forms, and configure automations on your own schedule. Client communication happens through email, recorded walkthroughs, and occasional calls. The project-based nature means you can take on work during quieter periods and scale back when other commitments increase.

Note on specialization: Kit occupies a specific niche within email marketing, focused on creators and solopreneurs rather than enterprises or ecommerce. Success depends on understanding both the platform and the creator business model. Consider this if you have genuine interest in how creators build audiences and monetize through email, rather than viewing it as purely technical platform work.